Tune up time. What plugs? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Tune up time. What plugs?

mehedgec

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Year, Model & Trim Level
'93 XLT
I'm going to do a tune up here pretty soon. Planning on doing the plugs and wires. I work at autozone and we have Bosch and Duralast wires.

I've heard the 4.0 doesn't like certain plugs. What does everyone use in their explorers? I currently have Motorcraft coppers in it.

What wires does everyone run? how about spark plugs?
 



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motorcraft and only motorcraft
 






Your best bet is to do motrocraft plugs and wires. Bosch plugs usually dont agree with fords for whatever the reason.
 






Autolite the manufacture of Motorcraft plugs is good too.
 






Autolite Is FRAM not Motorcraft Use the OEM plugs they are not expensive!
 






after trying a few different brands, go to the dealer and get the right ones,,

makes all the difference in the world,,
 






Autolite Is FRAM not Motorcraft Use the OEM plugs they are not expensive!

Google it if you don't believe me but Autolite makes the Motorcraft plugs. Now they have never said they were the same but they do manufacture them.

Edit here's a good discussion on them:Click Me!
 






I have used almost all of the normal ones out there in the 13 plus years I have owned this truck. I have had the best luck with Autolight and Motorcraft with the motorcraft being the number one pick. Same thing with the wires I even had Accel's 8.8mm wires and had nothing but trouble with them so there now gone .I am running a set of Borg Warner wires now and can not tell defiance between them and Motorcraft. Had to go to them as no one had Motorcraft in town it was Sunday and I had to get it running that day. the wires look just like motorcraft wires down to the littlest detail and I must say they have helped my crazy miss a bit but to bad they can not fix a burned valve on #5 cylinder also but if I can I use Motorcraft only from simply trying the rest and latter having to go back and redo things with the best.
 






Google it if you don't believe me but Autolite makes the Motorcraft plugs. Now they have never said they were the same but they do manufacture them.

they cant remake the ford (motocraft plugs) under a different name, they have to be different in a way good or bad but have to be different.

the same way bendix used to make certain ford brake pads, and they even said bendix on them but if you went with the bendix brand they were horrible compared to the 130 ford brand brake pads.
 






to the op motocraft wires, and plugs, == best results.
 






Motorcraft and if you have to autolite, nothing else I would even consider.
 






Well,here goes.I have NGK's in my 94 along with autolite wires and it runs like a rocket.I have run NGK's in just about every engine I have ever had and have always had good service from them.:D
 












Oh God, here we go again on the E3's...
 












Nothing, they're awesome...
 






I know I'm being blasphemous, but I also run NGK's in our 94. They perform slightly better than the OEM plugs that were in there, and the Motorcraft platinum plugs were still in fairly good condition.

NGK plugs are OEM on Mercedes, Infiniti, Saab, and some other high end cars and they're very popular in the racing / tuner market too. They run around $3 per plug for the base platinum units all the way to around $15 per plug for the fancy schmancy +4 Iridium Laser units.
 






It's just one of those things that some run ok, some don't. I've never heard of anyone having issues with Motorcraft plugs in our rigs, and a lot of issues solved with removing Bosch, etc, etc, plugs and wires from their rigs and replacing them with Motorcraft- and many of them had run 120-150k without even thinking about replacing the Motorcraft stockers. Plugs degrade power from the first time they're fired, so I wouldn't even compare a new Motorcraft plug vs. a 100k Motorcraft plug. I had NGK Iridiums in my '99 SHO, but for my Explorer, I wouldn't put in anything but Motorcraft or Autolite. Too many instances of problems with other parts. Explorers seem to be wierd that way. :)
 






I can honestly say I have tried almost every plug on the market on my 93 explorer. I have always ended up removing them for one reason or another and I finally went back to autolights and now Borg Warner wires and finally it runs almost smooth( has a burnt valve and a slight miss still)

I have used Accel plugs and wires , champions, NGK's, E3
( blew one of them out of the truck with in less then 100 miles) and so on.

now on my bikes and cars I run many other plugs but my explorer only likes the autolights or motorcrafts for plugs and so far only the motorcraft wires and maybe these Borg Warner wires ( had to get them it was Sunday and I needed the truck that day . No one in town had motorcraft wires they all had to order them )

By the way I have owned this truck for the last 13 plus years and all but 60,000 miles of its 214,000 miles. I do change plugs two times a year and wires once a year no matter what. So over that time and miles I have learned at lest on my truck forget the rest just go with the best MOTORRCRAFT and save your self a lot of trouble.
 



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^ that's the synopsis ^ :)
 






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