Spark plugs and wires

ryderaluce

New member
I have a 2000t4r, and need to replace the plugs and wires. I've heard people say only NGK and denso products, but I work at a parts warehouse, and can get acdelco parts for cost. Any reason I shouldn't use them? If so, why. Thanks in advance
 
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The engine will know you aren't using OEM plugs and punish you accordingly. :D


But seriously, it should be fine just make sure to get dual ground plugs. Single grounds will give you problems.
 
Long rant as I was bored :D Will put on my flame suit later as plugs, wires, oil and so forth on a car forum are worse than talking politics at a large Christmas dinner haha

Dual ground plugs were the tech at the time and will work perfectly - and are affordable. I would never use them as there are considerably better - longer life plugs today.. and for sure... skip the AC delco.

I would recommend

BKR6EIX-11 ngk IRIDIUM
OR
DENSO IK20

They are a step colder, but they look just as good as a stock 5 range when checked so the step colder is no issue. If you just want a stock heat range, go with BKR5EIX-11 or IK16. I tow a lot so I generally go a step colder.

Both will last with ease past 100K miles and offer excellent fuel burn / combustion. Anyone that tells you different is flat out full of crap. There is a reason almost every manufacturer on the planet has gone to a fire wire electrode. However you will get the argument that only a dual ground plug will work as it was "designed for our engines". Rubbish, they simply used them before fine wire plugs were available. And if you really want to experience a fine wire plugs benefits, stick them in an old engine, mower, dirt bike, quad or whatever application they have them for. They are damn near impossible to foul and make small engines very easy to start and are are far less likely to suffer from ignition breakup / spark blowout with high RPM engines / performance engines. All of these benefits carry over to most any engine (terribly hard to foul, quick starting, excellent fuel burn, exceptionally long life)

I always laugh at people saying fine wire electrodes made their car run poorly blah blah. Or ridiculous crap like the tips will fall off and bounce around putting pin holes in the piston (old school hotrod guys came out with that lol). Or that they made the engine run rough. One guy said ages ago they ran so hot that it melted his engine. REALLY? The plugs made your engine run hot and melted it? lol The engine will run rough if the person tried to gap an iridium plug and snapped off the tips (you do NOT gap iridium unless it is a special application and you know what you are doing) And there was always a ton of old school guys trying to cram a slide gaping tool into an iridium plug breaking it, not realizing they broke it and then *****ing about how their car runs. A lot of people don't get it and think they need a tight gap on iridium because they had to with the old hotrod standard plug referred to as a copper plug (actually a cheap junk nickel tip with copper core. they worked but lifespan sucked). One of the benefits of a fine wire electrode is to run a wider gap, without risk of spark blowout or misfire so keep the above at their .044 stock gap.

Out of the thousands of sets I sold (of all plugs including iridium) and installed as a spark plug specialist for race teams and performance shops in a former life, I never had a single issue with fine wire plugs. Iridium or even gold palladium fine wires simply worked and worked EXCELLENT in every application. I have run them in every vehicle I have owned since their inception including my own 4runners and my put over 90K on a set in my previous 98' to note and hundreds of thousands of miles on them in other cars. In short, install and forget for the LONG run.


Now that I am done with my ridiculous drunken sounding plug rant,
I simply have good luck with NGK wires for the 5vz. They are affordable and very well built. Part number TE66.
 
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I read a bunch of things about replacing plugs before I ordered any. Just recently, I ordered a full set of these: Denso Part# PK16TR11

I don't know much about the science of spark plugs. Maybe my truck will blow up? Maybe it'll just sputter down the road and die a slow death in a ditch? There are so many plug options out there, I needed to settle down and finally buy something :)

Also, these are the wires I bought: NGK (4412) TE66
 
I read a bunch of things about replacing plugs before I ordered any. Just recently, I ordered a full set of these: Denso Part# PK16TR11

I don't know much about the science of spark plugs. Maybe my truck will blow up? Maybe it'll just sputter down the road and die a slow death in a ditch? There are so many plug options out there, I needed to settle down and finally buy something :)

Also, these are the wires I bought: NGK (4412) TE66

I bought the exact same plugs and wires myself a few months ago. FWIW my truck has been running just fine since. I was at 156k miles on the original plugs. Surprisingly they weren't too bad, although it was definitely time to change them.
 
I bought the exact same plugs and wires myself a few months ago. FWIW my truck has been running just fine since. I was at 156k miles on the original plugs. Surprisingly they weren't too bad, although it was definitely time to change them.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I imagine my current plugs are long overdue for replacement. I have a really bad misfire now and I'm hoping new plugs/wires fix the issue.
 
Long rant as I was bored :D Will put on my flame suit later as plugs, wires, oil and so forth on a car forum are worse than talking politics at a large Christmas dinner haha

Dual ground plugs were the tech at the time and will work perfectly - and are affordable. I would never use them as there are considerably better - longer life plugs today.. and for sure... skip the AC delco.

I would recommend

BKR6EIX-11 ngk IRIDIUM
OR
DENSO IK20

They are a step colder, but they look just as good as a stock 5 range when checked so the step colder is no issue. If you just want a stock heat range, go with BKR5EIX-11 or IK16. I tow a lot so I generally go a step colder.

Both will last with ease past 100K miles and offer excellent fuel burn / combustion. Anyone that tells you different is flat out full of crap. There is a reason almost every manufacturer on the planet has gone to a fire wire electrode. However you will get the argument that only a dual ground plug will work as it was "designed for our engines". Rubbish, they simply used them before fine wire plugs were available. And if you really want to experience a fine wire plugs benefits, stick them in an old engine, mower, dirt bike, quad or whatever application they have them for. They are damn near impossible to foul and make small engines very easy to start and are are far less likely to suffer from ignition breakup / spark blowout with high RPM engines / performance engines. All of these benefits carry over to most any engine (terribly hard to foul, quick starting, excellent fuel burn, exceptionally long life)

I always laugh at people saying fine wire electrodes made their car run poorly blah blah. Or ridiculous crap like the tips will fall off and bounce around putting pin holes in the piston (old school hotrod guys came out with that lol). Or that they made the engine run rough. One guy said ages ago they ran so hot that it melted his engine. REALLY? The plugs made your engine run hot and melted it? lol The engine will run rough if the person tried to gap an iridium plug and snapped off the tips (you do NOT gap iridium unless it is a special application and you know what you are doing) And there was always a ton of old school guys trying to cram a slide gaping tool into an iridium plug breaking it, not realizing they broke it and then *****ing about how their car runs. A lot of people don't get it and think they need a tight gap on iridium because they had to with the old hotrod standard plug referred to as a copper plug (actually a cheap junk nickel tip with copper core. they worked but lifespan sucked). One of the benefits of a fine wire electrode is to run a wider gap, without risk of spark blowout or misfire so keep the above at their .044 stock gap.

Out of the thousands of sets I sold (of all plugs including iridium) and installed as a spark plug specialist for race teams and performance shops in a former life, I never had a single issue with fine wire plugs. Iridium or even gold palladium fine wires simply worked and worked EXCELLENT in every application. I have run them in every vehicle I have owned since their inception including my own 4runners and my put over 90K on a set in my previous 98' to note and hundreds of thousands of miles on them in other cars. In short, install and forget for the LONG run.


Now that I am done with my ridiculous drunken sounding plug rant,
I simply have good luck with NGK wires for the 5vz. They are affordable and very well built. Part number TE66.
Long, but very informative! Thanks. You just summed up why I had to start this forum, too many opinions, not enough facts. And I learned new things that I never thought I could know about plugs.
 
Dual ground plugs were the tech at the time and will work perfectly - and are affordable. I would never use them as there are considerably better - longer life plugs today.. and for sure... skip the AC delco.

I bought dual-ground, platinum plugs. Are you saying that single-ground plugs would have been a better option?
 
Recommend only OEM (Denso or NGK) dual grounded plugs. You will regret putting in anything else, maybe not right off but eventually you will.
 
I pulled out a set of the standard Denso dual tip plugs (that I got from a dealer) after about one year/approx. 10K miles. I was surprised at how much they had eroded with that little use.
Next time, Denso or NGK Iridium.
 
I pulled out a set of the standard Denso dual tip plugs (that I got from a dealer) after about one year/approx. 10K miles. I was surprised at how much they had eroded with that little use.
Next time, Denso or NGK Iridium.

Can you clarify please? You pulled out "standard Denso" plugs. Next time, you will use Denso or NGK. You have Denso now, so what do you mean by replacing them with Denso? A different type of Denso, I'm guessing?
 
I pulled out a set of the standard Denso dual tip plugs (that I got from a dealer) after about one year/approx. 10K miles. I was surprised at how much they had eroded with that little use.
Next time, Denso or NGK Iridium.

That surprises me. I have been running the stock NGK 'copper' dual-electrode plugs (BKR5EKB-11 (3967)) in my 1999 every 30k since the first plug change at 30k in April 2002. I'm at 175k now, so five changes. I have never seen any noticeable erosion.

I like changing every 30k. A look at your old plugs is like a chest X-Ray for your engine. It lets you know everything in each cylinder is working fine when you see six plugs with that nice gray color coming out.
 
good timing on this thread, as next week Im doing the resanotor delete, spectre intake thanks to RCastle ( a gift) and gonna replace plugs, as whats in there now is dealer installed about 40k ago
and like Durk said, I like to replace plugs and get a look at what and how the plugs (and cylinders) are firing,

to the NOOB's , don't forget anti-size

plus Ive never been a fan of AC plugs
 
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good timing on this thread, as next week Im doing the resanotor delete, spectre intake thanks to RCastle ( a gift) and gonna replace plugs, as whats in there now is dealer installed about 40k ago
and like Durk said, I like to replace plugs and get a look at what and how the plugs (and cylinders) are firing,

to the NOOB's , don't forget anti-size

plus Ive never been a fan of AC plugs

Agree on AC. Disagree on anti-seize for plugs--from a previous post of mine:

NGK says quite clearly their 'tri-valent' plated plugs don't need anti-seize. (see link below) I have been using NGK plugs without anti-seize every 30k since Day 1 (well, since 30k, 175k now) and I never have a problem. Odds are either yours were not plated plugs or they were wildly over-torqued or left in long after specified mileage life. Using anti-seize can actually CAUSE over-torquing of spark plugs.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachments/3rd-gen-t4rs/169007d1439440934-spark-plug-maintenance-dyk_5points.pdf

Denso also recommends against.http://www.globaldenso.com/en/products/aftermarket/plug/basic_knowledge/installation/index.html

I am a big fan of anti-seize but not on plugs and not on lugs. Use NGK or Denso, torque to spec, change on time and you will be just fine with no anti-seize.
 
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learn something every day, and ive been running NGK for years with antisize
guess I wont anymore

thanks for the NGK link
 
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Use the copper anti seize. No anti-seize is asking for trouble. Two plugs on mine were seized in the head and took me two hours to pull them without damaging the heads. Obviously you've been using anti seize for years with no issues. Why stop now? The NGK site to me reads as a cya just in case type thing. None of my ase mechanic friends recommend not using anti seize.
 
Dual ground plugs are recommended because Toyota went the cheap route by using 3 coil packs to fire six plugs. Therefore, each plug fires twice per power stroke instead of once as occurs with most other engines. Therefore, a dual ground plug in a 3.4 T4R will last about as long as a similar single ground plug in other engines. And, a fine wire single ground plug that lasts a hundred thousand miles or so in most engines will not last that long in a 3.4. For maximum spark plug life a dual ground fine wire plug will work best.
 

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