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Swapping out spark plugs/wires tomorrow quick question

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Rich J

· I'm doing it wrong
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Discussion starter · #1 ·
#2 ·
Those wires should be fine. It says the boots are pre-greased, but you should probably pick up a little extra dielectric grease just to be sure.

For the plugs, a good number of people hate putting anything Bosch in our cars. Same with NGK, but I put them in - mostly because I'd already bought them. Motorcraft or Autolite copper plugs are recommended.
 
#3 ·
Ngk
motorcraft
autolite

stick with those, the normal copper plugs. Not super, awesome, wonderful, +1, +4, +600, or anything else :p
 
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Discussion starter · #4 ·
Thanks for the quick response bro, since I haven't bought anything yet I will get autolites if they are in stock, which they should be lol. When I went in to get my new TPS I wrote down the part number online, made sure it was in stock at my local autozone. Went in the next morning told them the part number and what it was the guy told me exactly "It will be at least 2 days for it to come in, we don't keep parts like that for specific cars in stock" I told him to look up the part number in his little computer and he was shocked to find out they had one lol.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Discussion starter · #9 ·
I ended up with basic old autolite coppers. Now I got a question, I was hoping to swap them out before I had work but it doesnt look like thats happening, every single wire boot is stuck on the plugs except for one. Any way to get them off? I know I could cut them because I have new wires in my house, but what about the boots? How do I get them off so I can put the ratchet on the plug?
 
#10 ·
demon_54 said:
I ended up with basic old autolite coppers. Now I got a question, I was hoping to swap them out before I had work but it doesnt look like thats happening, every single wire boot is stuck on the plugs except for one. Any way to get them off? I know I could cut them because I have new wires in my house, but what about the boots? How do I get them off so I can put the ratchet on the plug?
Click to expand...
Muscle... they will come off.
 
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Discussion starter · #11 ·
Hahaha alright, just wanted to see if that was how to get them off, I was thinking of doing that lol. Going to take me longer to do them than I thought, I took the one boot off that would come off without a lot of force, put the ratchet on it and it would NOT budge at all. This is going to be fffuuuunnnn tomorrow lol.
 
#13 ·
91sleeper said:
twist and pull
Click to expand...
+1

If they haven't been removed in a long time they get stuck on there pretty good. They also sort of clip in to hold themselves on there (just a note for putting the new ones on). Twist, pull, wiggle. Do what you gotta do, the old ones aren't going back on. And if you still have the factory wires on there, the clips to keep them nice and neat are a bitch. Especially the one between the engine and the firewall. I got so frustrated with that one that I cut the wires in half, grabbed the ends that were still held in by the clip, and pulled until the clip broke so I could get the wires out. Zip ties are nice if you're trying to keep the engine bay looking fairly clean.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Yea I asked a couple of my friends about removing the boots off the plugs. They also told me if twisting and pulling breaks the wire so its just the boot on the plug, to take a flat head screwdriver and pry away at the little metal circle inside the boot that goes on the plugs end, and once that is pried open a little bit it will come right off, almost tempted just to cut them at that point so I can just pry lol.
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Ok good news and bad news, I woke up at 7am today just to do my spark plugs and wires. Only because where I live is going through a heat wave (news/weather people have been saying its the worst in over a decade) so I got up early to beat the heat. I got 4 done lol, then it got to the point where I felt like I was going to pass out, its only 10am lol. Those wires were a bitch to get off the 4 plugs I did though. I was working on the 5th and the plug itself will NOT unscrew. I called my buddy over to help because he knows a lot more about cars than I do. He told me to put a very little bit of PB blaster in there so we did.

We waited about a minute and went at it again, both of us (at different times) putting all our weight into it and it did not budge at all. We tried everything and that one plug wont come out. Anyone have any suggestions? I know its not the best idea to run the car with only 4 new plugs/wires but I have to, I changed all the misfiring plugs though and I found out why they were misfiring. Every single one I took out I was inspecting it and checking the gap on each one, and every single one was at about .48, except for one that was at .44! No wonder why my ride quality sucked so much. The plugs themselves were still in good shape except for the gap issue. They were also double plats which I hear our cars don't like so much.

So any advice on getting this 5th plug out?
 
#16 · (Edited)
did you try to tighten it a lil bit to see if it would move. If it will tighten and I mean just enough to hear it move then it will come out. I just changed the factory set out last week in a 200 and took about 30mins.
 
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Discussion starter · #17 ·
Which part? the prying? Or running my car with only 4 new spark plugs/wires? I know its not the best to run my car like that but its only for about a day, tops. Theres too much heat to do something like that. But the 2 that are left have no signs of misfires or anything. If they did however I wouldnt even turn my car on lol.
 
#18 ·
Pfft I swapped a motor out in a garage in texas heat with no type of air circulation..
and your crying about 6 spark plugs!
:rolleyes:




:hug
 
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#19 ·
hahahaha How hot is it up there. Im in south ga and we have already had 100 and the heat index at 115 and we have humidity like a mofo here
 
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Discussion starter · #20 ·
Don't you guys have dry air down there though? I remember I went out west and it was 90 degrees the whole time, and I didn't break a sweat because it was so dry. But what makes the heat wave going on right now so dangerous is the humidity, its almost at dangerous levels where we were advised to stay inside, 5 people died from it so far and it started 2 days ago. Its bad.

And I have a very very very stupid question... I need to add coolant, but on the cap it says "add radiator coolant only" and I have a jug of engine coolant. Is that the same stuff? If so should I mix it with water even though on the bottle it says don't add water? My fan is kicking on more often then usual now because coolant is low and I was to embarassed to ask such a stupid question. I know my way around most of my engine but I can't even add coolant.... Guess its just because I have never done it before and want to do it right rather than mess something up. I have searched everywhere and have not found a clear cut answer lol.
 
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Rich J
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