 Earl Glantz shop foreman here at township Chevrolet with another edition of tech talk kind of sticking with our back-to-basics theme next thing we're going to discuss is spark plugs So I guess first things first we'll kind of show you guys a guess for those who don't know what a spark plug is and kind of what It's job is so this is a spark plug Most of them look generally the same there is a few differences between which we'll talk about a little bit here This is what delivers the spark to the actual combustion chamber for the explosion to happen Inside the inside the cylinder, so the spark happens between this gap here, and that's what fires it So we're kind of going to talk about when you should change these What types you should look for for your car, maybe how often you should do them? Spark plugs are a great tool for for a technician if you know how to read them They're just like eyes for an optometrist. They can find a lot of things wrong with your with your health through your eyes These are the same way so for instance We can tell if the vehicle is getting too much fuel not enough fuel too much air not enough air If there's any ignition issues or pre-ignition if your engine's burning oil If your engine's running too hot all that stuff can be we can see that on the different Different colors or the way that the way the spark plug looks when we take it out spark plugs I Guess the the main thing that you know you'd feel it yourself Or notice yourself as the person driving the vehicle would be you might feel a misfire The engine kind of shaken or vibrate and especially on cold start because spark plugs Have to work harder on a cold engine start You might even feel a misfire in the engine when you're driving or heavy load up a hill and trying to maintain your speed Check engine light is another thing that may happen that you may see If there's enough of those misfires over a certain amount of revolutions of the engine that'll come on You can also obviously poor fuel mileage So those are kind of the main things that you'll notice Driving the vehicle and that might be you're in for spark plugs The the interval change is roughly most characteristic in the road between a hundred and a hundred and sixty thousand kilometers now There's a bunch of different factors That can change that number How hard you drive your car higher RPMs higher revolutions if you're a person that Keeps the RPM up higher obviously over them those miles you're driving your RPM You turn them or the engine over more times which means the spark plugs fire and more times If you're working the spark plug under a heavier load So if you're hauling a trailer or a camper and a gas engine obviously that's going to cause them to wear out And any other issues with the engine that may overwork them So for instance if you've if someone's diagnosed a faulty fuel injector or an oxygen sensor That's gone bad or you've got been running around with a dirty air filter for quite a while and you've lost some engine power That's going to make this spark plug work harder The importance of changing these before you really have an issue is This is kind of the last thing in your ignition system. So anything before that is going to be overworked If the spark plugs not changed so as the spark plug wears So that little tip on the end is supposed to be either it's a ritium or platinum Or copper and that little that that tip on the spark plug the spark likes to jump off a nice sharp sharp edge So as it wears out the spark plug will become rounded on the side. So it makes it harder to jump So when it gets harder to jump it requires more voltage to jump that gap Or if the gaps wearing down and it's getting farther away on the tip same thing Which means your coil has to work harder It has to saturate itself more to jump the spark which means your computer has to turn the coil on for a longer period of time And that's harder on the computer. So in your spark plug wire if you have one on your vehicle It's delivering the spark also has to have more electricity flowing through it So all those things can wear a quicker from something just as simple as a spark plug So for the most part spark plugs are pretty easy to change on your vehicle I just have a I have a Malibu here. We'll just kind of give you a quick rundown of kind of where they are at Just give you an example The spark plug in this there's a six-cylinder engine There's three here in the front really easy to get up really easy to get up just unplug it This is your ignition call we talked about earlier that that sends the spark down through you slide that out through there Now unfortunately on this on this particular style engine The other three spark plugs are under this intake. So you'd have to remove this intake to to put those spark plugs in When you're changing spark plugs those spark plugs have a torque spec It's one of the most commonly overtork things in our industry. So there is a torque spec on on them and they're not It's not very high So yeah Three I guess three main types of spark plugs are platinum a radium and copper if you your car calls for Whatever your car calls for you should replace it with but if you have replaced them with a lower grade plug meaning Let's say your car calls for a platinum plug or an iridium plug and you've gone You put a copper plug in your intervals of what your vehicle Calls for for spark plug changes is obviously changed as well Copper plugs are usually about a 20,000 mile spark plug. So that's a far cry from the 60 or 120,000 miles that came in the car So if you're gonna change your plugs the design, I recommend going up So if you're copper now, or you're just a regular old spark plug Go to an iridium or platinum because they are better for obviously more mileage and they're a more rugged plug The tips don't wear out because of the different style design. They don't wear out as quickly. So Yeah, that's pretty much all there is on spark plugs Like I say if you're feeling it if you're noticing any poor mileage Check engine light on any misfires, especially under heavy load. It could be a sign that you need your spark plugs changed Most cars OBD-2 and newer if you have a spark plug that's misfiring in the engine It will a set of engine misfire code which will store in the computer So your check engine light doesn't have to be on at the time you bring it into us You could bring it in check engine light Let's say it comes on on a Saturday and by the time you come in to see us or make an appointment on Monday or Tuesday Obviously the light is out when you're you know, oh, maybe I'll just not bother coming in Any codes that are stored in the engine as long as the battery is not disabled it'll store it so for instance if it's a Number six misfire in this car. It'll be a P0306 and that'll tell the tech There's a misfire in that car Let me obviously go in and look and check things like coil and wiring and spark plug But a lot of the times it is the spark plug because it's doing a lot of the work in there So if you think you you need your spark plugs change You're not even sure what your interval is do you want to find out? Just give us a call or jump online there and book your appointment and bring it in We'll we'll take a look and and give you an opinion on your spark plugs That's another addition to tech talk and look forward to new business with you