Set a record for spark plug life

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demon seed

demon seed

The Original Demon Seed
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I've got a 2002 grand prix (I know it's not a mopar so shoot me) GTP with the supercharged 3.8, goes like stink and handles like it's on rails. Anyway today I changed the spark plugs for the first time at 170,000 KM's or 105,000 miles and they were like new, the gap had only opened up .005". They are factory NGK 41-101 Iridium plugs and I was always sceptical about Pontiacs claim that they were good for 160,000 KM's and it seems for once they didn't lie. The service rep. actually told me about a trick to get at the back 3 plugs so the job wasn't that bad and yes I also changed the wires for the first time. Should be good for another 150K.:cheers: but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow morning.
 
gotcha beat;
I bought a '94 B3000 with 175,000mi and a come and go miss. I did a full tuneup tp discover all the original '94 parts including the plugs. The center electrode was worn down to the porcelain.....
 
mikeys toy said:
gotcha beat;
I bought a '94 B3000 with 175,000mi and a come and go miss. I did a full tuneup tp discover all the original '94 parts including the plugs. The center electrode was worn down to the porcelain.....
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Okay you win but my car was still running smooth.:-D
 
I have 107k miles on my Mustang GT and there has not been any sign of distress.
 
NGK makes some good plug. Thats all I run at work in about 100 pieces of Stihl 2 cycle equipment.
 
Well I'm impressed Terry.Nice to see your getting something for your money nowadays.8)
 
demon seed said:
I've got a 2002 grand prix (I know it's not a mopar so shoot me) GTP with the supercharged 3.8, goes like stink and handles like it's on rails. Anyway today I changed the spark plugs for the first time at 170,000 KM's or 105,000 miles and they were like new, the gap had only opened up .005". They are factory NGK 41-101 Iridium plugs and I was always sceptical about Pontiacs claim that they were good for 160,000 KM's and it seems for once they didn't lie. The service rep. actually told me about a trick to get at the back 3 plugs so the job wasn't that bad and yes I also changed the wires for the first time. Should be good for another 150K.:cheers: but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow morning.
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OK, what's the trick to the back 3 plugs???? Do you have any intake manifold coolant leaks?
 
Sorry guys, thats not a record. I bought a 1997 F-150 brand new in 97 and sold it in 07 with 235,000 miles. Yep you guessed it, original plugs!!! I actually bought a set of plugs to put in it, but I was worried that I would strip out the aluminum spark plug threads in the head and wouldn't be able to sell it so I just gave the new owner the plugs to change himself!!! Think thats a record??? I'm ashamed to admit that it also had the original fuel filter also. I bought a filter to change also but those slide on clips wouldn't release the old filter so I just included that too.

At about 230,000 miles the throwout bearing started to squeak so i decided to change the clutch. I bought the whole clutch kit and the slave cylinder and took it to my buddy who does a lot of work on my daily drivers. Believe it or not, he called me and asked me if I had just replaced the clutch. I told him that it was the original clutch and I had never done any work to it at all. He then told me that the clutch looked brand new and the flywheel actually still had some crosshatch still on it. I couldn't believe it because for the first 5 or 6 years we owned it, it was my wife's daily driver. He told me to return all the clutch stuff except the slave cylinder, which I think gets damaged when you remove it and he just replaced that and the throwout bearing!!!

You may not believe any of this, but I swear it is all true!!! I've never completely neglected a vehicle so much in my life only to have it come through so remarkably well. I'm not saying I'm a Ford fan by any means, and we bought the truck because my father-in-law had just retired from Ford and insisted we use his Z plan. On the down side, it did eat through about 3 complete front end rebuilds!!! Still, after all was said and done, I still got $1900.00 for it!! Now back to our show!!! Geof
 
On the coolant leaks, it's standard for 3.4 motors..I have 2 of them and they both leaked. Guess thats one reason Pontiac isn't with us anymore! By the way, it happens around 55,000 miles.
 
nothingbutdarts said:
OK, what's the trick to the back 3 plugs???? Do you have any intake manifold coolant leaks?
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Look at your dogbone mount to the front support. If it has a boss in the middle of it with a hole through it, this will work. With the car in Park, unbolt the dogbone from the core support. Push the car backwards and the engine will rotate toward the front. When the hole in the dogbone lines up with the mount, put the through bolt you removed through the mount and the boss to hold the engine in place while you work on the plugs. Makes life much easier.
 
Cool. I changed the original plugs on our 2000 AWD Grand Caravan with a 100K on it not too long ago. Getting the rear plugs out I needed about 13 different socket extensions and I had to change them from the rear axle area. What a PITA.:munky2: I swear it would have been just as easy to pull the motor.
 
GTP's have 3.8's and 3.8's do have intake leaks usually once in the engines life. The plastic intakes warp near the egr passages. No biggie.
 
toolmanmike said:
GTP's have 3.8's and 3.8's do have intake leaks usually once in the engines life. The plastic intakes warp near the egr passages. No biggie.
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Yea the supercharged 3.8's don't have the plastic intakes but the lower aluminum manifold gasket leaks. I changed mine a year ago (I had a couple of leaks outward thankfully not inward right at the fuel injectors) to the new redesigned gaskets and even though Pontiac redesigned the gaskets they still won't issue a recall. These are the same SOB's that badmouth Toyota for a few big recalls even though GM has had hundreds of large recalls over the last 10 years.

What Grumpus said about rolling the engine forward works great and remove the coolant overflow tank helps to. 2 nuts on top and tank pulls straight up then you can easily get at the front plug after you've removed the plug wire boot which is another story.
 
demon seed said:
Yea the supercharged 3.8's don't have the plastic intakes but the lower aluminum manifold gasket leaks. I changed mine a year ago (I had a couple of leaks outward thankfully not inward right at the fuel injectors) to the new redesigned gaskets and even though Pontiac redesigned the gaskets they still won't issue a recall. These are the same SOB's that badmouth Toyota for a few big recalls even though GM has had hundreds of large recalls over the last 10 years.

What Grumpus said about rolling the engine forward works great and remove the coolant overflow tank helps to. 2 nuts on top and tank pulls straight up then you can easily get at the front plug after you've removed the plug wire boot which is another story.
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Thanks, I was just looking at a supercharged 3.8 GTP yesterday that looked like it had a coolant leak under the supercharger front manifold area. Is it a PITA to change the gaskets?
 
nothingbutdarts said:
Thanks, I was just looking at a supercharged 3.8 GTP yesterday that looked like it had a coolant leak under the supercharger front manifold area. Is it a PITA to change the gaskets?
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It's not bad, once you've got the charger and fuel manifold off it's like any other intake. You're looking about 6 hrs. and replace the gasket under the charger and there's a small one where the EGR line ties back into the backside of the lower manifold.
I'd also be very wary of buying a GTP thats got an obvious coolant leak, there's no guarantee that it hasn't been leaking inwards and got into the oil and the engines a hairs breath from calving. I watched mine and only ever made up maybe 1/2 cup of glycol over the year so I wasn't to worried it went inward.

Hell I like this car, loaded 2 door also, I think I'd put a new engine in it and keep it till the doors fall off. Don't recall a recall on doors falling off.:-D
 
Our last daily commuter was an 01 Grand Prix GT we bought new. I changed the plugs at about 98,000 miles expecting them to be worn. Same as yours Terry. Looked nearly new.

BTW: Robbie2734. The common intake leak the Pontiac 3.8 had wasn't anything to do with why their not around now. In fact our GP was a very dependable car and I've known several Pontiac owners that had good luck with their cars.
 
Well now, I don't like to brag- but I've never changed the plugs in any of my vehicles.
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On another note, of all the GMs I've had, the only one that was worth a crap had a 3.8 V6.
 
Both my 3.8 Grand Prix's always ran great. Tough engines hope my 3.5 in the Charger lasts as trouble free as they did.
 
My friends father has some horrid Mitsubishi Montero. You have to pull out the entire engine to do an oil change! that things is a PITA!
 
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