My weekend plans went out the window (due to VERY poor weather forecasting) so I had some extra time on my hands and unanticipated awesome weekend weather.
Installed some E3 spark plugs around 125K miles on my '07 Pacifica. Vehicle just turned over 170K, I decided to pull them early (about 45K on the plugs) to assess the condition, mostly out of curiosity. I don't usually buy "fancy" spark plugs but they were on closeout at Rockauto for less than a $1 a piece at the time. Fairly certain they claim a 100K service life.
My initial thought is that they're still in decent shape and would probably go 75K or so, but I'd be quite wary running them to 100K, mostly because of the center electrode being so rounded off. That said, I've seen non platinum/iridium/etc plugs that have gone the distance, like the Champion copper plugs used in many Chrysler Hemi motors-- I've seen them so wore down at 100K that the center electrode had worn beneath the porcelain, and still be firing. So these E3 could likely make it to 100K as the manufacturer claims, but I opted to change them anyways, since I had new plugs already on hand. Used Autolite Iridium XP plugs at about $5 a plug.
Required removing intake, but fortunately it comes off in about 15 minutes on this car-- a hose clamp, half dozen wire connectors, couple vacuum/PCV hoses to pull off, then about 8 bolts and it's out. All in all I think the E3 is a good plug but I can't say it did anything magical that would make a large price premium worth it.
Installed some E3 spark plugs around 125K miles on my '07 Pacifica. Vehicle just turned over 170K, I decided to pull them early (about 45K on the plugs) to assess the condition, mostly out of curiosity. I don't usually buy "fancy" spark plugs but they were on closeout at Rockauto for less than a $1 a piece at the time. Fairly certain they claim a 100K service life.
My initial thought is that they're still in decent shape and would probably go 75K or so, but I'd be quite wary running them to 100K, mostly because of the center electrode being so rounded off. That said, I've seen non platinum/iridium/etc plugs that have gone the distance, like the Champion copper plugs used in many Chrysler Hemi motors-- I've seen them so wore down at 100K that the center electrode had worn beneath the porcelain, and still be firing. So these E3 could likely make it to 100K as the manufacturer claims, but I opted to change them anyways, since I had new plugs already on hand. Used Autolite Iridium XP plugs at about $5 a plug.
Required removing intake, but fortunately it comes off in about 15 minutes on this car-- a hose clamp, half dozen wire connectors, couple vacuum/PCV hoses to pull off, then about 8 bolts and it's out. All in all I think the E3 is a good plug but I can't say it did anything magical that would make a large price premium worth it.