hey today i called my local nissan dealer to price some spark plugs, they said 11 each, (NGKs) is that high low, or average

 

If its platinum heck yeah. Probably copper though ( possibly iridium), reasonable price range.

 

i have seen some members get the plats for around 8 bucks shipped each online. i just use coppers from advance auto @ 1.69 a piece and change them once a year in the spring or every 15k or so miles.

 

Plats for 8 bucks, that's a steal.

 

are Iridiums worth it

 

hows your gas milage and performance?

 

That's what I'm getting next, i've never used them before but I hear good things. Last longer than copper, conducts better. I figured I would try them out since they aren't very expensive.

 

Spark plugs are spark plugs, get whatever your budget allows, the gains/losses will be minimal unless you're spraying or boosted.

 

thats what i need to hear, cause I got 100,000 miles and need to get some new ones in like yesterday

 

If you got 100K out of the OEM NGK platinums, replace them in kind. Why would you bother considering anything else? You're lucky if you get 30K out of the coppers.

 

No matter what anybody says, copper is the best! They are high maintenance and less durable, but they are the best conductors. If you don't mind doing the work every year, buy the cheap plugs. If you don't believe me, do some research and you'll find that copper is one of the best conductors in the world (second to silver). That's why your house is probably wired in copper!

 

i would personally rather have a better conducting plug and with less wear in my engine. at the price i pay changing them out once a year, it would take 5 years to run the same costs for one set of plats. i do not mind replacing them more often and find it to be an quick and easy job.

 

I say stick with Platnums unless spraying or boosting.
there is no need for coppers even if they are a better conductor

Just my .02 cents

 

I run NGK IX iridiums, and they run awesome. You can get them on E_Bay for $38. Whatever you do stick with NGK. It's not worth all the hassle to take off the intake manifold ($23 intake manifold gasket each time for 3.5 engine) to save a couple of dollars on plugs. Run a good plug, don't f*ck around with anything else. Between pinging problems people have complained about, and weak coils, is it worth it to skimp on the plugs? You are not gonna really gain anything in the HP department (just a properly running engine) regardless of what you use, but you can save yourself some time and aggravation by getting the plugs that the car was designed to work with.

 

Changing the spark plugs is not THAT hard, but the coppers will wear out more quickly than the platinums, which means that you'll need to replace them pretty often (as stated above). The coppers may, in fact, be better conductors than the platinum plugs, but the platinums are not bad at all. Unless you're heavily modded or you have a very weird driving style, sticking with platinums in or near the stock heat range should be fine for you, and it will require maintenance less often on your part.

 

would anyone put 2 step colder plugs if even there not spraying ?

 

Maybe if you rode the short bus to school or know nothing about spark plugs ...

 

some supercharged guys run one and two step lower heat ranges. for na, all you are asking for is power loss.

 

I personally run NGK iridiums, but I think my car ran slightly better on the stock plats.

 

On an naturally aspirated car with no mods or just the usual bolt on mods, you probably don't need to go with colder plugs... unless you like power loss and nasty buildup on the plug tips.

 

I'm thinking about changing my plugs. I would like to go with 2 steps colder copper cores but I don't think NGK makes them. For a 3.5 the partnumber for a stock copper replacement should be LFR5A-11. I think 2 steps colder would be LFR7A-11. Reason why I would like to do the 2 steps colder is because someone said that they alleviated their engine ping that way. I have horrible ping and I’m willing to try anything. I had 2 step colder plugs in my '97 maxima and encountered no performance problems.

 

hey dude your plugs arent needed that bad--if factory plugs theyre good for 105k--thats the service interval for the platinum spark plugs that nissan will sell for a maxima nothing less

 

Why 2 steps colder? Do you have N2o? Or boost(highly unlikey on a 3.5L), stay stock heat range anything else will hurt performance.

 

I changed my stock plats two weeks ago at 55k miles over to NGK V-power coppers (BKR5E-11). My idle is a bit smoother now -- not much else difference.

 

Well i'm bone stock with 50k miles. A couple of bux per copper plug won't kill me financially to perform an experiement in order to possibly remedy my engine ping. My only concern is the rear bank of plugs... a little complicated maybe.. haven't tried it yet. If I can't find colder coppers then I'll just try the coppers in the stock heat range.

 

If you're having pinging problems on the stock plugs, you might have a problem. What grade fuel are you running?

 

ur plugs in the rear arent that difficult man, u just have to remove like 6 bolts to get the intake manifold off-make sure that u replace the gasket. also about the pinging--this is my opinion--I havent really come up with an answer and I work at a dealer--people tell me that its the coils-my 2000 and ive already replaced them--I use 91 octane--cuz thats all they have but still hear it every now and then--the only thing I havent done is hook up some chasis ears to couple of places in the engine area--can not hear it at idle---thats y when u go to the dealer for this issue they tell u to use premium gas and come back when it happens again--nobody wants to spend the time--cuz nissan will not pay us to diagnose it--so most techs will tell u a story. these engines are very sensitive to fuel and spark noises

 

All grades of fuel from any major oil company (87 to 91) make no difference in my car. Octane boosters don't do anything nor does SeaFoam. Nissan Consumer Affairs can't help me. Only additive that had any effect was BG-44k I think it was called. No ping for 3 tank fillups. Grounding kit had no effect. No codes thrown. Only thing the dealership told me was that 2 banks were running lean which they corrected by resetting the ecu. Next thing to try in my mind is the plugs.

 

instead of going with colder plugs, you may want to see about getting the timing retarded a degree or two. colder plugs are dyno proven to loss power and two steps is big jump. if you do not want to do the timing then try one step colder.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm sure I can do the rear plugs without any issues... just a little intimidated. Wish Nissan would admit some sort of defect so we could all get this fixed. If it causes internal engine components to punch through my hood at some stage I guess the nissan service dept will just tell me that it's normal or to make sure that I'm using 91 octane.

I really miss my '97 maxima

 

I was under the impression that jacking with the timing also decreases performance. I don't think they make 2 steps colder for the 3.5. Can't seem to find any documentation on them at least. 1 step colder I haven't tried looking for. Maybe one of my plugs is somehow fouled. I just need to replace them and take them out of the equation. Thanks...

 

removing the intake manifold to get to the rear plugs is just for the 02-03s right?

 

retarding the timing will decrease performance but not as much as two step colder plugs assuming only a 1-2 degree turnback. also to answer the above, you do need to remove the intake manifold on the 3.0 to get the rear spark plugs. it does however help to undo the throttle and cruise control cable to make more room for the top right chamber.