The Tune-up Special-- Diagnosing and Repairing a Lack of Spark Plug Maintenance
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- Опубликовано: 25 янв 2017
- There really is no such thing as the modern day tune-up. You don't see it advertised as a special at all of your local shops. Not like back in the day. But, that being said, maintenance today is just as important as ever. It can quickly turn into an expensive situation at a shop, but not performing maintenance can add up even faster. Just like it did on this poor Jeep.
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Just wanted to say - EXCELLENT PRESENTATION - SPEAKING, CLARITY - EXCELLENT.
Thank you very much!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Brilliant! Superb presentation! Thank you Wells Vehicle Technology and Super-Master Mechanic Mike! Job "well" done!!
I'be never seen a presentation on spark plugs like this one.I learned something new.
Awesome! Glad you picked something up!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Great presentation. An excellent example and some outstanding photos as well. Thanks!
Thanks Baxrok2! Glad you enjoyed it! A good picture is worth 1000 words right?
Mike Becker, Technical Services Instructor
Great video. My confidence in the integrity and mechanical competency of most shops/tech has been slightly restored by your video (main reason I do most of my own work).
Hey thanks Smooth Rider! Sometimes doing your own work can be the most rewarding and the cheapest..but it's not always feasible. It's always nice to find a shop that you can 100% trust.
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Most guys did their own tune ups. I had a tach, timing light, and dwell meter. Plugs cost maybe $1.50 each. Air filters and that little piece that went into the breather cost maybe $3. Points & condenser was maybe $6 or $8. I did my own, and could dial in the rpm's timing, and dwell angle to perfection. I had a 327 Chevy, and with the engine idling, you couldn't tell it was running. There was plenty of room under the hood to work, even with a big V8. I miss it.
Hi Mark,
Yeah, it is amazing how much the ignition system has changed over the years!
~Ryan
Mike you are such a fantastic communicator...you presented the issues flawlessly and in a simple manner that even an idiot can understand. Well done.
Hey Suhayb, thank you very very much! I really appreciate the kind words :)
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
I learned so much from the close up comparison of the spark plugs. Very easy to comprehend. Thank you for making this video. Very informative.
Hey Mel Rod, thank you very much for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Same here! Best explanation I've ever heard or seen!
Most detailed look at spark plugs diagnosis on the tube. Thank you for puttin this excellent video together to help others.
Thanks for watching Gregory!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
What a great presentation, informative, direct and easily understood. GREAT JOB young man.
Thank you Lael Lewis!!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Great video. I must be the same age as your Grandpa. I started working on car's when I was 10 year's old. I'm 65 now. Your video reminded me of the 12K mile tune-ups years ago. Thanks for the information. I still do all of my scheduled maintenance myself. Thanks again. Bill
Hey Bill, my grandpas quite a bit older. He always has good stories about cars from "back in his day". Thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
I just turned 65 and one thing I remember is that plugs would foul out because of the lead in the gasoline. It was a grey crust that would build up on plugs. Some garages would have plug sand blasters to clean plugs, but they were not used much after about the mid '50's. They just replaced the plugs after that.
Well done. Very informative. Didn't fall asleep once.
Thanks! Glad to here we could keep you engaged.
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Mike, I gotta tell you, you speak very well, easy to listen to, good cadence, very professional. Nice job.
Thanks much for your VERY WELL EXPLAINED information! I thought I knew everything about spark plugs and ignition systems before, now I do!
Hey Mike, thanks!!! Glad you learned a thing or two :)
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Dude I'm a female and you have helped me so so much to understand things I would have never even thought of thank you so much 🥰
Hey Laura, thanks so much! Now you can school your friends on spark plug replacement ;)
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
@@GoTechTraining absolutely ☺️
Very detailed without unnecessary fillers of rambling.
Hey Matt, thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
I love the pry bar holding the hood up!!
Hey Brian, "hood prop" :) We've now gotten an appropriate tool...I really hate getting hit in the head by a hood with weak struts!!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Very useful and damming evidence of lacking maintenance. Good tutorial. Thanks
Thanks for watching David!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
I'm a retired licenced aircraft mechanic; a Canadian A.M.E.What he's saying is: Look after your equipment, it'll look after you!
So true Melvin! :)
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Liked seeing the arcing of the energy through the boot to insulator of the spark plug. Never knew that could happen.
Good tips : what else to for on plugs, not just gap. Thx
Hey, thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Love watching your videos, thank you very much. This particular video got me thinking about when I first started working on cars in the early 90s. I was seeing cars from the European end of the industry, and it's amazing how much everything has changed. I never really worked on carburetors much but the technology and evolution of fuel injection has been amazing. After seeing this evolution, it convinced me that technology didn't just pop up one day after a ufo sighting in Roswell, 😉.
Hi George, thank you! It is an amazing industry that is ALWAYS evolving. Gotta learn every single day just to keep up :)
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Services Instructor
Wow.. I was not expecting such a brilliant video... Great job !. This is a very informative presentation that shares the detailed insights that only experience and know how can provide. I feel like I just came from class having gained a wealth of knowledge in a 9 minute lesson. Thank you. My Pop taught me well also, and I do what I can myself. I'm always looking to learn more, however , and you've delivered some dandy tidbits of knowledge here. .. Big Thumb Up and New Subscriber. 👍🏼🤙🏼
Hey jgjuice m, thank you very much! Welcome to the channel friend :)
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Excellent video and thanks for the fantastic explanation!
Thanks for explaining you make it understandable
No problem!
very well stated. its good that you showed why the coil had to be replaced. most shops wont go that far.
Thanks Donald!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Excellent video I just dealt with worn out spark plugs was able to diagnose and fixed the problem Multiple OBD codes & multiple misfires luckily there was no arcing into ceramic or coils. Car runs like new.
Extremely well done video!!!
Thank you!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Awesome nice presentation 👍
Thanks a ton!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Kudos for covering spark tracking. You are spot on stating that as the spark plug gap increases, more electrical energy is required to create a spark. Furthermore, you are correct in that the surface spark tracks are due to electrical energy finding a "shorter" path to ground.
The correlation between spark plug gap and spark tracking is a bit misleading. A good spark plug whose electrode is worn will suffer a dielectric breakdown around the inner electrode's insulator well before sparking through the exterior insulator and traveling down the spline. If surface spark tracks are found, it is most likely due to a manufacturing error, physical damage to the plug, or an old plug.
The sintered alumina insulation found on most spark plugs will have micro-fractures whose insulating characteristics suffer with age. An increased gap just stresses the problem, but does not cause it. Surface spark tracking and other forms of carbon tracking are also the result of improperly seated boots, letting in moisture, ionized air, and other contaminants, or installing "dirty" spark plugs in the first place.
Tracks on the inside of boots are generally not a problem. Applying a coating of dielectric grease on the inside surface will seal those up and decrease the likelihood of it happening again with a new spark plug. If the cabling is old and the boot is cracked, then replacement is a good consideration. However, if the rest of the cabling still looks good, a cheaper and more effective solution is the use of a third-party replacement boot. That, with some dielectric grease will make it as good as new.
Outstanding video! Super informative. Very well put together
Thank you very much!!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Changing plugs and coils on 2011 f150 5.0 could not figure why I was having a p0300 code turns out she was arching threw the boots. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with us diy guys
Great video. Very informative. I'm can't seem to get my SXS to fire and think the plugs are the culprit. This video is a great tool to look for clues.
I hated points & capaitators. Glad we have advanced. Look after motor & it will serve you well.
Awesome vid.
Hey Denis, as am I. I prefer newer tech over the old way!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
??so when you smell in the gas in the exhaust what causing the problem
Love the presentation of your videos mike 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks!!!!
~Mike
Thanks for the great video. I learned so much.
Great bit of detective work, especially nice followup evidence/ pictures.
Hey Gunnar, thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
That was an amazing information .
Thank you.
Thanks for watching Behrad!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Good video, great pictures very informative 👍👌
Thanks Radman!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Thanks. Very informative and useful presentation. Well done.
Thank you very much SixSixSix!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
thanks for such a great video, mine are well over rounded. And even have a sandy problem
Thank you for this very informative video, guys. Kudos!
Hey Ed, thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Great video. Some people just do not realize the importance of changing their spark plugs. There are a lot of spark plugs out there claiming that they can last 100,000 mi before being changed but your manual may recommend something different but that is not always the case as you mentioned spark plugs can wear out prematurely for different reasons so this is a very good video. Example, my wife has a 2020 Kia forte LXS it's the 2.0 motor 4 cylinder obviously and I have read that NGK or denzo spark plugs are the choice from the factory. Her car has the original spark plugs or had the original spark plugs and they were neither one of those, Champion spark plugs. Upon removing each spark plug I have noticed that they had normal wear on them and the only reason why I removed one spark plug to look at it is 1 to find out what kind of spark plug was used from the factory to see about replacing the spark plugs and a part number on the spark plug and 2 I wanted to see the condition of the spark plug which appeared to be normal wear. Kia recommends changing the spark plugs which are iridium every 30,000 mi to 40,000 mi max but the manual recommends every 97,000 mi. The only reason why I took the spark plug out mainly it's because I wanted to see the condition of the spark plug because my wife was having a power issue problem with the car and only being 3 years old I figured well it's got to be the spark plugs or it could be the coil packs. She was not having a misfire but only a performance issue when it comes to stepping on the gas from a stop and it was intermittent. Anyhow, I changed her spark plugs to Bosch double iridium spark plugs which are gapped to 0.039 which I found out they meaning Kia puts the gap at 0.039 but some of the kids are gapped at 0.032. upon further inspection of the spark plug I did not see where the electrode was worn down that bad at all and she has 86,000 mi on the car already so I went ahead and changed the spark plugs as a normal maintenance thing, changed her oil, and air and cabin filter. I made sure that I got the same gap at 0.039 and the car runs or in this case performs like it was brand new from the factory not only does it work like it's supposed to but it seems like it has more pep to it than it did before and I was leaning toward it was the spark plugs causing that this whole time. That has been a month ago and she has not had any problems since. Like you said in your video, maintenance is very important especially for these newer vehicles that have very sensitive components and will throw a check engine light for just about anything. This is for all the people that really want to take the time to read this and know The importance of maintenance. You cannot always go by your owner's manual is what I'm trying to say because at 86,000 mi I change the spark plugs and the owner's manual claimed 97,000 mi on iridium spark plugs but I figured I got the spark plugs that I would change them out it would not hurt and it actually fixed the problem. Something as simple as spark plugs fouling out or just completely slap worn out will cause all kinds of ignition problems so be aware of a problem as soon as it arises and try to get it fixed ASAP because like he said in the video it could end up costing you thousands of dollars in the long run for something as cheap and simple as changing the spark plugs. On a four-cylinder the spark plugs being on top it's very very simple to change them Just make sure you have the proper gap and do your research if you're doing it yourself.
Ditto others - excellent presentation! Thanks
Thank you Scott!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Dude, great presentation. So many RUclipsr make an effort to sound "special", but (in my opinion) end up sounding annoying. I actually enjoyed your story about old tune ups. Great presentation
Excellent info! great job.
Hey, thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Well done, good presentation, thank you. Reminds me that I should replace the plugs on my civic, never have. What you did not explain is why the fouled plug did not have the carbon tracks on the ceramic.
Hope you guys continue to make videos like this.. I need to change my spark plugs and a shop quoted me over $150.00 so I think ima just buy the spark plugs myself and install them myself
Hey Raftika, I have a new video coming out very soon showing proper installation of plugs on a V6 where the intake manifold has to be removed. Hopefully you can learn a thing or two in that video as well.
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
That is hella cheap
Very good clear and informative
Beautiful explanation. I'm more informed now.
Such an awesome video, wish u were my guidian in this field
Great Presentation
Thanks Marlon!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Really good explanation thank you
Thanks Carmelo!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Excellant vlog!!!
My dad changed the spark plugs and ignition coils on my 2013 Lincoln mks ecoboost. It only costs him $120 for parts. I'm so glad my dad fixes our cars.
Awesome tutorial 👍
Thanks D Reed!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Best explanation on RUclips
Woah thanks Zack!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
If you take care of your car, it will take care of you. Thanks for the video.
For sure!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Nicely explained.
U shod do a vid about nitrous spark plugs & why you need to go down to a colder one & so on . Think your explain it to everyone quite well.
Hey Jay, thanks for watching! I'll see about doing something on some nitrous plugs.
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Old but honestly this is the best video I have saw
Wow Steven, thanks a ton for that!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Bravo!! Very well done. Great job!!
Really, really good. Thanks! I'm new at this and just pulled out the plugs on my 1970 Land Rover. What do I have to do? It's all here in your video. Thank you!
Hey MikeShawToday, thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Well done! A really good video with great information. And I run nothing but NGK.
Thanks Short Change!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
thanks. Very good advice
Hey, thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Wow you really know what are you talking about!!! I'm glad to had attended the ngk technician classes they told us about you and your RUclips channel.
Thanks Oscar! That's awesome. You spent some time with Mark then?
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
@@GoTechTraining I believe it was Mark Engle, he also knows what he's doing. I definitely keep tracking your classes. Thanks a lot!!!
Yeh he does! He's a great trainer!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Thanks for explaining what causes spark plug to go bad and fouling. Now i know if i also need to change ignition coils too
Thanks for watching and commenting Kaira!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Thanks excellent video, one of the best.
Thank you very much daquilema2011!!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
You're going to tell me that you didn't have any spare coil boots like that lying around? Baloney! I have a bunch of those very same boots lying around. You hammered and took advantage of that poor customer.
David, sure you could replace the boots...but whos to say the coil isn't going to fail due to the fact that it's been overworked by the plugs. I don't like comebacks but at the end of the day, it's the customer's decision on what they want in their car.
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Your right David. And a 1,000 dollars for plugs and wires? Man that is an expensive tune up. It's a shame people don't know how easy it is to do this stuff. 5 bucks for spark plugs and a 100 dollars an hour for labor is way to much for me.
J dub . Well it's not just wires, it is the coil.
this is excellent orientation... thanks a million.
Thanks for watching!!!!!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Supporting your channel!!!
Welcome, and thanks!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
THANK YOU, GREAT VID 👍
:)
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Very good video and now l have subscribed. Thankyou
Thanks Raj! Welcome to the channel :)
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Did a tune up myself ngk iridiums with oil change under $75!
Hey Fnasser, good deal! Glad you were able to get it all fixed up!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
I learned the different between old and new vehicle components
Cheers from a mechanic from wisconsin!!
Good video, you covered some important points. I've always been a diy "car guy" and someone with a pretty good understanding of electricity, but I never put much thought into ignition... I thought it didn't really matter what went on and that the high voltage spark was always a consistent set value (like as strong as possible)... I didn't know that larger gaps and worn ignition components actually placed a higher strain on the coils and caused them to fire at a higher voltage until I started doing more research.
Hey Volvo09, thanks for watching and commenting! Glad this video helped you learn more about ignition. My job here is done :)
Mike Becker, Technical Services Instructor
Good video. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
good video, i had to change my jeep plugs today cause it was having issues power and starting.
Thanks for watching David!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Very well explained👏.
Wow, those were some worn electrodes! Salutary lesson, thanks.
Nicely done.
Thanks Daniel!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Probably old but I had a 2015 Dodge Durango that was misfiring. 2015?!? Crazy but maintenance is so important. So true everything you said. It was result of bad ignition coil. Maintenance chart says 130k. That car was way overdue. Thank you. (Car is fixed with all new spark plugs/ignition coils) .
THAT WAS ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO , THANK YOU AND PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING !
Thank you very much!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Great and well-informed presentation! Thank you. But what WAS the deal with the fouled plug? Why was it fouled; and if the current wasn't heading sideways through the ceramic, where was it going?
Hey Mountain Song, thanks! The plug fouled because the spark wasn't jumping across the gap. It was finding another path. No spark, no heat, the plug fouls out.
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Wow really informative video :). I just got my Toyota Yaris back after a year of going through crappy cars. My girlfriend's sister had it for the best part of a year and judging by the state of the oil and sparkplugs, never had any maintenance done on it. Infact two of the spark plugs were loose :O, I presume that could be dangerous? D: .. Now got fresh oil and oil filter and some new plugs in, runs a lot better and sounds happier.
Hey, thanks for watching! Yes, a loose spark plug can be detrimental to an engine. Glad to hear it's running well again :)
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Well explained God bless you
Great video I feel satisfy that I Gab my spark plug a lil smaller than wider.
Hey Firestone, thanks for watching! Best bet is to gap to whatever the manufactorer suggests :)
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
@@GoTechTraining thanks for the advice,
12K mile tune-ups and dwell that changes constantly as points wore plus rebuilding carburetors...ahh the fun days.
Lucky you Bob! or wait...maybe lucky me! I fortunately wasn't alive in those times!
Mike Becker, Technical Services Instructor
That's exactly why I do my own work lol. Iridium plugs for that jeep about $50 for all 6, coils are about $35 each so depending on how many you have to replace its a whole lot cheaper lol. I do agree to maintain vehicles before you have a problem and I personally pull and check my plugs every now and again starting at their half life.
Maintaining your own vehicle is always worth it, if you're able. You can save a ton of money vs going to the shop. Newer vehicles this does become harder though.
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
@@GoTechTraining yeah the newer vehicles can be quite a nightmare and personally I don't like them. Sure there fun to drive get better fuel economy but between the taxes and maintenance not to mention the over inflated price tag I just can't see spending that much money on something I'm not living in lol. Seriously though I don't need a pretty car with a bunch of electronics I need something that will get me from piont A to B. I'm not hanging out in it or spending anymore time then I have to in it. I've driven new vehicles as rentals and yes its nicer but I still didn't wanna be in it anymore then I had to so why spend that kinda money on something that's gonna cost so much and for maintenance lol. Maybe I'm just cheap but I call it thrifty and economical lol.
Hey man, to each his own. You're totally right about inflated price tags!!! It's insane what they are getting for new vehicles...no matter how nice they are. Either way, older cars will be around for a long time, as long as you properly maintain them...which it sounds like you do :)
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
@@GoTechTraining yeah I do my best. I still have to put in the shop for some things but if I can do it definitely do lol. I would love to have a brand new challenger I can't lie but at 40k its a little rich for my blood unless I'm living in it lol. As far as that jeep liberty you're working on in the video I have an 02 with 356k miles on it and it didn't get there from not maintaining it however I believe the headgasket just started leaking on the exhaust side. It's not smoking, or overheating but steam is coming out the cap and I've already replaced the water pump, radiator, thermostat, cap, and all hoses. It did it to me twice I replaced thermostat and cap again but did it again so I parked it until I get time to figure out what's wrong and what I'm gonna do with it lol.
Ohhh I'm not a Dodge guy. I'd rather be in a new Mustang, but same story, haha! 356k wow, that things lived a nice long life! It may be time to get yourself something else. Not sure that's really worth putting head gaskets in. Up here in the rust belt that thing would have more rust than paint on it at this point. haha!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Thanks for the information. Well explained! So, if I understand this correctly.... As the spark plug gap grows wider, the ignition system compensates by jumping the voltage so high that it eventually ruins the coil/boot assemblies, the wiring, and possibly the ECU?? When plugs would wear on the old systems, it would let you know the gap was too large by misfiring. You immediately knew to check the plugs, rotors, etc... No engine check light needed and the cost was relatively small. I guess modern systems are smart enough to detect faults, but they don't warn you (except for oil changes) ahead of time to perform maintenance. The owner's manual doesn't say anything about it either. When the MIL lights, you have it checked out. Besides, once the problems described in this video show up, most folks are ready to trade the car in anyways. Leave it to the next owner to fix.
Hey Troy, thanks for watching!!! That's true. The larger the gap, the harder to jump, the more voltage required. PCM can and does get killed from this on certain vehicles. Every car has a spark plug maintenance interval. We will actually be adding that information to our website very soon!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Yeah I bought a used Toyota Corolla I need to pull the plugs I don't know when they did maintenance last on them there's no book I'm fixing a lot of stuff switching out fluids now I know what to look for with the spark plugs thanks a lot
Thanks for watching Lawrence!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Great advice.
Thanks for watching Tom!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Excellent sir
Thanks Bean Auto!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
i'm old school almost 68, learned on carburetors and Distributors, but were not going back there, the new stuff is not going away, so to the old guys , get on board!
Hey Ray, good to see you're on board! Doesn't matter if you learned in the 60's or the 90's...cars evolve and so does our understanding, right!? You seem to get that! Good for you!
Mike Becker, Technical Services Instructor
you're right!
Excellent Ray!!!
Mike Becker, Technical Services Instructor
I agree with you. Great vid
Thanks Kevin!
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Very good info
Thanks!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Well done!
Thanks Russell!!!
Mike Becker, Senior Technical Instructor
Nice job..I have a question 2007 dodge caliber plugs are shot and way out of gap ..and 2 cylinders are oil fouled was wondering the cause
Pretty dope my man.
Thanks! :)
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
great just enjoying your vid before I go to work. I do recommend your products to my customers. Send me a t - shirt
Awesome! That is great to hear! I would love to send you a t-shirt, but I can't just send them out that easily. Otherwise I would have none left to send. You'll have to earn it by watching our next live training class and answering the giveaway question. Our class is on February 2nd and goes live here on RUclips at 11am and 2pm central time. If you can't make it live send me out an email and I think we will be able to work something out. michael.becker@wellsve.com
Mike Becker, Technical Services Instructor
Nice hood prop Todd
Is this a reference to something? Thanks for watching.
Mike Becker, Senior Instructor
Yes the hood prop