Spark Plug Condition

drdonkey · May 2, 2018

I am coming up on 70,000 miles and figured I would go ahead and change the spark plugs a little early than the OEM recommend since it is such an easy job. Having never changed plugs before (never had a car that needed them) I am curious on how the condition faired after an unknown number of miles (bought at 55k). The plugs say Volvo which makes me think they are newer since older plugs I have seen all said FoMoCo but who knows!

The plugs look pretty consistent from one to another with some having a small bit of yellowing on the ceramic portion right after the threads. Seems like normal wear. no?

Spark Plug Change 68k

p.rico · May 2, 2018

Sound good to me (haven't seen the images due to mobile issues). It they're in a rich environment they would be charred black and if they were in lean environment they would be brown all over including the insulator.

I am at 70k now (bought car at 53k) so am similar boat and will be pulling mine in the next few weeks.

TnoV60 · May 2, 2018

do not see clearly the head of each spark plug but so far looks in good condition. Not to much black powder on it and the gap since correct (need to be confirmed with a spacer)

Dyno · May 3, 2018

I'm an older guy, so I remember when you needed to do a "tune-up" fairly frequently. Spark plugs have come a long way since then, mostly as a result of the gub'ment's mandated 100,000 mile emissions warranty. If spark plugs go bad within that mileage, the engine will likely start misfiring and setting codes. The OEM must report such emissions-related failures, and the fines are huge if it gets out of hand.

Hence, we have double-platinum spark plugs and well-tuned air/fuel ratios that allow plugs to live happily for 100,000+ miles. Thank Washington for that, not Volvo or Bosch.

Two mistakes that I've made and that you should avoid...
1. Putting never-sieze on plug threads
2. Going with an auto parts store "equivalent" replacement for the factory plugs

Bunnspeed · May 4, 2018

So did you notice an improvement in performance after replacing the plugs? I’m almost at 60,000 miles of hard use, now with a few mods including downpipe, intercooler, Polestar time and TDI Tuning box on top of that, on my T6 3.0T. I’m considering replacing my plugs a little earlier than scheduled maintenance recommends (which I think is scheduled for the 70,000 mark). My car runs fine at present but I wonder if it would be worth the effort to replace them a little early given my modifications and aggressive driving habits.

drdonkey · May 4, 2018

Bunnspeed said:
So did you notice an improvement in performance after replacing the plugs? I'm almost at 60,000 miles of hard use, now with a few mods including downpipe, intercooler, Polestar time and TDI Tuning box on top of that, on my T6 3.0T. I'm considering replacing my plugs a little earlier than scheduled maintenance recommends (which I think is scheduled for the 70,000 mark). My car runs fine at present but I wonder if it would be worth the effort to replace them a little early given my modifications and aggressive driving habits.

You would probably notice more than me haha! I don't tend to push the car too much and don't have nearly amount of modification. It is recommended at 70k but I figured why not at 68k. I didn't notice any issues before changing them and honestly was curious if I would notice a different after but there doesn't seem to be much if any, but like I said I don't push the car too hard most of the time. We are going from the colder to the warmer weather here so I imaging that would have more of an effect

Spark Plug Condition

drdonkey

p.rico

TnoV60

Dyno

Bunnspeed

drdonkey

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