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Anyone experience problems with removing their spark plugs after many years of service.For instance..My 96' only has 40K Mi. on it but it's 14 years old.Do you think the spark plugs could sieze in the heads after all these years causing removal problems especially if I waite till 100K Mi. before I change them.?
my view, which is not based on anything scientific, is to change the plugs soon after I get a car. I don't know how long that they have been in there or if the person before me used never seeze on them. They CAN strip out the threads in the heads, it isn't that common, but the sooner you get them out and new ones with anti-seeze on them, the better your odds of not having a problem.
If you suspect they're siezed up. Start up the car and let run for a couple of minutes so that the heads start to warm a little, but not too hot to where you cannot get close and remove the plugs. The aluminum head material will expand quicker than the steel material the plugs threads are made of so you should be able to remove them. If the car runs good now, I would just pull a couple of the plugs and check condition and replace if necessary.
Anyone experience problems with removing their spark plugs after many years of service.For instance..My 96' only has 40K Mi. on it but it's 14 years old.Do you think the spark plugs could sieze in the heads after all these years causing removal problems especially if I waite till 100K Mi. before I change them.?
What's your opinion / experience on this.
Thanx
oh yes I experienced this first hand. someone put plugs in with no anti seize. be extremely careful with the #8 and #7 plugs. I thought I had repaired the threads with a reverse tap but I ended up taking the heads off repairing the threads. good luck
I have always changed the plugs when I get a car, Like Skybolt, you just never know how long they have been there. Plus the car is 14 years old, definitely change them.
If you suspect they're siezed up. Start up the car and let run for a couple of minutes so that the heads start to warm a little, but not too hot to where you cannot get close and remove the plugs. The aluminum head material will expand quicker than the steel material the plugs threads are made of so you should be able to remove them. If the car runs good now, I would just pull a couple of the plugs and check condition and replace if necessary.
On that note, definitely inspect the No. 2. plug on the passenger side of the car next to the firewall. If the previous owner/mech. balked at changing ANY plug, it'd be that one. (Yup, it's that big a ****!)
If that one's in good shape (and they're non-AC/Delco platinum) you might be good to go on achieving the maximum service life of 100,000 miles.
I ran into a similar situation on a different car. The plugs had been in for over 100k miles (aluminum head). They did not want to come out. I feared I was going to snap a plug or strip the threads in the head. It might scare some people, but I ended up using an impact wrench on a low setting and they came right out with ease. This was a 4cyl motor though and the plugs were easy to access. Don't forget a little anti seize goes a long way.
I ran into a similar situation on a different car. The plugs had been in for over 100k miles (aluminum head). They did not want to come out. I feared I was going to snap a plug or strip the threads in the head. It might scare some people, but I ended up using an impact wrench on a low setting and they came right out with ease. This was a 4cyl motor though and the plugs were easy to access. Don't forget a little anti seize goes a long way.
Yeah, I usually rub the antisieze on with my finger. Then rub the threads with a paper towel to wipe up the excess to where there is just a thin film of antisieze on the threads. Some guys fill all the threads up with antisieze, which I think is too much.
Anyone experience problems with removing their spark plugs after many years of service.For instance..My 96' only has 40K Mi. on it but it's 14 years old.Do you think the spark plugs could sieze in the heads after all these years causing removal problems especially if I waite till 100K Mi. before I change them.?
What's your opinion / experience on this.
Thanx
I would change these plugs even tho they were rated for 100,000 miles.
The reason is that the OEM LT4 plugs are notorious for the little hockey pucks falling off resulting in too large a gap....stressing everything including the opti
I changed mine at about 25k miles and about half of the plugs had the pucks missing..
I doubt you will find the plugs siezed...just change them with the engine cold ( I think that is better?)
Let us know about your pucks.....hasn't been a topic on the forum for many years now....good to occasionally resurrect old topics
I would change these plugs even tho they were rated for 100,000 miles.
The reason is that the OEM LT4 plugs are notorious for the little hockey pucks falling off resulting in too large a gap....stressing everything including the opti
I changed mine at about 25k miles and about half of the plugs had the pucks missing..
I doubt you will find the plugs siezed...just change them with the engine cold ( I think that is better?)
Let us know about your pucks.....hasn't been a topic on the forum for many years now....good to occasionally reurrect old topics
Yeah, I think that is why alot of LT1/LT4 guys put in NGK plugs instead of AC Delco.
Dennis, I purchased a set of NGK TR-55 plugs for about $17 and Taylor spiro pro 8mm wires for $61 to go on my 95. From the looks of it...it's going to be an all day job. But, I'm going to clean the suspension and anything I can reach while I'm in there. The car has the factory plugs and and wires with 54K miles on them. Starting to get a hot idle miss and stumbling on hard acceleration. Figure it's time to swap the parts out and see what else I find while I'm there. Good luck.
hey, where did you guys find those plugs for $2.60? I'm finding them on Amazon for about $5 at the moment. I'm getting ready to do plugs and wires on my LT4 so I can't use the TR55s but if I could find out where you got those so cheap maybe I could find the ones I need a little cheaper too. Also, what wires would you recommend. I'm on a stock setup and I don't plan on going crazy with mods anytime soon.