Alright, went out today and bought some NGK g-power platinum spark plugs. 8 of them in fact. And the box for them says to torque down to 18-21 ft. lbs. for use with aluminum heads. When I bought my last set of bosch's, they said to torque them down also, which i did, but my buddy that's a mechanic, says they never torque spark plugs down. Just hand tight, plus 1/2 turn. Just wondering if I need to get my torque wrench out to do this, or is the "mechanics" method good enough. He thought I was crazy taking a torque wrench to my spark plugs, but hell, I just did what the box said to do.

Also, forgive my rookieness, but do I need to gap these spark plugs. That's another thing my mechanic friend asked me about the last set. No, I didn't gap them, or check the gap, or whatever, but why did I have to tell the parts store what kind of vehicle and engine it was, if I had to do the work to set them up properly. My bosch's seemed to do okay, but I recently fixed the plenum, and it was recommended to do a tune up, due to the rear plugs possibly fouling.

So atm, I have a new set of spark plug wires. BWD select (the more expensive ones at o'reillys 7mm) is the brand, which I would also appreciate if someone happens to know which length wires go to which cylinder would be awesome. Otherwise, guess I can just take each one off and replace with the same length wire, 1 by 1. And I have new spark plugs. I realize that dist. cap is also part of a tune-up, but the cap is only 1 year old. Should I replace it??

 

i have never torqued plugs... no cap wouldnt need replaced its better to do wires one at a time any way so you dont mess anything up to where your truck wont run...

and i believe pretty much all plugs come pre gapped now

 

thx tryme for the quick response. I was thinking that replacing the wires 1 by 1 would prob be my best bet. Just thought it was odd, I got a box full of wires with absolutely no indication of which wire goes where. And yeah, year or so ago, my truck wouldn't start when it rained, so my uncles shop replaced the dist cap and I haven't had a problem since. I wouldn't think it'd need replaced so soon.

So y'all agree with the stick my ratchet and socket on the plug and hand tighten it??

 

if ur cap is only a year old id say its still good, and yes always do the wires 1by 1 and match them up is the easiest. i have never torqued a spark plug i pretty much do it like ur friend, when they get a snug feeling i got a little more and call it good. one good investment is the front o2 sensor. that and clean up your throttle body and IAC and it should purrrrrrrr.......

 

For spark plugs that have the crush gasket on 'em, run 'em tight, and then a half turn. If you just have the angled seat, and no washer, run 'em tight, and then give em five minutes of turn more. (not very flippin' much.)

 

alright, last summer, i cleaned off the top of the throttle body, in and around the butterflies, until i couldn't find anymore visible nastiness. And did it again, 2 or so months ago, when I had the entire intake manifold off to do the plenum. How do I go about cleaning that IAC port? Do I have to remove the whole throttle body to do it?? Seems like a pita to get in there while it's on the motor. Or am I thinking of the wrong thing? You're talking about the little port on the throttle body, that has the sensor and wires running to it, right?

 

Yep, on the back side. Taking it off is easiest. And the gasket is only like two bucks.

 

IAC is on the backside of the TB. yes it has a connecter you plug up to it. but if ur trucks idles good already then it might not need cleaning, was just a thought. but the pre-cat o2 sensor is a good option, i noticed my truck idled alot better as soon as i started it up after doin plenum and complete tune up

 

alright. Thought that's what y'all were talking about. Guess I'll have to get to that tomorrow, as I only have 15-20 minutes of sunlight left. Thanks for the quick responses. Everyonce in a while, since I did the plenum fix, it sounds like I get a backfire or something when I'm leaving a red light at half throttle. It's never in first gear, only when I shift into 2nd or 3rd and give it gas. It's only like 5% of the time, it'll do it, but I was just guessing that one of those plugs may have fouled. So tomorrow....need to buy front 02 sensor (not bosch brand, I've heard), and new throttle body gasket, and I'm ready to roll. Thanks for the info.

 

So, sometimes when I pull up at a red light, it sits right at 600 RPM's and never budges. Idles very good. Sometimes I pull up, and it sits at 600, slowly drops to 500-550, then surges up to 7-800, and drops back to 600. Does this over and over again. Then other times, like it did today, I pulled up to the bar, in my parking spot and it was just stuck idling right under 1000 rpms. I blipped the throttle right quick, and it dropped down to 600 and idled fine. You think that could be a IAC issue??