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Thread: The Darklord gets the spanners out

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    Regular Member Darklord's Avatar
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    Vehicle : Vauxhall Vectra

    Trim : LS/Life

    Engine : 1.8

    Year : 2004

    Default The Darklord gets the spanners out

    Yes loyal ones, contain your amazement, since it was the footmans day off, the Dark one had to break open the tool box himself. Times are hard indeed. What brought on such disturbing events?

    Well, principally the realisation that the spark plugs had been sparking for er...40,000 miles. Oops.

    "The plugs are pre-gapped mate, just bung em in" said the acneyed yoof behind the counter. Indeed they are - pre-gapped to the wrong size. A clip round the ear for your impertinence.

    Now where are the feeler gauges? They don't go up to 1.3mm? 0.35 plus 0.33 plus er...For goodness sake. However such obstacles were overcome. Surprisingly, the old plugs looked surprisingly ok - burning oil is obviously good for them...

    Now, a new air and pollen filter, and close the bonnet. Without topping up the oil. A most unsettling feeling.

    But the spanners stayed out, one last job - changing the rear orange lights to facelift clear ones! This has instantly doubled the value of the car, and now the dark one looks even more attractive.

    Ever was it thus.
    Last edited by Darklord; 20th February 2020 at 18:47.

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    Regular Member Darklord's Avatar
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    Regular Member Darklord's Avatar
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    Trim : LS/Life

    Engine : 1.8

    Year : 2004

    Default

    Hmm, sideways.

    I'll need a hand to get it back on 4 wheels...

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    Vehicle : Vauxhall Astra-J

    Trim : Elite

    Engine : 2.0 CDTi

    Year : 2013

    Default

    40,000 miles on a set of plugs? Is that all.

    the 2.2 petrol engine recommended change is every 8 yrs or 80,000 miles, whichever comes sooner.

    When I had my old 2.2, they were changed at 86,000 miles and showed no wear at all.

    Hope you weren't trying to regap multi electrode plugs? They should already be preset. Any attempt at trying to change the gaps can cause premature wear as the spark will always take the shortest route.

  8. #5
    Midlands - Vxr Owning Dick Dog_Book's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big Dave View Post
    40,000 miles on a set of plugs? Is that all.

    the 2.2 petrol engine recommended change is every 8 yrs or 80,000 miles, whichever comes sooner.

    When I had my old 2.2, they were changed at 86,000 miles and showed no wear at all.

    Hope you weren't trying to regap multi electrode plugs? They should already be preset. Any attempt at trying to change the gaps can cause premature wear as the spark will always take the shortest route.
    Thats lucky then, 2.8t is something like 20,000 miles and 2 years. Eep, mine are due this year then thats another £75 gone
    Vectra VXR estate 2007 Sapphire Black
    Teapot Tuned 255/300
    Eibachs B8's, fully loaded factory options

    Tech2 & MDI diagnostics + SPS

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    Regular Member Darklord's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big Dave View Post
    40,000 miles on a set of plugs? Is that all.

    the 2.2 petrol engine recommended change is every 8 yrs or 80,000 miles, whichever comes sooner.

    When I had my old 2.2, they were changed at 86,000 miles and showed no wear at all.

    Hope you weren't trying to regap multi electrode plugs? They should already be preset. Any attempt at trying to change the gaps can cause premature wear as the spark will always take the shortest route.
    I don't use multi tip ones, but the Bosch Fqr8leu8 single tip ones. I'm afraid I'm old fashioned, and normally replace plugs every 12000 miles, and change oil every 5-6000 miles (maybe a little more given the burning...).

    Running old cars as I invariably do, I've had a couple of cases where the plugs broke upon removal because they had been in for so long, and had seized in place.

    Plus, they were only £3.99 for 4 in the discount sale, so...

  10. #7
    Regular Member Darklord's Avatar
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    Well, the new plugs have resulted in a degree of sparkle that was not present before, along with a smoother idle, so the engine must approve.

    To celebrate its new found zip, it's decided however to produce a strange new noise. Sigh.

    Ever was it thus.

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    Regular Member northpole's Avatar
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    Vehicle : Vectra C Saloon( sadly died at age 20 due to a hart attack)

    Trim : SXI limited edition

    Engine : 2.0 16v DTI

    Year : 2003

    Mileage : 140000

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    old cars do test your patience... just find out what it is and decide to fix it or not ...

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