How far have you gone on a set of plugs?

Not Tacoma, but my previous car I bought with 70k miles and shortly after started having misfires in one of the cylinders when under load.
I took out the plugs and re-gapped them. The misfire cylinder had the worst gap, of course.
Despite looking old and worn, simply correcting the gaps fixed the misfires and the car felt like it accelerated a lot better.
I ordered new plugs and replaced the old ones anyway, but I'm sure the original plugs would have continued doing their job for many more miles.

 

My very first car (when I knew nothing) ran to 165k miles on the original plugs. Car was still running, but very poorly. When I worked on cars, I'll never forget this young lady that brought in her VW Cabrio. I wish I could remember the mileage, but I started pulling plugs and many of them had nothing surrounding the electrode.

For the Tacoma I couldn't believe the 60k mile interval. Most, if not all newer vehicles can make it at least 90k miles on plugs. I changed the Tacoma's plugs, but I wasn't happy about it.

Sort of off-topic: I've noticed a lot of German vehicles saying they have lifetime transmission fluid. While it'll make it quite a while, I don't believe the lifetime claim. My wife has an old Passat that was exhibiting some mild transmission issues. I changed the "lifetime" fluid and all the issues disappeared. Now the car had close to 200k miles at the time, but yeah.

 

It depends on what they're made from. I haven't changed them in my Tacoma yet but my Canyon recommended new ones at 100k. They were iridium, which is the longest lasting from my understanding. They were a little discolored as expected but looked nearly brand new otherwise. Just do what is recommended and if you're in doubt get it taken care of with OEM plugs. Cheap insurance.

 

Good stories... Good catch on the tranny fluid.

I was working as a manager (talked into it, big mistake) at a new O'Reilly store and a young lady walked in to buy plugs for her car... the same year car as the year we were living in. So a car less than a year old. I asked her how many miles were on the car and she said, "Coming up on 18K." Apparently she had been trained by her grandfather that was a mechanic before electronic ignitions. I explained to her that she could wait to change her plugs and that she could verify my advice by reading her owners manual. She was kind of stunned that I was honest and wasn't trying to sell plugs to her.

In the end I got fired from O'Reilly's for growing their store profits every single month I was there by thousands of dollars... by being honest with the customers.

 

Bought my truck used with like 44k on it or something. Didn't do anything till I hit 60k then did the full service. While that's not nearly as far as some guys on here have gone, the gap was still about 10 thou over as I recall. Randy's picture above is friggin atrocious. Even on my phone and I can see how bad those are.

They are a wear item no doubt. So as little time as it takes and as cheap as it is, why wouldn't you replace them often?

 

On our 2009 Rabbit we ran the plugs until about 70K (kilometres) and then the ECU threw a code. On e of the plugs had over-oxidized and no longer was producing a spark.

The reason you change spark plugs is to enure maximum spark in order to avoid misfire/timing issues.

A lot of people believe if it ain't broke, fit ain't broke. Other think it ain't broke cuz I stay ahead of it. I'm in the preventative category, but that means oil changes at 8K, and filters every 10... I like clean good smelling interior air, so charcoal for me.

 

Wow, can't believe that some are running the copper plugs up to 160k. Here's what mine looked like at 100k. The Denso's (L) were around .048 and the NGK's were around .068. I never really noticed a performance hit with the plugs gap worn as such, but curious to know what kind of life to expect from the coil packs.

 

Good pics. Interesting that the comparison showed that much difference.

I have to say that both plugs look like they were burning clean. I suspect that filing the electrode and regapping would make those plugs work just fine although the life might be substantially less.

 

I used to use Torquemaster plugs in my vehicles and they are supposed to be good for 100k if I remember correctly. I still have a set in my BMW GS that I installed in 2004 and they are going strong. I always noticed and increase in mileage as well. I installed them in a 1998 Africa Twin and was able to get an extra 20 miles out of a tank of fuel which was a bonus.

https://extremespark.com/

 

Factory mix of NGK/Denso:


Yikes!

 

That's amazing! I knew plugs would go a 100K easily but 200K+ is impressive.

 

4.3 Vortec Inline 6?? The GMC pickup I had with the 4.3 Vortec, wasn't an inline. It was a V.

 

I may be off a bit on the displacement. But it is absolutely an inline 6. That rear plug was way the H back there under the cowling near the radio.

Just confirmed the displacement is 4.2L

 

I went about 140k miles / 23 years on the original plugs on my '98. I started to have a misfire/stumble this past summer. Took it to the dealer, they replaced the plugs and it's run fine ever since. I've gone as long as 175k on a Honda with the original plugs before being sold. My dad went 240k on his Aerostar with the original plugs before he sold it. Until the incident a few months ago, I would've said that factory plugs are good for the life of the car.

 

I've actually wondered about that. I hear about people maintaining their vehicles to death and other than oild changes I pretty much ignore maintenance... and I don't break stuff. I put miles on and end up selling the vehicle running fine, sometimes years and hundreds of miles later. I've often wondered if it has something to do with how a person drives too. I'll go anywhere others go, within reason, but I drive gently.

 

I tend to be bi-modal when it comes to maintaining my vehicles. All fluids changed religiously - engine, transmission, coolant, axles/xfer cases where applicable. I pay extra for the factory coolant and OEM filters. I always use full synthetic oils. I believe those things make a car last longer or at least stay reliable longer.

But other stuff that people recommend - flushing brake or power steer fluids, plugs and wires - I have rarely, if ever done.

No doubt low stress motoring helps cars last longer, but I think there is expectation bias as well. I view my cars as an "investment". I rely on them to get me places and back reliably and safely for 10, 15 or 20 years. So I maintain my cars as such.

 

@hr206

You should consider those other tasks.

Our '02 Chevy, needed a load of work, it was over 115,xxx miles. Brake fluid had turned to a green color, Power steering fluid looked like 10k mile motor oil, coolant tested at 20*F (not good enough, should be -30*F or lower), original fuel filter, dark cherry ATF, thick diff fluid, original plugs.......

 

Yeah... and I get that... but long ago I decided to test those theories of "necessary" maintenance.

I bought a new car and the power steering pump went out at 15K, fixed under warranty, and the dealership tech recommended the serp belt be replaced because "cracks". I sold that car at 100K having replaced that belt only because I was selling it.

Dealerships routinely recommend 3K oil changes just so they can upsell. I've seen dealership mechanics catch oil from cars and use it in their own vehicles.

We are sold a lot of unnecessary fear.

 

Swapped mine out at 120k. Truck still had the factory plugs in it. Worst plugs gapped out at 0.066"

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-spark-plug-change-1-gr-fe.30479/page-113#post-26672099

I will say the passenger side plugs squeaked a little coming out haha. I haven't had a plug shoot out yet so I'd call the swap a success.

I will also agree with the folks who said the plug change on this motor is super easy. The only PITA was the front driver plug under the throttle body.