i guess it was about time

[04xuv]

about 40 miles south of the 100,000 mile mark. so i figured i'd change the spark plugs and get a new battery.
View attachment 22070

truck seems to run better. but now i have a new sound i've never noticed coming from underneath the body. that'll be found another day, i guess.

 

[Boricua SS]

truck seems to run better. but now i have a new sound i've never noticed coming from underneath the body. that'll be found another day, i guess.

dont you just love that.. try to keep up on basic maintenance, but then something new pops up.. then you wonder.. hmmm should i have left things alone lol...

 

[CaptainXL]

about 40 miles south of the 100,000 mile mark. so i figured i'd change the spark plugs and get a new battery.
View attachment 8312

truck seems to run better. but now i have a new sound i've never noticed coming from underneath the body. that'll be found another day, i guess.

Those are Iridium plugs mate and your vehicle came with Platinum plugs. No way they have 100K on them. Someone already changed them at some point. They look fine. Spray them down with carb cleaner and keep em. $7 a pop.

 

[04xuv]

dont you just love that.. try to keep up on basic maintenance, but then something new pops up.. then you wonder.. hmmm should i have left things alone lol...[/QUOTE

seems like i always hear something new every time i fix/replace a part.

 

[04xuv]

Those are Iridium plugs mate and your vehicle came with Platinum plugs. No way they have 100K on them. Someone already changed them at some point. They look fine. Spray them down with carb cleaner and keep em. $7 a pop.

they may not have 100,000 miles on them, but they don't look fine to me. granted, i've never had to change plugs before, so i don't know how bad they could look. plus, i got the truck from a local dealer and don't really know the maintenace history. this is something i should have done when i got the truck in the first place.

 

[CaptainXL]

but they don't look fine to me.

Well I am telling you they look fine. 20 years of automotive experience and a little carb cleaner and I know what a worn plug looks like and how to look past the carbon buildup. Spray em down and they will look new guaranteed. Let me tell you that Iridium is one of the hardest metals on earth. The plugs actually last longer than 100K and the tips will never erode. I'm guessing here but I bet the dealer was troubleshooting another issue and they decided to change the plugs to try and find it.

Make sure you torque the plugs with a torque wrench 18ft/lbs.

 

[MacMan]

they may not have 100,000 miles on them, but they don't look fine to me......

As CaptainXL said above, the plugs look fine to me too. Pay no attention to the black color on the threads or the brownish colored stuff on the white porcelain....those mean nothing on a street engine.

As long as the tip of the plug is clean, gapped properly, and the porcelain down inside the plug is a tan/off whitish color, the engine is running fine.

 

[Voymom]

04xuv- It's okay, I would have changed them too.

Whether they are still good or not, all that matters is that your truck runs better, and YOU know when the plugs were changed last and what maintenance YOU have done to it. I get the same stuff on here too from certain posters. Better safe than sorry I always say!!

 

[CaptainXL]

04xuv- It's okay, I would have changed them too.

Whether they are still good or not, all that matters is that your truck runs better, and YOU know when the plugs were changed last and what maintenance YOU have done to it. I get the same stuff on here too from certain posters. Better safe than sorry I always say!!

He admitted that he has never changed plugs before and doesn't know what a bad plug looks like. So I was just trying to help him out. Geewizzz..

 

[khill]

To be honest, they may look fine but without knowing when they were installed I would have replaced them too, just for that peace of mind and knowing when to replace them next.

(that and I got a whole bunch of them for about $2 each when AC Delco put out that coupon a few months back. Peace of mind on the cheap)

 

[pejeeper]

I just replaced my plugs yesterday. Those in the pic are ACDelco 41-103 iridium plugs, exactly what I just put in....NOT the original plugs.

Now off to Auto Zone to return the 41-993 they sold me by mistake and I *almost* put in. Thankfully I was taught to ALWAYS check the gap first!

 

[04xuv]

To be honest, they may look fine but without knowing when they were installed I would have replaced them too, just for that peace of mind and knowing when to replace them next.

that's a lot of the reason that i changed them. plus, i had no idea you could clean spark plugs. growing up, it was always "change the spark plugs" - never "clean the spark plugs".

but its done now. i know how to do it, and i guess i have some spares if i ever seem to need one. i'll try giving them a clean this weekend and see how they look. thanks for all the help, folks.

 

[Wooluf1952]

that's a lot of the reason that i changed them. plus, i had no idea you could clean spark plugs. growing up, it was always "change the spark plugs" - never "clean the spark plugs".
.

Without the Platinum or Iridium tip, rather than cleaning, filing them flat and re-gapping, it was just easier to replace with new.
Also, at 50 cents a plug, it just wasn't worth reusing.