Fortunately for me my decision is a matter of perference rather than ignorance.

 

Ahhh, those terrible Champion plugs. It cost me $300 to change them. They were frozen in the engine and three broke in place while extracting them. The good thing is, it's getting harder and harder to find Champion plugs anymore at the auto retail stores.

 

Agree. I don't even like to run Champions in my lawnmower, and I will not run them in my 2-cycle chainsaw, trimmer and blower engines.

 

Well, I went with Denso 4503 Platinum plugs on sale at Advance Auto for $1.99 each. Engine is running amazingly smooth now.

The guy I bought the van from last year said the engine had just been tuned prior to my purchase, but I find that hard to believe since the average gap on the Champions I pulled out was .060, and the electrodes were wiped.

In the words of the great Ronald Reagan, "Trust, but verify."

 

Threw in some Autolite Platinums today with new cap rotor and plug wires from Napa Auto Parts. Prior to plug change, put half can of SeaFoam through the carb while running. Shut it down, let sit 5 minutes, then started it back up and ran at 3000 rpm til the smoke cleared. Also added half quart of Marvel Mystery Oil to crankcase. Lifters immediately quieted down. End result, nice smooth running, responsive 3.9L engine. Shoot, didn't even notice the mileage, suspect well past 100,000+ miles. For a 5/94 manufacture, works good enuf for now.