Went to colder spark plugs.........and....

[DocE3Gun]

I'm not sure if this should be in the "Issues..." forum or here, but I found it interesting.

42,000+ miles on my '20 Ranger FX4 Lariat and the vast majority of it has been with an Eibach leveling kit, 265/70/18 Toyo Open Country AT3 tires, and Ford Performance tuner. Fuel mileage had been great but had dropped a little over the last 2 months,.... I was also driving short distances and less over the interstates like I do from March to October tho. I also felt that the truck just wasn't that fast and impressive like I'd remembered when I first bought it and especially like I remembered when I installed the Tuner.

I thought I'd try the colder NGK-95822 spark plugs, got them in finally, and we went to install them. What we found on the old spark plugs was that 2 of the 4 were definitely tightened past torque specs, and 2 of 4 had what I'd call a "flash over" where they looked burned via electricity on the porcelain portion like the boots possibly weren't tight. They weren't the 2 tight or 2 correctly torqued that I remember, so no correlation there, and the new spark plugs have antiseize and are torqued to ford's specs.

IMMEDIATELY upon leaving, the truck felt like I'd remembered when I first tuned it and my MPG's have been slowly climbing back up.

Guessing I'll see if I can get replacement boots for the coil packs and plan to replace them and these colder plugs around another 30k miles or so to be safe.

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[JesseS]

Interesting for sure, something else I will have to be on the look out for. Thanks for the plug #'s

 

[MountainGoat]

I'd be worried about snapping them off with the way Ford overtorques parts from the factory.

 

[Dgc333]

I tried colder plugs in my 2.3 Ecoboost Mustang and the only thing I accomplished was shortening the lifespan of the plugs. They started misfiring after about 12k miles. Many folks on the Ecoboost forum had the same experience but rationalized it by feeling they were minimizing detonation.

There is an old hot rodders rule of thumb that says you need to reduce the heat range of the plugs for each additional 75HP you add to the engine.

 

[DocE3Gun]

I tried colder plugs in my 2.3 Ecoboost Mustang and the only thing I accomplished was shortening the lifespan of the plugs. They started misfiring after about 12k miles. Many folks on the Ecoboost forum had the same experience but rationalized it by feeling they were minimizing detonation.

There is an old hot rodders rule of thumb that says you need to reduce the heat range of the plugs for each additional 75HP you add to the engine.

I felt like it wasn't running right with the tuner and factory plugs. At the cost for the plugs (cheap), I don't have an issue swapping them every 30k or so. The flash over and possible boot issues from the coil packs was more concerning to me.

 

[Mustang2Ranger]

Your plugs were nearing the end of their life anyways

The burn on the porcelain is normal, there are other threads on this

Glad that helped your problem by changing them

I changed mine at 17k to colder plugs, stock plugs looked and torqued fine but I had the burn. I plan on changing after 30k at around 45-50K

 

[DocE3Gun]

Your plugs were nearing the end of their life anyways

The burn on the porcelain is normal, there are other threads on this

Glad that helped your problem by changing them

I changed mine at 17k to colder plugs, stock plugs looked and torqued fine but I had the burn. I plan on changing after 30k at around 45-50K

I hadn't found those threads unfortunately. Ford's recommendation for changing plugs was way down the line IIRC, so I was a little surprised. Good info. Thank you.

 

[CO2Ranger]

I hadn't found those threads unfortunately. Ford's recommendation for changing plugs was way down the line IIRC, so I was a little surprised. Good info. Thank you.

I think adding the tune changes the timeline on maintenance. Plugs, oil, etc. all become crucial to stay on top of.

 

[9zero1790]

good info here! my mpg used to be a little higher when i first did the fpp tune a few months back. id get around 23-24 now its pretty much stuck at 21 and my driving is the same. I thought maybe my air filter was getting too dirty so cleaned it up and no improvement. Never would have though to check the plugs this soon but now i will.

 

[Superdannyboy]

Thanks for this post! I almost have 42k miles and I have some NGK ruthenium one step colder plugs ready to put in. My tuner recommended to change every 35k miles so I quickly ordered them. How much do you torque them down??

 

[Joeiconic]

good info here! my mpg used to be a little higher when i first did the fpp tune a few months back. id get around 23-24 now its pretty much stuck at 21 and my driving is the same. I thought maybe my air filter was getting too dirty so cleaned it up and no improvement. Never would have though to check the plugs this soon but now i will.

I’ve read that the properties of winter blend gas generally reduces mpg’s, but to what extent I don’t know. Lots of winter variables per the attached, but it would seem that a reduction in winter mpg’s is normal if you live in a cold climate.

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/coldweather.shtml

 

[Dgc333]

I’ve read that the properties of winter blend gas generally reduces mpg’s, but to what extent I don’t know. Lots of winter variables per the attached, but it would seem that a reduction in winter mpg’s is normal normal if you live in a cold climate.

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/coldweather.shtml

In my 50 years of driving I have always gotten 2 to 3 mpg less in the winter. Between winter gas, longer running in a rich state, colder lubricants and increased rolling resistance of the tires you will see reduced mileage in the winter.

Also FWIW, winter gas is what gas used to be year round before the EPA mandated that the volitales be reduced for emissions. I remember that first winter with the reformulated gas if it was below 30F you could not get your car to start with out a blast of starting fluid. The EPA quickly back pedalled and allowed the higher levels of volitales in the winter.

 

[Mustang2Ranger]

I torqued my plugs by feel, not sure what the spec was

When you do get to doing it, the procedure will probably tell you to remove the fuel line. You don't have to, just rotate/bend the coil/boot and you can get it out no problem

 

[Superdannyboy]

I torqued my plugs by feel, not sure what the spec was

When you do get to doing it, the procedure will probably tell you to remove the fuel line. You don't have to, just rotate/bend the coil/boot and you can get it out no problem

I just torqued by hand in the past with my 07 ranger. I also saw that it said to remove the fuel line, they were just being careful in the instructions lol. Thanks man.

 

[DocE3Gun]

We noticed that with the fuel line, a little wiggle and a lean and it slipped right past it.

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