Iridium plugs

Copper has the highest conductivity of any metal in spark plugs. Copper core will out last and out perform iridium plugs.

Completely irrelevant but a direct injection motor will destroy iridium spark plugs. Carbon deposits on the fine iridium tip and will burn up the center and side electrode in no time.

 

I'm not saying iridium plugs won't work, I'm just saying that copper plugs will work just fine. It's not a race car, they are not trying to shave off every millisecond that you can in a quarter mile. More than likely it's just a daily driver, so copper plugs will be more than adequate for what 99% of the people are using it for. So in my personal opinion, I just stick with what the OEM spark plug is. But I'm sure it would be in this would be more than adequate.

 

I just took out the original spark plugs on the 2007 I just purchased it has 190,000. The drivers side were worn down and had about a .085 gap the passenger side were at .080. Went with Denso copper and will change every 50,000. In my 2001 tacoma I tan irranium and changed ever 100,000 and they had very little wear. What is your time worth either will work and one works longer. Thanks Rick

 

Well 190,000 miles on the original copper plugs tell me there is no reason to go iridium.

 

I run iridiums in my 4 cyl. changed out the factory plugs at 100k miles, the truck was running fine. At 149K miles, the truck is still running fine. The v-6...Im not so sure.

 

From NGK, “Copper spark plugs” is a term mistakenly used for a standard material spark plug. A standard material spark plug traditionally uses a nickel-alloy outer material fused to a copper core. Almost all spark plugs use a copper core center to conduct the electricity, jump the gap, and promote heat dissipation. However, as an outer electrode material, copper would not be a good choice, as it is soft and has a low melting point (resulting in a plug that would last minutes, not miles). Nearly all NGK spark plugs, including precious metals iridium and platinum, have a copper core. When one talks in terms of nickel alloys, platinum and iridium, one is referring to its durability, or how long a spark plug will last before it needs to be replaced. However, when one talks about copper, he or she is referring to its ability to conduct electricity that is needed to fire across the gap and ignite the air-fuel mixture.
https://www.ngksparkplugs.com/about-ngk/spark-plug-101/5-things-you-should-know-about-spark-plugs

 

I forgot to mention that I just changed out my spark plugs two days ago. I have a 2015 V6. I had 3 Denso spark plugs on the passenger side and three NGK plugs on the driver side. They are the original Factory plugs. I've never had a single problem with NGK so I just swap them all out with NGK copper plugs. Seems to run just fine. The truck has 28,000 miles on it. The factory Gap is 0.043, the average gap on the old plugs was 0.050, but the worst one was 0.052. That's not too bad for 28,000 miles, so you could go a little longer but if you want the best gas mileage and all that crap, yeah I would say 30,000 miles is a pretty decent time to swap them out.

 

Thanks for posting. My 2015 PreRunner has just over 28K as well - due for a plug swap soon. The plugs you removed look good.

 

This was not by choice and I would hope nobody that reads these forums would go that long on a set of original plugs. It was done after I purchased this truck that was driven very hard and had very little maintenance. The person I purchased if from said the oil gets changed every 5000 miles and that is all I do. The way they have that oil filter set up makes it so easy. You couple that with a quick drain plug on the oil pan even a cave man could do it.

 

Yeah, I think I'm going to swap the differential oil to while I'm at it. I was thinking about going with the Toyota factory oil, but they want 35 bucks per quart. Screw that, I think I'm going to roll with Amsoil

$28 75w-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75w-90.