Denso vs. NGK

After reading about the 30K mile plug change interval, I decided to check my plugs to see if the previous owner had changed them since the truck has 53K miles on it and low and behold it still had the original three Densos on the right and three NGK on the left (I still think that's a strange setup from Toyota - maybe they were doing a plug wear check during the design phase and forgot to take it off the production model). Anyway, back to the subject. I've always liked NGK plugs for my bikes but they sure didn't wear very well compared to the Denso plugs. I checked the gap on both and the NGK were .054 vs. the Denso .047. I believe the factory gap is .043 so the NGK were .011 off spec. I'm not sure how much that makes a difference in performance but it sure is a significant change. With that, I decided to go back with all Denso plugs. Has anyone else seen this when changing their plugs?

 

I havent changed my plugs yet but 0.11 seems like alot for the gap to be off. If it were me I would go with the denso plugs because it sounds like they wear better from the info you provided. Plus the larger the gap between the two points of contact the more energy it takes for the spark to jump that gap. What else you might want to do is maybe run a colder or a hotter plug depending on you location.

 

Why would you recommend a different heat range? I'm in B'ham, AL.

 

I am not necessarily saying to run a different heat range of plug. When toyota builds these engines they dont consider that the trucks might go to alaska or another place really cold all the time so they standardize the engines with a certain heat range of plug. I also live in AL so when I chjange my plugs I am gonna go with a medium heat range plug when it comes time to change mine. Becaust it does get really hot and really cold where I live. But it is a choice your gonna have to make.

 

I used a swivel socket to get around the bracket and it wasn't too bad.

 

Oh yeah, that was a pain. I put one finger on the release and then put a screwdriver between the two and twisted the screwdriver to slide the clip off.