seeing that they are so cheap these days, do people still regap spark plugs? do they work the same when regapped? i've got a few old one sitting around and it seems to be such a waste if they are still good.
Do people regap spark plugs anymore?
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Gapping a plug was more important in the days of conventional ignitions with points and a condenser.
Today many plugs come already correctly gapped for the application. Trying to change the gap on some of these plugs might be at least difficult and at worst would damage the plug.
You should be very careful with all plugs to never touch the business end with your bare fingers.
Today many plugs come already correctly gapped for the application. Trying to change the gap on some of these plugs might be at least difficult and at worst would damage the plug.
You should be very careful with all plugs to never touch the business end with your bare fingers.
If you're referring to automobiles. No way! Not for the amount of time it takes to get them out. If I'm taking them out, I'll check the gap on the new set and put them in. The old ones will go in the trash.
In days of yore the old copper plugs anode would wear down, you could re-gap it and be still good to go with the old points system. If you have equipment that these old coppers fit in you could gap them and give them a go. If you don't like the results, garbage. Not in a car as mentioned though.
Nowadays with iridium and platinum pre-gapped tipped plugs... once that superfine tip is worn it is no good anymore, if you were to try to re-gap sometimes the tip will just crumble anyway.
I have never had an issue touching the 'business end' of a spark plug with my bare fingers. Anything that my fingers may deposit would be meaningless & vaporized by the 950F-1500F temps it sees upon firing. I do take care not to bump any part of it on anything so that the gap isn't altered or it isn't damaged tho. It's not like its a halogen light bulb or something.
Nowadays with iridium and platinum pre-gapped tipped plugs... once that superfine tip is worn it is no good anymore, if you were to try to re-gap sometimes the tip will just crumble anyway.
I have never had an issue touching the 'business end' of a spark plug with my bare fingers. Anything that my fingers may deposit would be meaningless & vaporized by the 950F-1500F temps it sees upon firing. I do take care not to bump any part of it on anything so that the gap isn't altered or it isn't damaged tho. It's not like its a halogen light bulb or something.
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Originally Posted By: demarpaint
If you're referring to automobiles. No way! Not for the amount of time it takes to get them out. If I'm taking them out, I'll check the gap on the new set and put them in. The old ones will go in the trash.
+1 its really not worth the time. If I was to take them out I would spends the $6 to replace them with new ones.
If you're referring to automobiles. No way! Not for the amount of time it takes to get them out. If I'm taking them out, I'll check the gap on the new set and put them in. The old ones will go in the trash.
+1 its really not worth the time. If I was to take them out I would spends the $6 to replace them with new ones.
I do!! After about 30,000 miles, they're not gonna be in spec anymore.
By the way, I've found out from experience that a feeler gauge gives me a more accurate gap setting than the wire gauge types.
By the way, I've found out from experience that a feeler gauge gives me a more accurate gap setting than the wire gauge types.
I check the gap but haven't had to adjust in years. IMO if the packaging is good, they shouldn't be out of spec.
I check the gap on old plugs right before they go in the trash. Just for funsies I guess.
My Durango had the original plugs when I bought it, nearly 100k miles on them, and the gap was .060"-.110". Way beyond the .040" spec. No way to re-gap them, they were too far gone.
Installed new NGK V-power plugs. They really helped restore lost power. Not sure if that was the best choice for plugs, but a set of 8 was $12 so it was a no-brainer to change them. New plug gaps were spot-on, right out of the box.
My Durango had the original plugs when I bought it, nearly 100k miles on them, and the gap was .060"-.110". Way beyond the .040" spec. No way to re-gap them, they were too far gone.
Installed new NGK V-power plugs. They really helped restore lost power. Not sure if that was the best choice for plugs, but a set of 8 was $12 so it was a no-brainer to change them. New plug gaps were spot-on, right out of the box.
I check/adjust the plug gap only on my OPE, but not on my cars. As others have said, today's long service intervals and the trouble involved in reaching the plugs on my cars means new plugs are going in if the old ones come out.
Originally Posted By: WhyMe
seeing that they are so cheap these days, do people still regap spark plugs? do they work the same when regapped? i've got a few old one sitting around and it seems to be such a waste if they are still good.
On cars, no I don't. I check and set the gap on new plugs when they go in, but modern ignitions will run them fine for 100,000 miles (platinum) or >30k miles (copper) in spite of electrode wear and gap increase. By the time you pull them they're so worn that re-gapping would be a waste of time and effort.
seeing that they are so cheap these days, do people still regap spark plugs? do they work the same when regapped? i've got a few old one sitting around and it seems to be such a waste if they are still good.
On cars, no I don't. I check and set the gap on new plugs when they go in, but modern ignitions will run them fine for 100,000 miles (platinum) or >30k miles (copper) in spite of electrode wear and gap increase. By the time you pull them they're so worn that re-gapping would be a waste of time and effort.
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
You should be very careful with all plugs to never touch the business end with your bare fingers.
As mentioned earlier, what are you going to contaminate the plug with that comes close to the harsh environment it will be experiencing for the next 2000 hours?
High temperature quartz envelopes on lamps, yes, the oil on your fingers can turn into a carbon hot spot that cracks the lamp. Electrical contacts, yes, enhanced corrosion. Spark plugs... like trying to erode a mountain by peeing on it.
You should be very careful with all plugs to never touch the business end with your bare fingers.
As mentioned earlier, what are you going to contaminate the plug with that comes close to the harsh environment it will be experiencing for the next 2000 hours?
High temperature quartz envelopes on lamps, yes, the oil on your fingers can turn into a carbon hot spot that cracks the lamp. Electrical contacts, yes, enhanced corrosion. Spark plugs... like trying to erode a mountain by peeing on it.
I don't bother. If the package is intact and the gap looks reasonable in they go, i mean if they are supposed to be for eg 0.35 and it obviously looks way off i will be checking them.
Generally the less you mess around with thin wire electrodes and ground pucks the better, they can be damaged pretty easily.
Generally the less you mess around with thin wire electrodes and ground pucks the better, they can be damaged pretty easily.
My view is, definetely check!
You can't take for granted that the person at the factory is going to be 100% correct every single time.
We don't know if that person is having a bad day and simply wants to fudge one plug and not care.
Not all cars use the same gap anyway. Ford uses like .054" and GM uses .060".
If a plug is gapped to wide, depending on the car's spec, you could eventually create a misfire condition.
Also as an example, say an old '81 Datsun 210 uses an autolite 64 plug, the gap should be .044".
Say an '84 toyota pickup 22r, uses the same plug: gap: .032"
(these were friends cars back in the day, when I was 16 and found it odd that 2 different mfgr's used the same plug).
What's a few minutes to check the gap and possibly adjust? If anything, for sake of mind.
You can't take for granted that the person at the factory is going to be 100% correct every single time.
We don't know if that person is having a bad day and simply wants to fudge one plug and not care.
Not all cars use the same gap anyway. Ford uses like .054" and GM uses .060".
If a plug is gapped to wide, depending on the car's spec, you could eventually create a misfire condition.
Also as an example, say an old '81 Datsun 210 uses an autolite 64 plug, the gap should be .044".
Say an '84 toyota pickup 22r, uses the same plug: gap: .032"
(these were friends cars back in the day, when I was 16 and found it odd that 2 different mfgr's used the same plug).
What's a few minutes to check the gap and possibly adjust? If anything, for sake of mind.
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Regap old plugs? Ummmmm..... no.
Some of them don't even stay in one piece.
Ah. You have a Ford 3-valve...
Yup, a real POS!
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Regap old plugs? Ummmmm..... no.
Some of them don't even stay in one piece.
Ah. You have a Ford 3-valve...
Yup, a real POS!
I always gap every new spark plug (except styles you cannot like bosch 2&4 prongs). Remember that a certain part number plug may fit several different models and they probably all have different gap specs. So the plug maker will set all the plugs of a certain part# to the average of all the models it fits. You may be ok or you may not be. I prefer to be spot on accurate because that plug will be in there a long time and if the gap is preset too wide - you've cost yourself miles of use.
Always gap ma plugs.
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