Spark plugs,platinum plugs, spark plug wires..

[Mark Guthrie]

lol thanks john ive been bed ridden since saturday due a broken tooth, havent left my house except to go to the hospital and the dentist, havent driven my car in a few days now aswell, ill come pick it up soon tho

[Sy Haw Wong]

yup standard ngks are awesome. never had a problem with them.  i've tried many different plugs and all they did was induce misfires on boost. however, i have no tried the iridiums, too $$ for my pocket. 

I have Iridiums in my car.  Both Derek and Calvin came by and checked my car out about a year ago.  As I remembered, Derek you said that the engine was definately misfiring.  I haven't changed them yet, but my own personal research tells me not all spark plugs are made for DSMs, the gaps really do make a difference.  You can have cheaper plugs which may perform better on the car compared to expensive plugs which weren't designed for it.

[John Hartman]

not just DSM's, but most turbo cars in general. Turbo Volvos and Turbo Fords for sure.  Just basic copper plugs.  The Volvos use the same plugs as us btw.

[Scott Girvin]

I use BPR8's gapped to 0.22"....weird.

[John Hartman]

I tried 8 heat range plugs in my red car and yes I was able to run 1-2 psi more but it idled poorly in traffic and wasn't as clean at the tailpipe.  I keep a set of 8's for the hot part of summer at the track.

[Mike Schmid]

so I'm slightly confused...my 60,000 mile tune up is coming up, and I was reading the Haynes manual and it says at 30,000 miles the spark plugs should be changed (not platinum plugs), I'm planning on changing these and have already ordered NGK BPR7ES spark plugs. Now for the 60,000 tune up it says change the platinum plugs..any suggestions on what kind I should get? And what kind of wires to go with the spark plugs? I'd like to stick with NGK cause I hear theyre good quality and they last long, but I was unsure about what exact plugs and wires I should get. My eclipse is pretty much stock (for now  ) with about 58,000 miles
thanks for the help.

The confusion is thus:

Change every 30,000 if you have standard OR change every 60,000 if you have platinum.  Just like oil change every 5000 km on standard oil OR every 10,000 km if you run synthetic.  You don't have to change from regular plugs to platinum, like everybody else, I'd recommend against it.  Run BPR7ES gapped to 0.28-0.30 on a mildly modded car.  Change as often as you need to because they're cheap and probably the most common cause or rough running (along with wires, though they should last alittle longer and aren't as cheap).  I buy the plugs by the dozen. 

Of course this information is DSM specific.  On other cars I run platinums with no problems.  I just changed out the stock original 160,000 km platinums on a Cavalier and it wasn't running noticably bad.  I did notice the effects of the new platinums and an air filter though.  However, if anyone runs a "normal" car too like the above mentioned I would inspect the plugs on occasion and get some antiseize on them.  With the new longer service intervals on vehicles now a helicoil is becoming a common part of the first ever spark plug change. 

[Marke Bailey]

I can relate to what Mike is saying here. I got a 94 Sunbird with a FWD v6, and when I got it, it already had a helicoil on one spark plug hole. lucky me, it was on the firewall side. well, long story short, the helicoil let go and the spark plug would no longer seal. ended up just replacing the head. total cost ~$1000

[Mike Schmid]

I've heard the new Ford 5.4L 3 valve heads are bad for this too.  No surprise on any new car though when you have a steel plug in an aluminum head for 160k kms.  Especially if it a motor prone to letting some moisture in the plug well. 

I always run antiseize on my DSM plug too. 

[John Hartman]

any of the Triton engined Fords. They have 3 whole threads in the head, but a bunch of them in the chamber.  Well, the threads in the chamber get carboned up and then the plug is bigger than the hole it has to fit out.  Yea right.

CAB OFF TRUCK, HEADS OFF ENGINE, to change plugs.

[Mark Guthrie]

ive heard of this aswell, seems alittle nuts!!