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Originally Posted by Elo Every year I change my plugs... Period...
Yah, it costs money, and yah, the plugs are still good...
But I accomplish two things by doing this:
1: I always have good condition plugs
2: The plugs are a hell of a lot easier to change every year than if I were to change them every couple of years... The longer they sit, the harder they are to remove... And breaking a plug while it's still screwed in sucks... 
Since I haven't had my Catera very long, I haven't done much service work to it yet... But it's nearing the 55k mile mark, and as soon as it does, I'm doing my "tune-up"
-Elo |
Well, I agree with everything you wrote.
But you have left me realizing my earlier post missed the mark:
The point is changing the plugs ISN'T primarily about the plugs. It isn't primarily about how difficult they are to remove, or about the possibility of breaking one. And it isn't primarily about how well the car might, or might not, be running.
That's why the 100K change interval is such a fraud in a car having aluminum heads. The plugs could easily be operating fine at 100K, but who cares.
I'm sure there are posters here adept enough to Heli-Coil a rear cylinder, a rear spark plug hole, on a Catera in situ.
http://www.helicoil.com/products/helicoil.html
I just happen not to be in that group.
I wouldn't even be able to keep the filings from falling down into the cylinder.
No, for me it would probably mean removal of the head and maybe even a trip to the machine shop.
So it's hugely smarter to change the plugs early and often. Or, at the very least, to remove and replace the plugs sufficiently often to minimize the chance of having one seize.
Again, bottom line it's not about the plugs. It IS about the condition of the threads in the aluminum head AFTER the plugs have been removed.
If waiting too long to do a plug change results in damage to the aluminum head when the plugs finally are removed, you have transformed a simple tune-up into a calamity.
Remember, the spark plug bodies are steel; the heads are aluminum. Removal of a plug in there too long can be a "transforming" experience for the threaded hole in that aluminum head. There is no way you want to go through this experience.