caboman1964@yahoo.com wrote:
: Thanks for all the help guys. Unfortunately I had already changed my plugs and
: wires by time I read your replys. After slicing my hand twice I decided to
: remove the heat shields! Much easier. I believe the plugs had been changed
: before unless they come from the factory with Champions, but it still felt like
: they welded those plugs in there!
I'm not sure if it holds true for all model years, etc. but my
'96 did come with Champion plugs. I wouldn't be surprised if they
were the originals. Spark plugs seem to be a "maintenance item"
that generally only gets changed if somebody is looking for some
more performance or is hunting down a problem. One of those deals
where people think "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", or don't think
about it at all. I'm guilty of that myself - my '96 Dak is nearing
90,000 miles and I've only changed the plugs once. (And the only
reason I did it even once was that was back when I was bracket racing
it and was looking to get every last bit of power and consistency
out of the motor.)
: The original wires were still on also. A
: friend convinced me to put the Bosch Platinum 2's in, he said you don't have to
: worry about the gap, he has a 02 Ram and a 71-72, not sure on the year,
: Charger. I hope this is not a mistake, he said they are better plug and he
: never had any problems with them, just a little more expensive. I did not
: change the cap and rotor, duh, will do that Monday.
I have heard that the 4.7 doesn't like platinum plugs, but you
should be OK on the 3.9/5.2/5.9. IMHO, the extra cost of the
platinum plugs isn't really worth it; a set of standard Champions
or Autolites will do the trick. As far as the gap goes though,
you may be lucky and not have a problem with it, but I always set
(or at least check) the gap when doing the plugs. Its easy to do
since you've got the plugs out already, and that is one less
variable you can eliminate if something happens down the road (like
the truck starts missing, gas mileage goes down, etc.) Your friend
sounds like the "Russian Roulette" type ;-) - I don't think I could
bring myself to just toss plugs in a motor without checking the gap,
but that's just me, I'm kinda goofy that way. :-) I believe the
factory recommended gap (with the stock ignition system) is .035")
Another thing I always do with spark plugs is to put a little
anti-seize on the threads. Makes the next plug change a whole
lot easier. :-)
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
`------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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