To recap, you should plan on replacing the plugs on your car or truck every 30,000 to 90,000 miles. In another blog post, we cover in detail how often spark plugs should be changed. Along with other maintenance items like brake services, coolant flushes, and oil changes, regular spark plug changes are essential to keeping your car or truck running as it should.
On gasoline engines, spark plugs provide the spark needed for combustion, generating power, and allowing your vehicle to move. Although all plugs come pre-gapped from the factory, gap should always be measured and adjusted as needed before the plugs are installed.Replacing spark plugs is part of regular vehicle maintenance. Electrode number and configurations may sometimes vary, but the “reach” (how far the tip extends into the combustion chamber) and gap should be similar to the original. Replacement spark plugs must be the same size as the original (same hex size, diameter, thread pitch and length), and have a similar “heat range” (hot enough to resist fouling when the plug is cold, and cool enough to resist pre-ignition when the plug is hot). If there is no cross-reference for a particular plug, it means the supplier does not have a close enough match. Plug manufacturers compare competitive plugs against their own to make sure their plugs fit correctly and perform the same (or better) as the original plugs. Although many customers prefer to stick with the original brand of spark plug, replacement plugs do not have to be the same brand as the original as long as they fit and function the same. A vehicle will not pass an OBD II plug-in emissions test if it has an illuminated “Check Engine” light.įollow your supplier’s application listings or cross-reference chart when looking up spark plugs for a customer’s vehicle.
#SPARK PLUG REPLACEMENT CODE#
On 1996 and newer vehicles with OBD II, spark plug misfires will set off a trouble code and turn on the “Check Engine” light. The long plastic boot that fits down over the spark plug on a COP coil may get so hot that it actually melts! Plug wear and elevated firing voltages also may overheat and damage the ignition coil, especially on Coil-On-Plug (COP) ignition systems. If a plug continues to misfire for a prolonged period of time, it may overheat and damage the catalytic converter.
Misfires cause a loss of power and fuel economy, and significantly increase unburned hydrocarbon (HC) emissions in the exhaust.
Eventually, the point is reached where the voltage required to fire the plug exceeds the output capacity of the coil and the plug fails to fire. As the electrodes erode, the gap between the center and side electrodes widens and increases the voltage required to create a spark when the plug fires. The iron/nickel alloy electrodes on standard plugs wear at a much faster rate than those on platinum or iridium plugs. On older vehicles that were factory- equipped with standard spark plugs, the plugs may only last 35,000 to 50,000 miles. Long-life platinum and iridium spark plugs usually last upward of 100,000 miles under normal operating conditions. Most late-model vehicles will only require one or maybe two sets of spark plugs during their lifetime.
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