Spark Plugs: whats best? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Spark Plugs: whats best?

Mpetronek

Member
Joined
June 19, 2009
Messages
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City, State
Sandy, OR
Year, Model & Trim Level
'91 4.0L XLT 5spd.
Its time for my plugs to be changed again. I was wondering what peoples suggestions are for best performance and life? Ive got a 4.0l V6 OHV...Thanks!
 



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Nothing is better than good ol OEM (i.e. Motorcraft). Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
 






Nothing is better than good ol OEM (i.e. Motorcraft). Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I second this motion
 






I third, and the motion is passed... :D
 






I was lookin through the other posts on plug rec. Didn't see an exact answer. Most people suggest OEM replacement Motorcraft or Autolite. What about the platinum or double platium ones? I went to the parts store and they only had autolite and thats what I picked up, but I just got the cheaper ones, rather than the platinum ones. Are the platinum ones recommended?

I went to go change the plugs and the thing had NGK iridiums in there before (I just bought the truck)....it almost seems to run worse than when it had the iridiums.
 






Platinum and Double Platinum just last longer than copper cores. Otherwise they work just as good. I just went through this same discussion a few weeks ago and went with Autolite Copper Cores over Motorcraft Double Plats (despite my recommendation above). Reason being is I trashed a set of Motorcrafts doing a Seafoam treatment recently and it was recommended by a very wise person on this site not to spend the big bucks on the Double Plats. My plugs were just over a year old. From now on I'll just put in the Autolite Copper Cores when I do Seafoam (about once a year). At less than $2/piece, that's less than $16/year. Not bad in the grand scheme of things.

You'll be fine with those plugs. I'm told that James Henson (site sponsor and tuner extraordinaire) recommends Autolite Copper Cores over anything else. I trust his judgement too.
 






I'm running E3's....they seem to be working out okay.
 






Thanks for the reply celly. I'm just tryin to figure out what all the recommended brands and parts are for the Explorer as I just bought it and have previously been into Japanese cars, so its a pretty different ball game.

I used to change my plugs twice a year in my cars but after seeing how hard it was to do the plugs on the X last night i'm not sure if I want to do it that often haha. That back plug passenger side was pretty gnarly to get at. Even with taking the wheel well splash shield off.
 






Thanks for the reply celly. I'm just tryin to figure out what all the recommended brands and parts are for the Explorer as I just bought it and have previously been into Japanese cars, so its a pretty different ball game.

I used to change my plugs twice a year in my cars but after seeing how hard it was to do the plugs on the X last night i'm not sure if I want to do it that often haha. That back plug passenger side was pretty gnarly to get at. Even with taking the wheel well splash shield off.

I've got the V8 which isn't so bad. I used to own a couple of SOHC equipped Exploders and paid others to change the plugs. I'm not a great mechanic. :(

Fords work best with OEM plugs. Autolites are pretty much OEM because they make Motocraft too.
 






Advance Auto sells Motorcraft plugs, so that's what I buy. Autolite is a good plug, too. Never had an issue.
 






I would have to disagree with most of you unfortunately. I have a supercharged 4.0 and I'm going to be building a 4.0 stroked and bored to 4.4 or 4.5. Currently I'm running a non ported Eaton M90 on 7.5 pounds with 290,000 miles on original motor that has never been opened but I'm looking to swap to an Eaton m112 with my built motor and I would have to say with my forced induction application that NGKs are far better than Motorcraft OEM as far as power and reliability and Longevity is concerned. I also have a Screamin Demon coil pack with supporting wires and I'd be willing to bet that a Dyno run with the NGKs would yield a few more horses than the motocrafts. I've been a Ford tech for over 3 years but I've been turning wrenches for over a decade and trust me when I say Ford and Motorcraft parts are not what they used to be all the new rotors warp really easy all these new Fords are having so many wiring problems because of the ridiculous amount of modules they're putting in them the new sync system is **** and trust me I know that for a fact because I'm the main sync and electronics and wiring guy in the shop. And there are too many damn recalls. However if I was looking for something like a timing Drive kit for the 4.0 I would probably only go with the official Ford kit because with all the research I've done you can actually see the major difference in quality between the Ford kit and other aftermarket kits that are crap compared to the Ford kit. I wish I could find a high performance timing Drive kit for the 4.0. But that's also probably a product that's been sitting on the shelf for a long time in a warehouse somewhere and it's probably not a brand new part. But bottom line OEM parts are not always the best especially newer parts. But for a factory stock application that's not going to be seeing a lot of high RPMs then OEM is just fine.
 






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