Here’s what happened. I went to WalMart over the weekend to buy some spark plugs for my truck. There was a happy little computer that you punch in the year make and model of your vehicle and it tells you what plugs to get. It also lists the gap settings for the plug right next to it. I bought the Autolite Platinum’s AP3924 and it said the gap should be 0.045 (I double checked the info). I gapped them up and put them in, all set you would think. The next day I went to sparkplugs.com to see if I got poked on the price and saw that they have the gap setting listed at 0.035. I went to Autolites site and they also said 0.035. I wanted to go down to WalMart and smash the happy little computer with a bat. Now I have to pull out the plugs and re-gap them. I was also told by someone (I don’t know if this is true) that you don’t have to gap Platinum plugs, they are already pre-gapped (it did say on the package to gap them before installation). What effects would the wrong gap setting have on the truck? I just wanted others to know about the evil little computer at WalMart so they don’t become an angry dude like me.

 

shouldnt hurt anything. i mean, if it runs smoothly i would leave it alone. it isnt damaging anything....and if its getting a hot enough spark to run the truck youre good to go.

 

Don't worry about it unless it's not running right. A bigger gap requires more voltage for the spark to jump, which isn't a bad thing if your ignition can deal with it. The downside is that the higher voltage seems to eat away plugs faster or so I've been told. I set mine at .045 this last time. Before that I had them bumped all the way out to .060 and it still ran fine.

 

That makes me feel a little better. The reason I replaced the plugs was, it was about that time and the truck has been idling rough and I thought it would help. It seems to be running smoother while driving after changing the plugs but still rough when idling. Any ideas?

Thank you,

 

cap, rotor, plug wires?

 

I did the cap, rotor and wires last year.

 

dump a can of sea foam in the tank...that should clean any crap out of it.

 

How many miles have you put on it in the last year? Pull the cap off and check the contacts to see if they're worn. Did you use the "good" cap with the brass contacts or the cheap one with the non-brass contacts?

 

I got the cap and wires from the dealer. I put about 18,000 - 20,000 on the truck in a year (mostly highway).

Whats sea foam?

Thanks,

 

This moring I was driving to work and my check engine light came on. I checked the codes and got 12 and 32. 12 says the battery or computer had been disconnected (which is not the case, that I know of) and 32 EGR issues. I dont know anything about the EGR can someone tell me what I should check?

Thanks for all the replies, you guys are always a lot of help with great info!