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The first time I heard of long-life plugs, I remember thinking, "Who would leave spark plugs in an engine for 100,000 miles"... Why, what's the point...?
Then I bought my 2018 Jeep... It has a 100,000 mile plug replacement recommendation... I thought, yeah, they'll be replaced sooner than that!
Then I found out you have to remove the intake manifold to replace one bank of plugs on that V-6 engine. Yeah, barring a plug issue, they'll be close to 100,000 miles before I go through all that...
I guess long life plugs have their place...
The YouTube car guru Scotty Kilmer talks about that all the time! "**** poor engineering!" he says!
I bought a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee this summer, it has under 34k miles, even though it doesn't call for plugs until 100k, my instinct tells me to change them now, well, the upper intake needs to be removed to replace the passenger side, so, while I sure as hell won't wait until 100k, I will put it off until 50k
The first time I heard of long-life plugs, I remember thinking, "Who would leave spark plugs in an engine for 100,000 miles"... Why, what's the point...?
Then I bought my 2018 Jeep... It has a 100,000 mile plug replacement recommendation... I thought, yeah, they'll be replaced sooner than that!
Then I found out you have to remove the intake manifold to replace one bank of plugs on that V-6 engine. Yeah, barring a plug issue, they'll be close to 100,000 miles before I go through all that...
I guess long life plugs have their place...
However, it takes all of 5-7 minutes to change my Harley plugs, from start to finish... To pull new plugs off my parts shelf, check the gap, remove old plugs, install new plugs, and put the tools away.....
I keep several Champion RA8HC plugs in my parts cabinet. I have 3 Twin Cam bikes and change the plugs once every year or two (on the low mileage bikes). You can get them for less than $3.00 each. Several years ago, not sure if this info is still current, Champion made the HD plug and it was a relabelled RA8HC...
What and no anti seize on the threads? No wonder, u can get it done in 5 to 7 minutes. Lol I run champion as well when i replace the originals.
I ran Denso IXU 22’s in my 95” ‘01 carbed FXD. Started and idled better than stockers. Can’t say it ran better on the road but the motor was strong. I haven’t attempted to use them I a EFI motor.
What and no anti seize on the threads? No wonder, u can get it done in 5 to 7 minutes. Lol I run champion as well when i replace the originals.
Well..... Since you brought it up....
I've used anti-seize on my HD plugs since the 70's...... I stopped using it on new spark plugs several years ago.... If I'm reinstalling a used spark plug, I will put a very small amount on the threads...
Modern spark plugs with a nickel coating (shiny silver colored) threads don't really need it. If the spark plugs have black oxide (dull, dark colored) threads then you should use anit-seize. But black oxide threads are the sign of a "cheaper" or older spark plug. Most modern, quality plugs will have a nickel (or similar) coating.
Champion uses an anti-seize coating on their plugs and recommends that you DO NOT add anti-seize to them...
"Champion spark plugs are zinc plated to reduce the chance of seizure in aluminum cylinder heads. Champion then applies "Tin Tac” and ULTRASEAL'M coatings over the plating to further reduce corrosion and seizure. Anti-seize should NOT be applied to new Champion spark plugs."
NOTE:
NGK uses a "trivalent" coating, and AutoLite uses a nickel plating on their threads to avoid plug seizure..
NGK, AutoLite, AC/Delco, and Champion all advise against using anti-seize when their plugs.
Last edited by hattitude; Jan 13, 2022 at 09:29 AM.
spark plugs are just about all the same... get oem harley plugs ( cheap really ) and just replace every 10k or so... even tho they will probably last 50
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