27k miles on spark plugs abt right?

Stop typing "abt" instead of "about". It's stupid.

Look in your owner's manual or service interval book. It should have an entry for spark plugs that tells you when it is time to replace them.

My Ford Contour Duratec V6 has intervals of 60 to 100k mi.

Why do you hang around a Toyota group?

Interesting question. Why do you ask?

I checked alldata for you (used an '00 ES protege) and it looks like Mazda calls for replacement of the plugs at 30k using NGK BKR5E-11.

AH never answering a question yet again, LOL

No prblm. bt ther is a mazda grp, rec.autos.makers.mazda, and thr's also rec.autos.tech. If they r available on ur srvr. The mazda grp is a lil 'lite' (not a lot of answers). But the yota grp is k00l.

u spk his lngje?!? Berlitz?

kids these days consider e-mail to be last millennium and sms is the coolest thing. apparently they only use e-mail to communicate on facebook or myspace. Doesn't that makes us feel old.

The maintenance schedule for your car is confusing. If the car has "copper" plugs, then they should be replaced every 30,000 miles. If it is a non-turbo car with platinum plugs, then they should be replaced every 100,000 miles. Which engine do you have?

If it was my car, I'd replace the plugs with the kind originally installed at the factory. I would not switch to platinum plugs unless they were OE. If you have the 1.6L 4 cylinder, I'd install either NGK ZFR5F-11 or Denso KJ20CR-L11 plugs (not Champion, AC, or Autolite).

Ed

I've always wondered why some newsgroup server don't carry some groups. One of my servers doesn't carry the Toyota truck group, but they do carry the Toyota Camry group. How is this determined?

Ed

My car is the Mazda Protege ES..which has the 1.8 liter engine...slightly bigger motor than the base models had at the time.

I'm assuming the motor has copper plugs in it. So will stick with that again. But... me being the lazy type and wanting to reduce as much maintenance as possible was considering installing platinum plugs IF they would allow me more mileage and less change-outs

Also..... why do you advise against Champion, Autolite, etc?

Me too

I can get the Mazda miata group.... but NOT the general Mazda group!

Bad experiences, especially in Japanese cars. For your Mazda I'd stick with the OE type plugs, and purchase either NGK or Denso. I tend to prefer NGKs, but either will be OK. If you are having trouble finding the right plugs, I'd shop in this order - NGK, Denso, Motorcraft, Autolite, Champion, Bosch, AC - but this is just a personal preference.

Platinum plugs may be just fine in your engine and they should last a long time (at least twice as long as the standard plugs). But if the heat range is off, you might have problems. If you are doing the work yourself, you only are risking the cost of the plugs. The maintenance schedule for your car does mention platinum plugs as a possibility. Are you sure that is not what you have?

You probably should consider changing the wires when you change the plugs. I've actually had more problems with old wires than plugs. Rock Auto will sell you a set of Denso wires for $32.

Ed

Thanks will check into this!

Curious why you put Bosch almost last?

I thought Bosch stuff was better?

Just a personal preference. I espeically don't like the Bosch +2 and

+4s plugs. The only difference between Bosch +4s and Splitfires is that Bosch is much more careful in their advertising claims. Otherwise, they probably would have been hauled off to court and lost a class action lawsuit as well. I wouldn't hesitate to use OE type Bosch plugs in a vehicle where they were OE, but I'd avoid them for a Mazda. Just my personal bias.

Ed

Point taken

Thanks!