tune up

[NeXtras]

how often should you do a complete tune up.

as in Plugs, wires cap and rotor, air/fuel filter.

my last tune up was at 154k and im now at 188k.. would i gain anything from plugs? i have a K&N Filter equiped now so im not worried bout air, fuel is easy enough and i can do that at work.

should i get some new plugs for the beast?

 

[mrfixit]

Inspect, inspect, inspect. You should pull a few plugs and check to see what they look like. Any haines manual will have a chart to help you "read' the plugs.
Also pull the cap & rotor and look at them. any carbon, worn or scarred tips, cracks, tracking. If it's shiny and bright, hey, it's good.
If you can, open the hood and watch the engine run in the dark.. any cross-firing or leaks in the cables will show themselves.
I routinely switch my plugs to plus-fours, and they have worked wonders in the wear dept.
Good luck!

 

[Skandocious]

What Tom said, just check the condition of the plugs.

Tom-- what are plus-fours?

 

[95F350XL]

Prob the bosch Plat 4's. Yea id look at doing that trans fluid also. I usually do a tune up when I buy a car, caus I dont know the history. I change all fluids and all maint stuff. Ill pull a plug every once in a while, clean the K&N when im bored lol. But yea if you got auto 30K is what id do on ATF. I do mine once a year but i do like 6K a year, but it gets used for work so its a hard 6K. lol

 

[NeXtras]

Prob the bosch Plat 4's. Yea id look at doing that trans fluid also. I usually do a tune up when I buy a car, caus I dont know the history. I change all fluids and all maint stuff. Ill pull a plug every once in a while, clean the K&N when im bored lol. But yea if you got auto 30K is what id do on ATF. I do mine once a year but i do like 6K a year, but it gets used for work so its a hard 6K. lol

i have 50k on my tranny so its due for its first change.. gutta get it up on the lift so i can drain the TC too.

 

[mrfixit]

What Tom said, just check the condition of the plugs.

Tom-- what are plus-fours?

sorry... been a busy day.


He was right.. Bosch Platinum plus fours. They run more than your standard plugs, but work so much better, IMO. The set that is in my wife's Suby have been there for 60k and still look marvelous!
I had them in my 89 van as well; That was sold 2 years ago and I just came across the guy who bought it. He says it runs like a top, and that he pulled one to look, and they looked new so he just put it back in, changed the cap & rotor and kept on rollin!
You know, it wasn't that I went and bought those because I EXPECTED them to last this long; I just didn't want to have to change them so MUCH, especially in the $%^&* VAN! That they worked SO well, was just a blessing.

 

[Skandocious]

Sorry Tom, but I gotta call you on that. It's pretty common knowledge that the plat plugs don't jive well with these Ford trucks. No doubt, they're better plugs. But for some reason, these Ford trucks (at least the 9th gens, I dunno about others) burn up platinum plugs like they do gasoline. I remember reading several threads on the other side of guys who insisted on using platinum plugs and had to replaced them 2 or 3 times at 5k miles because they fouled beyond operation.

Some of the other guys can attest to this.

 

[mrfixit]

The plus fours were fine in my gen 9. The OTHER bosch plats you can have.
Same with my gen 8 van.
Maybe with chips... I haven't run any chips.

 

[Skandocious]

Who made mention of chips? I'm talkin 'bout a stock engine. These engines chew up the plats and spit 'em out-- anyone will tell you that the best you can do for these engines is a set of copper Motorcraft or Autolite plugs.

 

[mrfixit]

I merely speculated on chips. Dont get your panties in a wad. They worked for me... end of story.

 

[andym]

You'd be the exception rather than the rule, Tom. Everyone I've ever heard of trying platinum plugs has had problems using anything but the copper autolites.

But I'm glad they work for you.

 

[95F350XL]

I use plats in everything I use. Coppers ware out too fast lol. I put plats in all my 5.0/5.8 cars/trucks. Truck had pat 2's, were in for 30K till I hydrolocked. And they still looked good. My mus had the plat 4's for like 40K or so and they are still brand new lookin, but I canged them when I did my ignition. I kept them, im a cheapo lol.

50k on ur trans service. That stuff should be super nasty by now.