Spark Plug Gap
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 4,501
Likes: 1
From: TAMPA BAY FL.
we were taught to always regap plugs, or at least check them. Think about the ups guy just tossing those boxes around during shipping. Do you think they are always going to land safely gap up? Where are they made? they have to get cross country or world somehow.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,167
Likes: 11
From: Powell TN
Cruise-In VIII Veteran
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 4,501
Likes: 1
From: TAMPA BAY FL.
take a new plug still in its box and drop it on a hard surface on its gap end a half dozen times. Then measure the gap. Keep in mind how much a case of 50 or 60 plugs weigh in a shipping box and think about how many times they are dropped on to pallets and in and out of trucks. I hope the cardboard is about an inch thick.
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Former Vendor
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 718
Likes: 1
From: Riviera Beach FL
You are right. The 30 seconds it takes to check the gap is nothing compared to pulling out all the new plugs looking for a miss. While checking the gap on more than one occasion I have found a defective ground strap. The plugs looked ok but the ground strap moved easily due to a poor weld between the strap and plug body.
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 205
Likes: 0
From: Bay Area CA
, I bought a set of iridium plugs for my sister's c5 a few months back and finally had some time this past weekend to swap them out along with a new set of GM wires. I never bothered to check the forum to verify the proper gap for the plugs. I just checked in the car's manual and it said to gap it at .060" which I did. Now I see that these plugs actually comes pregapped at .040".The car starts and runs fine. It was a PITA to do the plugs. Should I be concern at all with leaving the gap at .060"? It's a daily driver and she drives like a grandma
. TIA.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,933
Likes: 30
From: San Rafael CA
If the car is running OK, I'd leave it alone. By altering the gap (which the AC Delco web site warns you not to do) you run the risk of two things ...
1) Breaking off the electrode while trying to regap them (which apparently you avoided ...
)
2) Reducing the life of the plugs. They will probably start to cause a miss sooner than if they were at .040 .... maybe you'll get 50k miles instead of 100k miles out of them ... maybe 40k ... maybe 60k .... hard to say.
1) Breaking off the electrode while trying to regap them (which apparently you avoided ...
)2) Reducing the life of the plugs. They will probably start to cause a miss sooner than if they were at .040 .... maybe you'll get 50k miles instead of 100k miles out of them ... maybe 40k ... maybe 60k .... hard to say.
