Original spark plugs for my Mazda MPV lasted a long time...

[Kaieye]

Can anyone beat that?

The car ran the same with new spark plugs so maybe I could have gone further?

 

[AmdEmAll]

maybe your gas mileage suffered and you didn't notice?

 

[Baked]

Are you running on the same motor oil that was put in at the factory too?

 

[Kaieye]

Oil changed every 4K. Coolant changed every two years but ATF changed first time, too!

 

[AmdEmAll]

Originally posted by: Kaieye
Oil changed every 4K. Coolant changed every two years but ATF changed first time, too!

You are on borrowed time my friend.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: AmdEmAll

Originally posted by: Kaieye
Oil changed every 4K. Coolant changed every two years but ATF changed first time, too!

You are on borrowed time my friend.

Nonsense.

It's not uncommon for plugs and tranny fluid to last that long, although I bet you could have changed them at 60k and noticed some benefits.

I do agree that 80k on the tranny fluid is pushing it, but as long as you drove with a light foot and in non-extreme conditions, it's not much of a stretch.

The gap was probably way out of spec. Do you still have the old ones? I'd be interested to know what the gap on them was, along with what it's supposed to be.

 

[RedArmy]

Almost a 100,000 miles on the spark plug wires before we replaced them on the CRX. Car ran fine too, started up no problem

/Guinness men "Brilliant!"

 

[Pacfanweb]

Plugs last a lot longer than people leave them in for. Basically, if the engine isn't skipping, then it doesn't need plugs.

You are actually getting better gas mileage as the plugs wear, because a larger gap makes the spark hotter.
edit: reason for this is the coil has to produce a stronger spark to jump the larger gap.

And my 99 Tahoe has nearly 110k and still going on the original plugs, wires, etc.

I remember when the Explorers came out and had 60k platinum plugs. They started coming in at 60k and we tuned them up....and the next week, the owners would be back bitching because their gas mileage had gone down. And it was because the plugs were gapped to the factory specs.

Anyway, lots of cars have 100k plugs now.

 

[clickynext]

Plugs USUALLY can last very long, but not always, and it's much better to change some $3 plugs early than to risk having one die.

 

[todpod]

Had a 93 corsica that had 150,000+ miles on with orginal plugs and wires, ran pretty good too.

 

[cmdrmoocow]

97 Dodge Caravan with the 3.3L V6. Just changed them out today with 131k miles on it. The gaps on 'em were enormous - its a mystery on how the engine still ran, but I did notice terrible gas mileage.

Runs like a charm now 🙂