Spark plug suggestions

Iridium plugs don't give any performance improvement, they just last longer and cost less money in the long run. From an electrical perspective iridium and OEM plugs are identical. If changing spark plugs floats your boat, great.

As for Toyota having the best engineers, I'm going to say that their bean counters are even better. The only reason to not use iridium plugs from the factory is saving a few dollars per truck. Millions of Tacomas have been sold and if the accountants can shave a buck per truck that's millions of dollars in their pocket.

 

Truth. If you didn't have bean counters keeping an eye on engineers though a Tacoma would cost $80,000.

 

They call it value engineering. I've done some electrical design work and with a lot of electronics close enough is good enough. Stack a bunch of 5 and 10% tolerances on top of each other and well . . . close enough. You only use the tight tolerance parts where they are absolutely required, cause they cost a fortune.

 

Okay. The stock plugs suck even thought there's 2 people in this very thread that have/had over 150K miles on them (w/no complaints) even though they're a 30K mile plug.
I'm not lazy & like to see what's going on w/my engines. A way to do that is by checking/changing the plugs. It takes <1hr. to change the plugs & I enjoy it on a Saturday afternoon w/a cold beer. The bonus is I get more familiarization, & get to see what's going on, w/the inner-workings of my engine.
I get it, it's not for everyone.

 

This spark plug thread is running pretty good

You can't complain too much about toyota trying to save a buck on some copper plugs. It's a pickup truck, not a Ferrari. In my opinion, ford/chevy/Chrysler are much worse when it comes to cheaping out.

 

you could save more bucks, and put some generic AC DELCO plugs in the import motor.. that might run for a few miles.. lol

 

Here's a good article I just found explaining the difference between the plugs if anyone is curious.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/r/advice/car-maintenance/differences-between-spark-plugs

 

I changed my plugs at a little over 30,000 miles. They weren't fouled but the gaps were certainly open. This is an easy job to do ,use a little never seeze on the threads, and done for another 30,000 miles. I bought the new plugs right from the dealer. Price was reasonable and they were six of the same Denso plugs. Now at 50 k and no issues at all.

As a side note, We had an 07 Jeep Liberty V6. My older guy used that one while at college. One morning he reports a check engine light. Scan the code which shows misfire on Cylinder 6 if I recall right. We pull out the plugs which were some kind of single platinums recommended by the parts guy for that engine. The electrode was totally gone right down to the ceramic insulator.I think those plugs had about 60,000 miles maximum on them. They were all almost as bad. New plugs and all was well. I changed the OEM plugs preventativeley at 60,000 on an 07 Dodge V6 (different engine from Jeep, 3.8 I think) minivan around the same time. Those plugs were like brand new, no need to change at all. I think that was a 100k spark plug engine. My fear of going that long is that the carbon build up on the threads will make them very hard to remove.

 

This is for sure. I wouldn't want to go back to 10,000k, if you were very lucky, (usually way less) plug and points changes.

 

How people choose to spend their time and money is no concern of mine. Misinformation, old wives tales, and FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) annoy me. OEM plugs don't suck it's just that iridium plugs are cheaper in the long run. No harm will come to an engine running them, but implying that OEM is superior just isn't true. And I never said OEM were inferior, just more expensive in regards to time and money.

As for going 150K miles with no spark plug maintenance I'm not sure if that person/persons isn't trolling this thread. Assuming that they are legit it kind of makes my point that you don't need to inspect your plugs every 30K miles.


If you go back the OP's question:

He makes no statement about how he likes to spend his weekends. It's just a question about plugs. Knowing nothing about him, I'm going to recommend iridium, for all of the reasons they are superior to OEM (that being cost in time and money) But, if he's a guy that enjoys working on his truck then OEM might be best. For me given a choice between dicking around on the engine for an hour or spending that same hour out in the desert, I'll choose the desert 10 times out of 10.

 

I bought my 130K '09 V6 with no known service history (auction truck). I did the usual stuff, pushing fluids, changing filters etc. I changed out the plugs with the cheapo Denso's and the plugs that came out were the NGK/Denso so I assume they were stock. I also did the MAF/throttle body cleaning. The throttle body was surprising clean, compared to some of the pics I've seen here. The plugs looked like shit.

Irritatingly, the damn thing runs and idles just like it did before, maybe I was expecting Lexus V8 smoothness. So I would have to agree, 30K plug changes are probably unnecessary. I don't think I'm going to worry about for at least another 60K miles.

 

might get these installled this afternoon if i find some free time.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-truth-about-spark-plugs.152726/

 

I just changed mine this weekend for the second time. I choose to change mine every 3 years regardless of mileage. I ran NGK for the last 3 years and will run Denso for the next 3 years - both copper.
I agree with the prev. statement on reading the used plugs to see how the engine is performing. So much can be seen and any problems caught early is a good thing.
Each to their own but I enjoy doing maintenance to my Taco.

 

Serious question - How would I/you/we know what the look of our used plugs mean, and more importantly, what to do about it?

 

Here's a chart of common spark plug issues on the NGK site.

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/about-ngk/faqs/spark-plug-faqs/how-do-i-read-a-spark-plug

There's a bunch of others, do a search for spark plug charts.

The fix is going to depend on the correct diagnosis. Fix could range from simply replacing the plugs to an engine rebuild.

 

I am not a troll, been posting on forums since before 2004
many people like to just replace things and make them feel better

I have done nothing much on my truck except change PS rack, brakes, ujoints and a few light bulbs

My last 99 taco 2.7 did not get plugs until 130k miles and they were worn out and the idle was rough.

My ex wifes 05 sienna has over 208k and original plugs in it.

 

understanding you have a problem and then researching a fix is a good start. there could be many things that can show/create wear on spark plugs. usually you would expect less issues on a fairly new engine... but once in a while we hear those 200k scenarios without any issues... off the top of my head, by visual inspection of plugs could show a bad O2 sensor, fuel pump, maybe air filter... you never know until you inspect your hardware. usually in 60K you shouldn't see issues, but if you pulled all 6 plugs, and found that one was abnormal, its completely black compared to the rest of them, might show you have issues inside the engine, like a leaking piston ring, or a bad oil seal somewhere.

the opposite of a black plug is a white plug, maybe showing lack of fuel. black usually means flooded with oil.