How Often Should You Change Your Spark Plugs?

How Often Should You Change Your Spark Plugs?

A car engine needs gasoline, air, and sparks to make the internals chugging along like our childhood pal Thomas. Without these, the engine would shake and you would not be making it up that hill.

At this moment when the automotive industry is turning to fully electric vehicles, the internal combustion engine has always been dependent on electric strikes. The spark plug is responsible for making the most important spark off the car to ignite the gasoline and fuel mixture. If it is damaged or set incorrectly, it can lead to malfunctioning, or dead-as-a-doornail, car.

Spark plugs do need to be maintained and replaced, but there is no specific legal rule for when they need to be maintained. It's up to you, the owner, to check your plug regularly and identify signs of a faulty plug.

What is a spark plug?

A spark plug is a small device that is inserted into the engine, more specifically, into the cylinder, and provides sparks for combustion through a tube that connects the battery to the spark plug. Generally speaking, domestic engines have as many spark plugs as cylinders, so inline four-cylinder engines have four spark plugs, while V8 engines have eight spark plugs. However, some cars have two spark plugs per cylinder for more precise ignition.

The spark plug is composed of some small parts, using copper, nickel, iridium, platinum, and so on. For protection and insulation, spark plugs also use ceramics.

What is the role of the spark plug?

The spark plug generates a small string of high-voltage electricity with a specially measured gap between the center electrode and the ground electrode. This spark occurs in the cylinder and ignites the air and fuel mixture. The explosion pushed the piston back down the cylinder.

Spark plug

Symptoms of faulty spark plugs

If the spark plug of a car is contaminated, does not have the correct gap, or dies, it may show one or more of the following symptoms:

The car won’t start, or it’s difficult to start

The car performs poorly when idling

Engine knocking or pinging

Worse-than-normal fuel economy

Painful performance

How to replace the spark plug

With the right tools, inspection and replacement of spark plugs can be accomplished by even amateur DIYers!

How to gap spark plug

In order for the spark plug to provide the correct amount of electricity at the correct time, it needs the correct gap. The spark plug gap can be checked and maintained with a spark plug gap tool.

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