Hey everyone,
i put some bosch platinums in my truck about 2 months ago and it killed my gas mileage. I gapped them a .04 like you are supposed to, and i lost about 50 miles to a tank on average, sometimes more. Today it was finally nice out so i decided to switch em out for something that was copper, not platinum since everyone here told me they were bad for these motors. i went to get regular champions, but the guys at the store told me that was rediculous, and i should run bosch +4 like he does in his dakota. I told him i wanted autolite,champion, or ngk since i had heard good things about all those. He gave me some NGK v power plugs, and told me to gap them at .05 because thats how they run after he looked on his computer. Is that right? I did it, but after I thought i should ask you guys. No idea for mileage yet, but seemed to be the same on a quick trip i just took. Will gapping the plugs make it use more gas? Sorry, might be a dumb question. I know the bigger gap makes them run cooler, and have a bigger spark, can someone fill me in a little? thanks in advance

 

.04

 

oh man really? damn, that means i have to pull them all back out. how do i make the gap smaller?

 

http://www.handsontools.com/image_ma..._thumbnail.bmpgapper for sale at ur local any parts store and i think that makes it run hotter having a bigger gap...wehre did you go that they didn't have the plugs pre gaped for the specific application...

 

.040 and if you don't have the proper gapping tool push it against the top of your workbench or other hard surface gradually until the gap measures .040. Most quality gapping sets have a prying device built right on them to pry from the side electrodes base to either widen or shrink the gap.Not real expensive and agood investment that you'll use the rest of you're life. Just don't chip the porcelain insulator during the process.

 

why would he tell me .05? hmmm, i dont have time the next couple of days. Do you think it will hurt anything if i wait till monday or tuesday to pull them and shorten the gap?

 

New member here asI am the new owner of a 2001 sport with the 4.7 & 5 speed. Not new to cars/trucks, just the dakotas. The truck has 178k on it and I just replaced the plugs with some bosch 4030's. I think that they are single plats. The truck seems quieter and runs better. After all, they were the ORIGINAL plugs. I measured the gap on one to be a .085 and the truck was still running. Most of the electrodes were worn past the ceramic. But since I have the plats in there, I'll run a tank through and see how many miles I get out of it. Then get a set of chamion RC12MCC4's to put in there to see what the difference is. Was looking for the information on a compression test but couldn't find it with a search. Thought that I should do that since I had the plugs out. The highest was 149 for #1 and I went down the odd side first then the even side but they progressively got less as I got to #8 which was 133. I'm sure that the fact that I had forgotten the TB, IAC, and intake temp sensors were unplugged when I was spinning it over caused some fuel to wash the oil out of the cyls for a bit. Does the dodge EFI have the feature where if you are starting it and you have the gas on the floor it takes that as you are trying to clear a "flooded" situation? Also in the compression test, should I leave all the plugs but the one in or out?

Thanks and I look forward to being a member of this board.
Khyren

 

i tried the autolite plats and too lost between 45/50 miles to a tank of gas. so i went back to the stock champions and mileage went back. also the bosch +4 dont like these trucks, neither do the e3. some people have good luck with the autolite 3923 or the 3922. these are cooler plugs that the 4.7 like.

 

Said forget the NGK and put in some champions. Hope this puts my mileage back to where it was. I started to hear a wierd noise coming from the fan or motor now that I am done. Hope it is nothing big. It sounded like something was hitting something else

 

did you get the firing order right? I'm assuming that this is on an engine other than the 4.7? Try redoing the firing order on the cap and make sure the rotation is right. I once tore the front off of my ford to put in a timing chain thinking that I fubared it and it was all over the fact that I got the rotation wrong.

Khyren