Bought this unit in Nov. 05, local dodge dealers says 60k, and change. Using cruise, in Dec 05 hiway mpg was 19.5, yesterday hiway was 15.9 (cruise). Anyone change plugs more often?
2007-02-21 07:53:24 · 9 answers · asked by ramdriver 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ Dodge
i have a 03 Dakota SLT QC 4.7 and you have copper plugs in your 4.7 and they are for 30,000 miles. the coil packs are hell on the plugs and wears them out pretty good around 30k miles. I bet the plugs never been changed in that engine. I would suggest getting a set of NGK plugs for the engine. I have ran champion and autolites and the NGK made the engine run the smoothest of the 3. dont run platinums as some peopel said it made the engine run rougher. something about the coil packs note being able to give a good enough spark through the plug., changing the plugs are easy to do. it takes longer to take the airhat off. and to take the chaff clips off the metal coolant hoses that run across the top of the engine to get to one or 2 of the plugs (cant remember which). just make sure when you take the coil pack off the plug. to use a can of compressed air to clean out the the plug area so nothing falls in to your plug hole when taking out the plug.
if it was your O2 sensor you would have gotten an engine ck light. if you have a check light. you dont have to take it in to auto part store. as our trucks we can check our own codes by turning the ignition on and off 3 times and on the third just leave it to on(dont start the truck) it will give you all the codes that are stored in the computer. if you have none it will say PDONE on your odometer. also on the site we have it gives the list of the codes and what they mean on the site I have listed below. . plus the guys can tell you what is bad to cause the code.
www.dakota-durango.com
go here as we are a bunch of great people that talks about our trucks and answers each others questions. a great place to hang out and learn about your truck. my screen name is the same as on here. come by and say hi we talk about alot of stuff.
EDIT
The 4.7 does not and I repeat does not have cap rotor and plug wires. it has a coil over system.
2007-02-21 11:40:13 · answer #1 · answered by Jecht 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some manufacturers tout 100k plugs. That is under the most ideal and gentle driving. It is a basically a load of BS. Usually 30k - 40k miles is a good time to do it. You can even stretch that up to 50k+, but by then one or two will be fouled and possibly leaking a little bit of compression. Nothing major, but if you want your car to run at peak performance and efficiency, change the plugs more often. Have the shop check the wires too, they could be corroded as they are 5 yrs old.
And in your case, with the mpg dropping that severly, it sounds like an Oxygen sensor. Generally it is a much slower drop off if it is the plugs or dirty injectors. I would also give the air filter a look see. It may be dirty, and in need of replacement.
If it is possible, you can save a lot of money getting the parts off of Ebay. If you know someone or a shop that will do it the work, you can save a lot of cash. We are not exactly talking high tech parts here, so the risk of defective parts is pretty low.
2007-02-21 09:34:28 · answer #2 · answered by XUSAAAgent 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The car manufacturers are liars and tell the consumer you can go 100K miles before a tuneup, including spark plugs.... there isn't 1 brand of plugs made that can last 100k..... don't listen to these liars. Even the best platinum plugs will need to be replaced before 50K miles.... regular non platinum plugs I would change at 15-20K. I change mine every 20 K no matter what..... I pay $2 a plug, so it doesn't pay to be cheap
2007-02-21 13:14:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Factory plugs( and they are all platinum) good to 100,000+ Now spark plugs are made in several different grades depending on price. Cheap plugs are just that. Short life and fowling and wear . Also ,in the winter when oil co. change over to heating oil from gasoline octane and (some chemical composition name I can't remember will lower gas mi. Also cold weather affects milage too.
2007-02-21 17:13:22 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would say, change the plugs every 40,000 miles or so, and change your cap and rotor and plug wires every 60,000 miles or so. And yes, you probably need a tune up. Get the autolite 3923's, our engines like these plugs the best, and get brass cap and rotor from a place like NAPA to replace you oem stuff, and some better wires, like some 8mm taylor or better wires, check out summitracing.com for this stuff also if you want to price check.
2007-02-22 07:28:44 · answer #5 · answered by The Mullet 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
30K on plugs. They are pretty much done at that point.
Your loss of MPG sounds excessive for plug wear though.
Get it tuned up and recheck.
Look for arcing/burns along the coil boots while they are out.
2007-02-21 08:00:12 · answer #6 · answered by Caveman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
for how inexpensive spark plugs are, id go ahead and replace them. while you're at it change the air filter as well, and if the check engine light is on, take it to autozone, they do free diagnostics. it could be an O2 sensor.
Good luck!
2007-02-21 08:26:03 · answer #7 · answered by monotonous_life7 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It was warmer in December, Warmer air = larger molecules if you are going by the little guage on the dash, don't. they are inacurate and just give you a good feeling.
Measure in tankfulls.
2007-02-21 07:58:02 · answer #8 · answered by Uncle Red 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in your manual it will tell you---100,000miles
2007-02-21 09:19:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋