Spark Plugs
 

Essential to the combustion engine, and commonly debated. What brand of spark plug do you use?

Most claim as good if not better performance from good old copper plugs. What are you finding>

You might also want to include the gap of your plugs as well since many ask what to gap them at.

I went with the stock replacement Champions recommended from several people here. Ever since, it feels like the truck LOST power and gas mileage. Im searching for a new set.

So, I installed Champions, but not very happy with them.

NGK 5306 V-Power

I did not notice any difference in milage or performance, which is good I guess. Work fine so far I have about 10,000 on them. Probably going to try the regular NGK's next time.

Oem
 

I run OEM copper Champions. Replaced every 30K just because.

Just installed Champion double platinum plugs. Made a little difference i can tell. Little on mpg's also.

I just ordered 16 Autolite XP Iridium plugs #XP5263 for my new (to me) '03 Ram 1500 Hemi Quad Long Bed 2WD from Advance Auto Parts. They recommend .045 gap. The XPs were a bit pricey @ $6.59 each, but with the $2.00 Autolite rebate per plug (max $32) and free shipping...... I don't know about performance or mileage improvements, but looking at how hard it is (for a 53 year old with back issues) to change some of the Hemi plugs, I think it will be worth the extra money to extend the change interval. I've used Ngk Iridium plugs for several years in my Triumph Bonneville America bike and the wear on the electrode and ground wire is almost negligible. I'm banking that the Autolite XPs will do the same. I will post later about the change and results. Also, I'm a believer in using anti-seize on all plugs, especially those going in aluminum heads. Oh, by the way, this is a great forum!!!

Well, a couple days ago I changed my plugs for the first time since I bought the truck. I've put on 30,000 miles since I bought it and figured it was probably time. The seller told me when he had the truck he kept up with all the fluid changes in the truck according to the service manual and that was all the maintainence he had ever done on the truck. I shot him an email a few weeks ago asking if he had ever changed the spark plugs. He said no. I almost died lol. I bought 16 and prepared for battle. After taking out the first plug I thought to myself, hey this plug doesnt look terribly bad. After taking out all 16, they all looked identical. The gap was slightly bigger than the .045 but not all effed up like I thought they would. Not bad for $1.50 a plug. Think I can get another 130,000 miles out of them? LOL

Never ever ran anything below 89 octane in the tank and all syn fluids. The last 20,000 miles have been with 91 octane and the 91 Preformance tune of the superchips. 16 Champion copper plus, the stock number is 570. The plug number is RE14MCC4, and the gap is .045. Thats what I replaced these same ones with.




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Just replaced all my plugs for the first time for my trucks 30k mile check-up. I used the champion copper cores for two reasons:

1. What was used originally from the factory.
2. Have been told numerous times on the forum and else-where that these hemi's run best on plain old copper-core's.

Took me about 2 hours to finish the tedious 16-plug job.
Used anti-seize and die-electric grease on the plugs.

Runs great and no problems what-so-ever!

Please Please don't let the dealer suck you in on this job. It's not too bad!
I wonder how much they would charge as well...

Whole job cost me about $30.00

-16 plugs
-2 packets of anti-seiz
-2 packets of plug grease.

Has anyone on the board use the E3 plugs for there 4.7? Really dont want to change the plugs again at 60k, ive never owned a truck where you had to change plugs every 30k.

That's mostly for the Hemi's since they like the copper plugs so much. You could get some iridium or platinum plugs since they're supposed to last longer and just pull one or two and check the gap at 30k.

Is there a specific reason the HEMIs prefer to have plain old copper plugs put back in?

Just swapped mine for the same thing that came out of it. I think the main thing is that they run fine on the plugs that cost less than 2 bucks each and that's what the manufacturer recommends. And why pay more and use a longevity plug if you still need to change it every 30k?

I don't know of a reason but some guys have put platinum plugs in and said it didn't run well w/ them. On the other hand some guys have the platinums in and it runs fine, but the consensus is that the plain old champion coppers are the best.

Just kinda strange to me. It seems like with how much of a pain in the butt changing the plugs is, and how much of a more complete and efficient burn the newer style plugs have, that it would make sense to upgrade to a plug that performs better, that doesnt have to be changed every 30K.

Was just wondering if there were some specific reason related to the HEMI that made the plain old copper plugs better.

Not sure the science behind it, but apparently the Hemis are engineered for coppers. From what I understand, and I may be wrong, the way the factory specd timing and spark plug gaps are based off the use of copper plugs. Also, a copper plug is a better conducter than platinums. Another reason for poor performance is when people use platinums, they spec them to the same .045 gap based on coppers which means the spark will be weaker and so will performance. A larger gap is needed to compensate and then timing.

anyone used the E3 plugs that are out? yeah or nay?

i hear a lot of hell no's from the camaro/firebird/corvette community. but i use delco iridiums in the camaro and the ram has stock replacements.

Stock replacement plugs here.

Gonna go stock as well....I like workinn on a truck beats watchin smellavision.

LOL.... am i missing something????? i hear people saying 16 plugs..... is there 16 plugs for a v-8 these days????? WOW.... if that is the case....

The hemi's and newer 4.7's have 16 plugs. they have them on the intake AND exhaust side

cant you just hand tighten them hard. like what the difference hand tight you and your friends and 15 pounds??

you can get by with hand tightening them. The biggest thing is you do not want to over tighten them or else you'll strip out the threads.


also, like 04ramslt said, all the hemis have 16 plugs and the 08 and newer 4.7s have 16 plugs. The goofy thing about the new 4.7 is you have two banks of plugs. One gets replaced like every 48k miles and the other bank gets replaced every 96k miles. You'll have to check the owners manual to make sure those specs are right. Also, the top bank of plugs are set to different gaps than the bottom.

Installed NGK V-Powers a couple of weeks ago. I use them in all my cars.

Seized #8 plug
 

Well I have a little bit of a dilemma, when doing a recent tune up i came upon plug #8 and found it to be seized up. The last thing i wanted to do was snap it off in the head, so i sprayed some penetrating oil on it and just left it to sit hoping the heat from the engine might pull the oil into the threads and loosen it up. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to remove it if the oil doesn't help. By the way its a 2002 Ram 1500 with a 4.7L. Ive been told some horror stories by my mechanic of customers needing to send the Engine heads out to machine shops to be professionally removed costing well over 1400$.

will be changing soon, going with the NGK

i guess im just going with the stock replacements. im only running a v6 and not really worried about any performance gain or anything.

i jus got some double platinum champions, wutdo u think they should b gapped @?

changed my plugs for the first time at about 80,000 miles and they still looked clean. I replaced them with OEM champion.

I'd go with what is recommended on the packaging the plugs came with.

How do you get to #'s 7 and 8? Seems like they're way up in there?

i changed to ngk v-powers at 36k, very noticable difference in smoothness and the hemi seems to build RPM faster now.. some of the plugs i pulled weren't doing so well

I put an old blanket on the top of the engine and lay on top of it. Pulling the wheel and wheel well liner works as well.

I use NGK plugs, changed a minimum of onece a year, most years, twice, depending on how hard i run the truck. Great performance with only one melted plug in 4 years. I am very happy with the NGK's

What would be some recommended plugs for the 4.7L? I've got 58k on mine. I pulled 1 and it was a light light brown color.

Two #7 inch extensions and a 3 inch extension. plus a swivel I used a spark plug socket and the 3 inch ext. followed by the swivel, And then the extensions. The socket and three inch must be disconnected before the spark plug can be removed from the valve cover well.The same as the next cylinder towards you. Started 4:30 am. with a few beers ,done by 9;30. am.

Well, changed the plugs last night. 4.5 hours later everything was back together. The stealership want $6.95 for the standard champion coper plugs. I bought champion double platinum plugs at advanced auto for $4.60 a plug. Truck is running great today.

does anyone have a diagram of the spark plugs locations on a 2006 5.7?

Just changed my spark plugs on my truck. I bought it used with 35k on it about 6 mos ago and wasn't sure if the plugs were ever changed. I pulled them and changed them. They didn't look all that bad, and were only slightly out of gap, but I changed them anyway for peace of mind. Glad I did also because I found two bare injector wires that look like some kind of squirrel or something chewed on them under the intake plenum. Taped them up for now, but am going to get the wires fixed hopefully tomorrow...

I started around 2:30 and finished completely at 6:30 with a lot of patience used!

Problem after changing plugs
 

I just changed the plugs on my 2003 4.7l. Everything went smooth enough and she started right up. However. My wife reports that since the plugs were changed yesterday when she stops to make a turn into our driveway or out of a parking lot (those were the only two instances it has happened so far) the truck just stalls out. No hesitation just stops. I checked all the vacuum hoses and all the connections and everything seems fine. Any ideas?