When to change the plugs?

Cue-Ball · Post by **Cue-Ball** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:31 am

When are we suppose to change the plugs on the Vibe? I don't have the owners manual in fromt of me and want to order them today if I need to.

bud_one · Post by **bud_one** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:34 am

Per owners manual it says - 120,000 miles (200,000 km)dang it.....

Cue-Ball · Post by **Cue-Ball** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:35 am

Thanks. Appreciate the response. Sorry to ask such a newb question.

bud_one · Post by **bud_one** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:36 am

Not a problem - you're very welcome....

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:38 am

Ask away we are here to help

Cue-Ball · Post by **Cue-Ball** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:42 am

Thanks guys.I am big in the Jeep community, but have not really done anything with the wife's Vibe since it has been under warranty and now that it is out I guess it is my turn to wrench on it.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 3:00 am

if they're irridium plugs, which they should be you don;t have to worry about them for a long time

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:10 am

Quote, originally posted by Cue-Ball Â»I don't have the owners manual in fromt of me and want to order them today if I need to.You can download a PDF of the owners manual from links in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=1010

Cue-Ball · Post by **Cue-Ball** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:13 am

Thanks man that's GREAT!!!!Now does anyone know of a place for a factory service manual in PDF????

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:31 am

see http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=1156

Mavrik · Post by **Mavrik** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:41 am

I would change them before that time though... when I worked for GM... 80,000km was the average life I was seeing from most people's plugs. Of course my 96 Sunfire GT with 150,000+ miles on it when I sold it was on original plugs.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:21 pm

I changed mine at 40-something thousand in an attempt at troubleshooting a pleathora of engine problems. The plugs these things come with from the factory are of the Denso Iridium tipped variety, and you can actually get the same exact ones from Auto Zone. Not cheap though, here they were $54 after tax. That's a hell of a lot of money for four plugs. They are good for 120K, but I wouldn't personally run them for that long. If I wouldn't have changed mine earlier, I would shoot for 60K to change them out, regardless of whether they needed it or not. I'm (removed) about overmaintaining.Kinda like what Mav said about the other GM vehicles, the last two I had that had the long life 100K platnium tipped plugs, I always got rid of those suckers at 50K. The car still ran ok, but I replaced them anyway.

rubberman · Post by **rubberman** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:05 am

Should take them out and put anti seeze on the threads once a yr.If not you will never get them out.

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:11 am

I'm replacing mine today (58k miles) with NGK laser iridium's IFR5T11. Still not happy with the gas mileage I get, even though I know it's one of the trade-off's with AWD.

21Rouge · Post by **21Rouge** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:14 am

Quote, originally posted by joatmon Â»You can download a PDF of the owners manual from links in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=1010I asked, without success, at Matrixowners.com hoping to find the Matrix owner's manual online. By chance do you know if it exists on the www like our Vibe?

ToolGuy · Post by **ToolGuy** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:15 am

I always take the recommended interval for long life items and cut it in half. For Vibe I will be doing it at 50,000.The longer they are in, the more chances you have for a misfire code to pop up as they age.

Rico Rose · Post by **Rico Rose** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 2:26 pm

I agree with rubberman, I changed mine at 80,000 miles and had a hell of a time getting them out. I was afraid I was going to snap them off or something.

VibeFever · Post by **VibeFever** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:29 am

That's a good tip with anti sieze. Those things will be welded in at 120k miles.

jasonvibe · Post by **jasonvibe** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:07 am

I would not leave them in too long(years). As they would likely be frozen in from corrosion. Due to dissimilar metals. Steel/aluminum. You could take them out at 3 years or 50k and coat a little hi-temp grease or never-seez on the threads and go another 50k.

UndaCuva · Post by **UndaCuva** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:41 am

Change your plugs when you have problems with them. I have a mazda protege with 183,000+ still running great on 2cd set of plugs. Changed them at 140,000 with the timing belt. I have changed a ton of plugs at work (mechanic) just because mileage on fleet computer said to. What a waste!

binary · Post by **binary** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 10:17 am

Quote, originally posted by jasonvibe Â»I would not leave them in too long(years). As they would likely be frozen in from corrosion. Due to dissimilar metals. Steel/aluminum. You could take them out at 3 years or 50k and coat a little hi-temp grease or never-seez on the threads and go another 50k.Bump this tip up there. This is something I will be doing when it gets nice out again.

rubberman · Post by **rubberman** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 1:00 am

Like I said

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:18 am

This past weekend I changed my plugs. Have had the car for 35 months / 96K miles.Had no trouble getting the plugs out. They were worn a bit, but not to the point where they really needed replacement, but I figured I was due. Some of the metal from the hot side had electroplated onto the ground side but not much. Replaced the stock NGK iridium plugs with new NGK iridium plugs, didn't notice any difference in performance.

DavidPIL · Post by **DavidPIL** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:34 am

Decided to buy some plugs for my GT. Will replace them this weekend. The specs of the NGK plugs seem to be closer to the OEM specs. The Iridium IX with a .6mm center diode or the OE Laser with, well, no specs I can see but they seem to relate it more to OEM plugs in different cars.So, I decided on the Denso shorter diode (.4mm) plugs like some here have recommended. I'll be changing them out around 62,000 this weekend and will probably check em in a year and change em every 30,000 if needed.Unfortunately, 30,000 is about 1 year for me and the Denso's aren't cheap ($12.99 @ Autozone). May switch to the NGK's if cost becomes a major issue and people here don't notice any difference between the 2.Dave

Petrucci914 · Post by **Petrucci914** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:46 am

Changed mine today with NGK Iridium IX (24$ on ebay for the set). What a big pain in the (removed). First I snapped the two plastic clips on the engine cover. Then pulling those boots off of the spark plugs was ungodly difficult. Had to get pry bars to get them to come off..... one of the plastic pieces above the rubber grommet broke off and had to glue it. Make sure you disconnect all the coils and pull that whole wiring up before pulling out the boots. That's where I went wrong. My car has about 54k on it and the plugs looked like crap. Definetely put antiseize on these new ones.

DavidPIL · Post by **DavidPIL** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:23 pm

Hi...Did my plug change today along with putting on the STB. Tried to do this Saturday but it was too frickin cold. Today was nice enough and the engine block heater was plugged in over night so the engine was warm, at least.I really didn't have any any problems with this maintenance. The one coil on the passenger side was difficult to pop out but all the others came out easy. The wires came unplugged easy, the plugs themselves weren't too tight (though they did feel rough coming out.) Noticed a ring of oil muck at the bottom of the white/porcelain part and the part that sparks was rather dark gray. Anti seize on the threads, Electrolytic grease on the metal contacts, Torqued to 13 ft lbs. Started the car up, runs great, idles a tad lower and less rough. While I was at it I did the throttle cable adjustment. That went well and the pedal/throttle seems more responsive to my input.Couldn't be happier.Dave

When to change the plugs?

When to change the plugs?

Re: When to change the plugs? (Cue-Ball)

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