Iridium plugs at 300,434 miles

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NGK Laser Iridium are very resistant to fouling. It's what we put in the carbureted boats that have the trashy Weber carbs. Every part black except for the electrode and ground tip.
 
Can anyone tell by looking at these plugs that they are no good?


What I mean is, since they apparently were throwing code(s) can you look and see that they are no longer servicable?

I can kind of tell an OPE plug is fouled by seeing the soot and dark insulator, but who can read an iridium and give your dialysis?
 
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Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
I hope you also replaced the valve cover gasket while you were in there, and maybe the fuel injectors too?

You should not have used the iridium power plugs (they won't last as long as the OE ones), You should've replaced them with the same long life plugs, considering how difficult it is to change them
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With 300,000 on the clock the plugs will last as long as the rest of the vehicle.......
 
Originally Posted By: Skid
the car set a P0300 code (Cylinder 1 misfire)

P0300 is random misfire. P0301 is Cylinder 1 misfire.
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
NGK Laser Iridium are very resistant to fouling. It's what we put in the carbureted boats that have the trashy Weber carbs. Every part black except for the electrode and ground tip.


I guess the AC/Delco's we buy are the same thing now. I have run them 250k miles in a truck with thousands of hours of stationary operation as well. They never threw a code.

They are factory equipment in my sig car at 107k miles and going very strong...
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
I hope you also replaced the valve cover gasket while you were in there, and maybe the fuel injectors too?

You should not have used the iridium power plugs (they won't last as long as the OE ones), You should've replaced them with the same long life plugs, considering how difficult it is to change them
smile.gif


That's what I did with my parent's Sienna when I did the timing belt and water pump, I figured it was a good time to pull the valve covers and check the valve clearances and change the plugs - seeing how much it was a pain to pull the plenum, I used the OEM-spec Denso SK20R-11 plugs. Let's hope the Chinese-made Fel-Pro plenum gasket holds up for the next 100K. I did use OEM Toyota valve cover gaskets, spark plug tube seals and washers.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
You say there's a plug called "NGK Iridium Power" and that is the long life plug.

Just need to know the name so I can buy them. 300,000 is super impressive.

Denso Iridium Power are supposed to be performance plugs with a tiny iridium wire center electrode and their U-Groove plus tapered cut nickel-alloy ground electrode. NGK's equivalent should be the Iridium IX. I don't think there's any way for them to combine an iridium wire with their V-Power electrode.

Denso's OEM style plug is the Iridium Long Life. That has a platinum "puck" fused to the ground electrode. I believe it reduces wear to the nickel portion because the spark always goes through the "puck", which can withstand erosion.

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http://www.globaldenso.com/en/products/aftermarket/plug/qa/iridium/qa_6.html

NGK's OEM iridium plug is called "Laser Iridium".

Quote:
https://www.ngksparkplugs.com/about-ngk/...-and-iridium-ix

NGK builds two types of iridium spark plugs: OE Iridium and Iridium IX®. Every plug in the Laser Series was designed for an OEM application. All dual precious metal plugs are designed to provide maximum longevity. For the OE Iridium series, dual precious metal means iridium on the center tip and platinum on the ground electrode. Some of these plugs have special resistors or multiple ground electrodes, depending on the original equipment requirements.

The Iridium IX® spark plugs are a single precious metal aftermarket performance plug. They are a great option for modified engines, and where recommended, are appropriate replacements for OEM spark plugs. Iridium IX® plugs are an excellent upgrade from standard nickel plugs. The Iridium IX® plugs are offered in various heat ranges and sizes to fit most automotive and non-automotive applications.

These two plugs perform similarly, due to their fine-wire tip design, but the service interval is different; the Laser Series are typically designed to last 80 to 100 thousand miles, where as the Iridium IX® spark plugs are designed to last 40 to 50 thousand miles.


Toyota specs both NGK and Denso in their owners manuals. I've even heard of one side of a V engine having Denso while the other side had NGK, and it came that way from the factory.
 
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
Originally Posted By: FastLane
You can use iridium plugs in anything you want.

Let me rephrase my question: will it work well?

It theoretically should work just as well as normal plugs with nickel-alloy electrodes. It might not make that much of a difference for a stock engine, but Denso and NGK say that these types of iridium plugs are best used in modified engines where a hotter spark is useful. The iridium fine wire is supposed to produce a hotter spark, and the tapered ground electrode is supposed to help. Denso adds their U-Groove cut to the ground electrode.

The ground electrode is going to wear away sooner without a platinum puck though.
 
Quote:

https://www.ngksparkplugs.com/about-ngk/...-and-iridium-ix

NGK builds two types of iridium spark plugs: OE Iridium and Iridium IX®. Every plug in the Laser Series was designed for an OEM application. All dual precious metal plugs are designed to provide maximum longevity. For the OE Iridium series, dual precious metal means iridium on the center tip and platinum on the ground electrode. Some of these plugs have special resistors or multiple ground electrodes, depending on the original equipment requirements.

The Iridium IX® spark plugs are a single precious metal aftermarket performance plug. They are a great option for modified engines, and where recommended, are appropriate replacements for OEM spark plugs. Iridium IX® plugs are an excellent upgrade from standard nickel plugs. The Iridium IX® plugs are offered in various heat ranges and sizes to fit most automotive and non-automotive applications.

These two plugs perform similarly, due to their fine-wire tip design, but the service interval is different; the Laser Series are typically designed to last 80 to 100 thousand miles, where as the Iridium IX® spark plugs are designed to last 40 to 50 thousand miles.



That is very interesting.
I double checked and I replaced OE Denso SK16R11's with NGK Iridium IX 5464's.
According to NGK the Iridium IXs are a 40 to 50K plug but RockAuto says "last 4X longer than standard copper plugs"....which led me to believe they were 100K plugs.

My question to NGK is..."Why would I bother using 'Iridium' over Platinums if they only last 40 or 50K? I could probably go 40 or 50K on regular coppers.
 
Originally Posted By: Kibitoshin
... Long life spark plugs also suffer from wear as they increase in resistance that's why most mfgrs recommend a 100,000mi spark plug change interval.
I've run regular "copper" plugs over 100,000 miles without problems, in a car with a 30,000-mile recommended change interval.
 
Does the increased resistance come from having to jump a larger gap, or some metallurgical change? Either way, I'd always thought a bigger gap was a good thing provided you have the coil to arc it?
 
Originally Posted By: pbm


My question to NGK is..."Why would I bother using 'Iridium' over Platinums if they only last 40 or 50K? I could probably go 40 or 50K on regular coppers.

They're performance plugs. Maybe that doesn't help that much for an ordinary car, but they market it as best for modified engines. I suppose it might help if an aftermarket turbo is added.
 
Gap size matters, so does electrode diameter.

Iridium has higher melting point, so it can be made finer, which means it can fire at lower voltage, less misfire, tolerate stronger boost, less stressful on the coil. Or it can be made to last longer for the same diameter as platinum or steel plugs. If they are from the same manufacturer and design, other than cost, it can only be better than platinum and steel plugs.
 
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