Yesterday I decided it was time for new plugs in my '02 Explorer. I had them last changed at 77k miles, the car now has 162k on it. The first thing I noticed was the driver side plugs were worn to between 60-80thou, factory spec is 54 thou.They were light tan and other then a wider gap then spec, looked fine. The passenger side plugs were gapped at between 50 and 55 thou. Also looked to be burning good. My question is why would one side wear more then the other side? Or does everyone think the guy didn't gap the plugs when he put them in?.,,
Strange spark plug wear?.,,
- Thread starter BigCahuna
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I suspect they weren't gaped correctly.
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I suspect they weren't gaped correctly.
+1
Who installed them? They should all be similar in gap even if a couple of the plugs are slightly different as on the Passenger side.
I suspect they weren't gaped correctly.
+1
Who installed them? They should all be similar in gap even if a couple of the plugs are slightly different as on the Passenger side.
I bet it runs way better now.
I had an 82 Oldmobile once that had a Buick 3.8 in it. The car called for 80 thousandths gap on the plugs. In high school shop class, I changed the spark plugs with another class mate. He took it upon himself to gap the plugs on his side of the engine to 30 thousandths. It lost about 30% of its power with half of the engine running the wrong plug gap.
I had an 82 Oldmobile once that had a Buick 3.8 in it. The car called for 80 thousandths gap on the plugs. In high school shop class, I changed the spark plugs with another class mate. He took it upon himself to gap the plugs on his side of the engine to 30 thousandths. It lost about 30% of its power with half of the engine running the wrong plug gap.
Yea it's a 4.0 v-6, and I used the standard platinum Autolite plugs.It really didn't run bad with the old plugs, I guess the computer makes any adjustments to the ignition to keep the emmisions to the bare minimum.I figured after 85,000 miles, I got my moneys worth out of them, and wasn't looking for trouble.,,
An 02 Explorer with V6 has a waste-spark ignition system. One side of the coil pack fires of the + side of the three ignition coils. The other side fires off the - side of the coils.
Three of your spark plugs had the platinum puck on the wrong electrode so they wore faster.
Three of your spark plugs had the platinum puck on the wrong electrode so they wore faster.
Does this have 3 coils with one side negative firing?
To yonyon: Are you saying the spark jumps the other way from ground (head) to central electrode, causing the metal to erode differently?
Man, I'd like to see the details on this system. Kira
Man, I'd like to see the details on this system. Kira
Kira: Of course it does. This stuff has been around for decades and is pretty much going out of style now. Ford's way of doing things has a nice simple package unlike GM Type 1 or anything ugly like that.
Four wires: 1 common ign. pos. and 1 gnd. per coil (one less coil and one less wire four the 4 cyl. and 8 cyl. version) go into the pack. Instead of grounding one side of each secondary winding, both sides go to a tower on top of the sealed coil pack. For each spark event the circuit includes crossing the gap between two spark plugs. The engine completes the circuit between the ground electrode of one plug and the ground electrode of the companion plug which effectively has opposite polarity.
Four wires: 1 common ign. pos. and 1 gnd. per coil (one less coil and one less wire four the 4 cyl. and 8 cyl. version) go into the pack. Instead of grounding one side of each secondary winding, both sides go to a tower on top of the sealed coil pack. For each spark event the circuit includes crossing the gap between two spark plugs. The engine completes the circuit between the ground electrode of one plug and the ground electrode of the companion plug which effectively has opposite polarity.
any waste-spark system that shares a coil between two cylinders requires platinum on both electrodes for best wear. yes, the electron flow is reversed for every other cylinder. NGK has a good description of the system on their site
and the factory ford platinum plugs were actually 2 different plugs
3 had the platinum on the electrode
3 had platinum on the ground.
always use aftermarket double platinums or copper on this type of ignition, single plat. wont work well.
3 had the platinum on the electrode
3 had platinum on the ground.
always use aftermarket double platinums or copper on this type of ignition, single plat. wont work well.
Originally Posted By: yonyon
An 02 Explorer with V6 has a waste-spark ignition system. One side of the coil pack fires of the + side of the three ignition coils. The other side fires off the - side of the coils.
Three of your spark plugs had the platinum puck on the wrong electrode so they wore faster.
And that is why Ford used to have two different spark plug numbers in the same engine. They stopped doing it because it was obviously too confusing for the techs when they replaced plugs and they were somewhat hard to purchase these different numbers anyway.
Just replace the plugs with double platinums.
Edit: Rand beat me to it.
An 02 Explorer with V6 has a waste-spark ignition system. One side of the coil pack fires of the + side of the three ignition coils. The other side fires off the - side of the coils.
Three of your spark plugs had the platinum puck on the wrong electrode so they wore faster.
And that is why Ford used to have two different spark plug numbers in the same engine. They stopped doing it because it was obviously too confusing for the techs when they replaced plugs and they were somewhat hard to purchase these different numbers anyway.
Just replace the plugs with double platinums.
Edit: Rand beat me to it.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Kira
To yonyon: Are you saying the spark jumps the other way from ground (head) to central electrode, causing the metal to erode differently?
Man, I'd like to see the details on this system. Kira
Some reading for you:
http://rockledge.home.comcast.net/~rockledge/RangerPictureGallery/DIS_EDIS.htm
http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/pdf/dyk_waste_spark_ignitions.pdf
To yonyon: Are you saying the spark jumps the other way from ground (head) to central electrode, causing the metal to erode differently?
Man, I'd like to see the details on this system. Kira
Some reading for you:
http://rockledge.home.comcast.net/~rockledge/RangerPictureGallery/DIS_EDIS.htm
http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/pdf/dyk_waste_spark_ignitions.pdf
Originally Posted By: Rand
and the factory ford platinum plugs were actually 2 different plugs
3 had the platinum on the electrode
3 had platinum on the ground.
always use aftermarket double platinums or copper on this type of ignition, single plat. wont work well.
I've always wondered why the Haynes manual for our former 05 Mountaineer had one plug number for the left bank and another one for the right. The factory cheaped out and had single platinum plugs with the puck on the correct side for each different bank?
What a dumb way to save a penny, and that's coming from an accountant.
and the factory ford platinum plugs were actually 2 different plugs
3 had the platinum on the electrode
3 had platinum on the ground.
always use aftermarket double platinums or copper on this type of ignition, single plat. wont work well.
I've always wondered why the Haynes manual for our former 05 Mountaineer had one plug number for the left bank and another one for the right. The factory cheaped out and had single platinum plugs with the puck on the correct side for each different bank?
What a dumb way to save a penny, and that's coming from an accountant.
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