Poor mans tune up – Gapping iridium spark plugs?

[Rob]

So, I bought a Kia.

I know what you’re thinking: A Kia. :sick:

It gets worse yet, I sold my 350 HP Durango Limited 5.7L Hemi to make room for it in the driveway!

My father in law’s Kia to be exact, I matched the dealer’s trade in offer. We’re going to stretch this car for a couple / 3 years while we do some upgrades around the house, part of which will be paid for with the proceeds of the Durango sale.

It’s a 2005 Sportage LX 2.7L V6 FWD, 190000 KM (120K or so miles), one owner, glove box full of dealer receipts with one season old snows mounted on steel rims. I’ve got about $8 or 900 of parts into it (tires, rear struts, brake pads, ball joints) and aside from some rust over the rear wheel arches, it’s actually a very good little buggy – on par or better than our gone but not forgotten Rav4 with the exception of fuel economy – I imagine it won’t hook as well in the snow but that’s another issue.

I pulled the front 3 spark plugs out tonight just to see whats up, and found that they’ve been replaced with NGK Iridium at some point (Father in law is a sucker for that kind of thing). They are worn or at least out of spec (0.050 actual vs 0.039″ spec – if they were gapped correctly to start with). Common sense says to toss them, replace with copper plugs and walk away (Iridium plugs have no place in a car that did not come with them as OE).

… but the cheap skate in me says…

Why Not just gap the iridium plugs and call it good? Accessing the rear 3 plugs means separating the intake plenum, but it’s labor only no parts.

Thoughts?

Topic

[Gary]

[quote=”theraymondguy” post=144101]So, I bought a Kia.

I know what you’re thinking: A Kia. :sick:

It gets worse yet, I sold my 350 HP Durango Limited 5.7L Hemi to make room for it in the driveway!

My father in law’s Kia to be exact, I matched the dealer’s trade in offer. We’re going to stretch this car for a couple / 3 years while we do some upgrades around the house, part of which will be paid for with the proceeds of the Durango sale.

It’s a 2005 Sportage LX 2.7L V6 FWD, 190000 KM (120K or so miles), one owner, glove box full of dealer receipts with one season old snows mounted on steel rims. I’ve got about $8 or 900 of parts into it (tires, rear struts, brake pads, ball joints) and aside from some rust over the rear wheel arches, it’s actually a very good little buggy – on par or better than our gone but not forgotten Rav4 with the exception of fuel economy – I imagine it won’t hook as well in the snow but that’s another issue.

I pulled the front 3 spark plugs out tonight just to see whats up, and found that they’ve been replaced with NGK Iridium at some point (Father in law is a sucker for that kind of thing). They are worn or at least out of spec (0.050 actual vs 0.039″ spec – if they were gapped correctly to start with). Common sense says to toss them, replace with copper plugs and walk away (Iridium plugs have no place in a car that did not come with them as OE).

… but the cheap skate in me says…

Why Not just gap the iridium plugs and call it good? Accessing the rear 3 plugs means separating the intake plenum, but it’s labor only no parts.

Thoughts?[/quote] First, I would NEVER regap used iridium plugs, that is a big no no. My advice would be to buy new plugs and make them copper if that’s what the OE was.

PS: Never gap iridium plugs even when new, they should come pregapped with the proper gap. Platinums and coppers are the only ones I would gap or check the gap on. Iridium is a brittle metal and you don’t want to scratch it either.

[Mike]

If you’re going to go through the trouble of accessing the rear plugs anyway, you’d be much better off installing new correct plugs, rather than farting around with used junk.

If this was a 70s-era I6 or V8 pickup truck where everything was easy to get at, then sure, you’re only investing about 15 minutes in removing, regapping and reinstalling the used plugs. I’d say go for it. But with the amount of work involved on your modern vehicle, it isn’t worth trying to save the old plugs, especially if you find you have to replace them anyway after things are buttoned up. Pull the old stuff out, put the new stuff in, and be done with it.

[wafrederick]

Install new spark plugs,do the job right once.Will break off the tip also if you regap the old spark plugs.Stay with the NGK spark plugs it came with.The E3s advertised on TV are garbage,seen these cause a misfire once so far.

[Rob]

Thanks for the input guys. It’s all sound advice – if you read my post again you’ll see I already know that this is… not the most sound logic. Really being that the upper intake manifold has to be removed to gain access should be reasoning enough to make me NOT want to get involved in this – but there’s a little pride amongst the cheapskate and curiosity as well that just doesn’t want to leave this stone unturned.

Having said that, Denso offers instructions on how their website on how to gap iridium plugs.

http://densoiridium.com/installationguide.php

I’ll come clean, i’ve already gapped the front 3 plugs and so far no issues. The ‘plan’ will be to leave them on test, and if no issues for a few weeks I’ll swap them to the rear and gap the rears for use in the front.

What’s life without a little risk?

[Gary]

[quote=”theraymondguy” post=144201]Thanks for the input guys. It’s all sound advice – if you read my post again you’ll see I already know that this is… not the most sound logic. Really being that the upper intake manifold has to be removed to gain access should be reasoning enough to make me NOT want to get involved in this – but there’s a little pride amongst the cheapskate and curiosity as well that just doesn’t want to leave this stone unturned.

Having said that, Denso offers instructions on how their website on how to gap iridium plugs.

http://densoiridium.com/installationguide.php

I’ll come clean, i’ve already gapped the front 3 plugs and so far no issues. The ‘plan’ will be to leave them on test, and if no issues for a few weeks I’ll swap them to the rear and gap the rears for use in the front.

What’s life without a little risk?[/quote] There’s a difference between being frugal and cheap. I’m frugal, I hate to spend unnecessary money. However, when it comes to something like this, where the electrode or insulator could potentially break off into the cylinder, scratch up the cylinder wall and/or chip a valve or piston…hence a more expensive job I personally would prefer to minimize the risk. Risk is good, when applicable.

[Author]

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