Platinum plugs

snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Brian Gordon) wrote in news:faihti$455$ snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com:

What brand and model plugs do you have?

Generally speaking, you can leave any sort of plugs in until the electrodes begin to show significant rounding, or whenever the ground electrode's platinum dot is eroded to nothing.

Keep in mind the larger the air gap, the larger the strike voltage, and thus the heavier the stress on the secondary ignition components.

Platinums go for 80k to 100k miles. If you can find iridium plugs, they would possibly be good for the normal life of the vehicle. Depending on driving conditions, habits, ect. IMHO.

According to the maintenance schedule on Toyota's web site, platinum plug replacement is at 60,000 miles for a 2000 Rav4.

That's if the vehicle comes with non-plats. With plats, if you look under the 5/60 page, should be 5yr/60K miles.

I'd recommend going with NGK's Iridium-IX or Iridium-Laser. -Laser has been spec'ed by Toyota for as much as 120K mile intervals because of the thicker electrode and a platinum ground pad. The -IX probably won't last that long.

I personally would avoid Denso spark plugs, and since Iridium's prices came down, no platinums for me either.

Reading this thread on spark plugs, I just realized that our '97 Camry (which we bought at 23K and now has 139K miles) has, to my knowledge, never had a plug change, and I have no clue whether they're platinums or not. The ignition never misses a beat, the acceleration is smooth, and mileage is fine, so why fix something that's not broken? I've never had a tuneup, because the engine has always run smooth as can be. Never a miss or a cough, and starts instantly. Can't argue with success.

Your car does have factory installed platinum plugs. The only "tune-up" for that car is to change the plugs. A tune-up on a car with EFI and electronic ignition is really an outdated concept, but still used by some dealers to bilke customers out of their money.

If your plugs were properly changed with an equal or better quality than the OEM's (somewhat debatable even if you take it to a dealer), then your gas mileage would probably improve, at least slightly.

One problem with this is that the engine performance might degrade ever so slowly that you never notice a difference, but the engine needs a spark plug change. The same thing happens handling, steering, and other parts.

It's like when I replaced the battery in my '84 AMC Eagle (an old crossover vehicle). The difference in the way the car turned over was astounding, yet I never notice anything wrong with the battery until near the bitter end of the battery's life.

Jeff

Quite true. It seems that batteries are about the only components of an automobile that sometimes gives you a bit of warning before they curl up and die.

Mostly true although as others have stated, I can see faulty logic with that. A PC is much the same. It'll sit on your desk and operate for years and years, even with dust collecting deep inside. They can get pretty caked in dust, yet run fine... and then one day, a component just dies. You usually will notice a speed difference (because the CPU throttles...) and/or things are different but sometimes figuring out whether it's software or hardware can be difficult. Thus doing regular maintenance on a PC is critical. As in, take the case off once in a while and blow the dust out. Make sure RPM's on the CPU fan are proper. Make sure the HD isn't running too hot. All things that can run well... until they fail and leave you stranded but with a little maintenance, they'll run for a long time.

Same for vehicles. My car runs like a top generally but I still replace spark plugs, fluid flushes, brakes, etc... generally when the manual calls. I'm guessing I *could* save money by not doing some until symptoms show but, I really don't want a spark plug or ANYTHING really failing when I am traveling. I'd much rather pay $169 for 4 new spark plugs now and know it's done right and before it was time versus $200 towing, tons of labor because it'll happen in BFE, and then since it won't be the dealer replacing the parts, god only knows what off brand I will get that'll require another visit to a competent technician who uses OEM parts and out another $200.

Rather be safer than sorry... :)

I had a car battery that the dye showed was low on charge yet, the car started like a champ, lights never dimmed strangely, and all other components seemed to function fine. The local shop said I should replace it. I went for quite a few months before I saw a post where RayO said even though the car turns over fine, there are other components that rely on a strong working well maintained battery so that despite starting OK, if the battery was likely diagnosed as bad, it'd be a good idea to replace it. I did replace it. I haven't noticed a difference with anything but peace of mind made it worth it. Oh and the 60 month warranty was cool too.