You know unless I was doing some serious performance mods to my engine that altered the combustion needs I don't think I would Change what is recommended and came factory unless its time to replace and you are asking advice on brand preference. I've always been happy with NGK.
I can tell you I went with one of those multi prong spark plugs on my caliber, and about 5000 miles later all of the control modules went haywire. Ever try to drive stick when the computer is randomly sending gas to the engine - not fun. My dealer said to stick to the original brand or oem - and i have not had an issue since.
have you priced them at the dealer? last time I had to purchase plugs at the dealer was in 2006 for the Hemi Durango we had, and they were only about $2 each if I remember right. The mark up on some parts is not that bad.
Not sure what the rules are with reviving old posts... but check into Autolite 5325 for the 2.0/2.4 platform. Straight copper plugs and you will feel a difference, I have mine gapped at .043", and the difference is night and day. I'll more than likely be re-gapping to .060" in the spring.
I'm not a sparkologist so I have a question. Does the ignition system have enough energy to fire the larger gap? I know larger gap means bigger spark to ingnite fuel but could we be getting a weeker spark or missfire from to big of a gap? I do like the price of $2 instead of $9 for the Denso OE plugs. And I am all for performance that you can feel especially for 10 bucks!
the .060 is not that long of a gap for the coppers. the stock platinums and iridiums are garbage plugs with horrible resistance to spark only for plug longitivity to appeal to the toyota whiner baby crowd to appease the "i dont do maintianence for 100K miles. for the 45+ dollars you spend on the so called stock plugs to be changed at 100K intervals vs the 10 dollar or less Autolite Coppers you save money even with changing them at 30K. for the better responce, better power and all around better drivability for the copper(BTW they are for the 2.0 and 2.4 ONLY) the difference is a MAGIC Plug) lol.
PS. if you go and check the head of the iridiums/platinums VS the coppers the filiment is gigantic. the copper has a better firing surface and trust me. the ignition for these cars is plenty strong enough. they have a set of recomended copper for the 2.0/2.4 but the part number is not correct and does not fit in the head. hence why we suggest the AutoLite 5325.
Hahaha PNW is raining. They are sitting on the seat beside me. Gonna try and get them in tonight. I want to get a feel for what difference they make before my CAI arrives friday. I know the light weight pulley makes a difference on free revs but do you really get much difference when the engine is under load? I'm not going to the track so looking for a little more bang for my buck.
The Spark-plugs are night and day difference. You will get a lot out them, more than I thought. Over-all drive-ability has improved immensely. You going straight CAI with your Intake? I wouldn't mess around with SRI if you have the chance to get straight CAI... every little bit helps!
on the focus forum im part of there have been DYNO proven results of 4 to 5 WHP gains from changing over from Plats to Coppers. there are three basic needs of any internal combustion engine. AIR, FUEL, SPARK. you fix them or alter them you gain. the plats are a very resistant materiel only used for longevity. the coppers will last roughly 25K-30K miles but the benefit outweighs the inconvenience of changing them periodically. for the 10 bucks i spent its to me the most noticeably felt change.
Ok, first impression. It didn't cause me to spill my morning coffee on the way to work this morning but you can definantly feel a difference. There is a very noticeable smoother and stronger pull as you accelerate. Seems to help low end where before if you are driving light footed the trans shifts to early in IMO and boggs down sometimes forcing you to add gas and then trans down shifts to get you going. Good improvement there.
My only concern or question would be trying to set the gap to .060. This is a stretch for this plug and required a bit of work to reshape the electrode for the larger gap while trying to maintain the relationship of the ground electrode to center electrode. Maybe there is a comparable plug with a longer electrode designed for larger gaps?
resurrecting this thread about the Autolite 5325.
I will be doing and oil change & installing a set of plugs in the Dart, which just ticked over 40k miles.
The mileage has dropped down to 28 around town (from 31) and I'm hoping the plugs will bring it back up.
Total from the local parts house is $9 OTD for plugs, much better than $40 for the OE iridium plugs.
Results to follow.
installation complete, was super easy to swap the plugs.
Used some dielectric grease on the coils and anti-seize on the plugs.
Found a small amount of oil on top of the rocker arm cover, all the bolts were still tight though.
No change in driving characteristics, mileage is back up though (after a throttle body cleaning).
you can see the difference in heat range of the 5325s vs stock by less protrusion of the electrode into the combustion chamber.
the stock plugs were far from worn out, I could have easily waited another 10-20k miles before changing them.
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