Replaced Spark Plugs W/ Pics!!!

[4RunnerRon]

I've used Monument Car Parts for quite a while and they have pretty fair prices from my experience. If they don't have what you need, chances are Pep Boys/Kragen/Auto Zone/etc. won't have them either. You'd be better off checking Summit Racing or Jegs or something like that.

As for the debate over which plugs to get, I've used NGKs in my previous cars and liked them. Realistically, stock Denso's would be fine, too. Bosch is great, also. But we're talking about plugs in a daily driven Toyota engine, not a Porsche. Unless you go with cheap stuff, you should be fine with most of the choices out there. I'd stay away from AutoLite, but the other options should all work fine for you.

 

[the_josh]

after seaching allover the internet for those iridium plugs and to no avail, i decided to just stick with the oem plugs and so im gonna go pick up some tomorrow at antioch toyota

 

[Casper]

josh... got your PM but your box was full.

try www.ngk.com

they are 7 per plug plus shipping on that site. the site that i got mine from seems to have gone out of business.

 

[the_josh]

should i just get the v power cause they have no iridium?

 

[Casper]

Josh did you track down if you need iridiums or not?

If not, then i would go with the Vpowers.

 

[Mr.yoshimura]

Josh did you track down if you need iridiums or not?

If not, then i would go with the Vpowers.

vpower the are oem plug that came stock on the 4R

 

[Casper]

I still cant believe that toyota uses a iridium plug on the v8 but the v6 gets shietarse copper electrode plugs? What the hell is that?!

Well since bosch doesnt list a part number, i guess then i would go with the vpowers. That crap is just horrible!

 

[toybox]

I don't know if this helps but I just priced plugs for my V8 yesterday at partznet and they were ~$7.50.

 

[Casper]

I don't know if this helps but I just priced plugs for my V8 yesterday at partznet and they were ~$7.50.

but what plugs were they? Denso's? OE NGK Laser Iridiums? which?

 

[toybox]

but what plugs were they? Denso's? OE NGK Laser Iridiums? which?

I honestly don't know but partznet is a Toyota dealer so they are direct replacements for whatever the V8 has in it. I'll assume they were the OEM NGK iridiums but I will check again when I go to pick up my parts today or Monday.

 

[Casper]

I honestly don't know but partznet is a Toyota dealer so they are direct replacements for whatever the V8 has in it. I'll assume they were the OEM NGK iridiums but I will check again when I go to pick up my parts today or Monday.

They would be the NGK Laser OE's then.

 

[the_josh]

I still cant believe that toyota uses a iridium plug on the v8 but the v6 gets shietarse copper electrode plugs? What the hell is that?!

Well since bosch doesnt list a part number, i guess then i would go with the vpowers. That crap is just horrible!

i dont think you should make a blanket statement that the v6 uses crappy plugs, im sure the engineers thought about the type of plug to use and the benefits for that particular engine and they decided to use what was best for that application, just because they dont use the same plug doesnt mean they are inferior...

 

[Casper]

Josh,

while i completely agree with you, the simple fact remains that toyota used the iridium plugs in the v8 (in the 05's with the power bump) because they knew that they provide better performance across the board than those of copper plugs.

While some engines are not fit to run them (older engines) newer engines with up to date ECU tunes should be able to run them with no problem.

I think it comes down more to a dollar issue in the end. Those copper plugs are probably like $.50 per one in the v6 and the iridiums are like $2.00 for the v8.

 

[the_josh]

Josh,

while i completely agree with you, the simple fact remains that toyota used the iridium plugs in the v8 (in the 05's with the power bump) because they knew that they provide better performance across the board than those of copper plugs.

While some engines are not fit to run them (older engines) newer engines with up to date ECU tunes should be able to run them with no problem.

I think it comes down more to a dollar issue in the end. Those copper plugs are probably like $.50 per one in the v6 and the iridiums are like $2.00 for the v8.

toyota also uses the iridium plugs in the 04' also.
both the v6 and v8 are totally different engines and has different ecu's and compression ratios and also require different types of sparks, so toyot a used which plug would be the best for each engine. any time you put a different plug in a engine it will change how the engine operates but it is not always better for the engine despite what you may think. therefore i am sticking to the manufacturers advice and a trusted toyota parts guy advice and sticking with the oem plugs. toyota know better than all of us put together how our truck should run so i am not gonna go against that.

the copper and the iridium plugs have different types of spark and timing for thier respective conductivity of the metal and they are put in the engine that will utilize these properties the best.


and lastly im sure that if the iridium plug did the v6 so much better they would of put them in

 

[Randy Arnold]

Mixed Plugs

Changed my plugs on my '04 V6 with 45,000 on the OEM plugs. I had an even mix of NGKs and Denso plugs, NGKs all on the drivers side. All had good color on them with one Denso showing a little blow by noticeable on the insulator. I found it interesting that the gap had eroded out to .052" on all 3 NGK plugs and only .045" on the Denso plugs. The Densos are doing better in my application than the NGKs. I would have no problems running the Densos out to 45,000 again. The biggest difference in sparkplugs is erosion of the donor metals on the electrodes and shape/size of the spark/flame kernel that starts at the electrode. You aren't going to hurt or hamper your engines performance running a platinum plug in place of a plug with an electrode that erodes faster as long as the plug you replace it with has similiar flame propagation.