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Speaking of electrode gap, don’t forget to set the gap before you install the plugs. (I should hope so, it just turned 40K miles today). There is no sooty deposit, no oil residue, etc., which means the engine is still in good condition. 050″ The color and deposits on the white insulator look pretty average. Can you? The electrode gap on the old plug is visually wider than the new plug (which was properly gapped before this picture was taken). I put an old and new one side by side just to see if I could see much of a difference. There is nothing to be gained by pulling all of the wires off at once, other than the possibility of getting them mixed up when you try to put them back on. This is probably a good spot to mention that it is wise to keep all of the plug wires on their respective spark plug except for the one you are working on. With the plug wire removed, the socket is slipped carefully over the plug and the plug is removed.
Xnip motor spark plug wires skin#
Since you can’t see the back of my hand, you’ll have to trust me when I say that the skin on my knuckles are still intact. There you go….living proof that it can be done with just a simple pair of pliers. I’m still not sure what all the hoo-haa is about, but I sure spanked that boot, no doubt about it! Well, I’m here to tell you that a medium sized pair of common pliers, carefully grasping the spark plug boot, will remove it in about 5 seconds with minimal effort. I was ready for this one, having heard horror stories about peeled knuckles, bloody fingers, and even worse things happening to those who braved ol’ #1. The one thing I have constantly been told, ever since buying my TJ, is that it is nearly impossible to get the #1 plug wire off of the spark plug (assuming you have an A/C compressor under the hood). This can be a blessing in a cramped engine compartment where you can’t always get a straight on shot at the spark plug. By doing this, it eliminates the requirement of having everything lined up nice and straight. The “wobble” extension allows the socket to wobble back and forth a bit, as can be seen in the above photo….note how the socket and extension are not aligned with each other. I used one about 12″ long for all of the spark plugs except the one in the back cylinder (against the fire wall). One thing you might find handy for this project, and for just about any other one for that matter, is a set of “wobble” extensions for your ratchet. Avoid installing any single-tipped platinum plugs if your TJ has coil-packs in its ignition system. There are several good plugs for your coil-pack engine which include the Autolite APP985 and Champion 7034 (both are double-tipped platinums) or Autolite XP985 (Iridium). If you have the newer 4.0L engine without a distributor, they can be picky as to what plug they prefer. They cost a bit more but will last longer. A good plug available now, for the 4.0L engine, is the Champion 3034. I used to use the Champion 4412 truck plug but they stopped making it. You’ll need a 6 pack of new spark plugs (or a 4 pack for you cylinder challenged owners), a 5/8″ spark plug socket, a 3/8″ ratchet and extension, and a wire feeler gauge. The items required for a typical spark plug change are pretty straight forward. I don’t remember when I last used a timing light….oh well, engine computers are our friends (just keep telling yourself that). With today’s engine computer mostly running the show, we are mostly left with throwing in some spark plugs every now and then and maybe even a rotor cap with wires once in a while. Setting the points, making sure the condenser was good, and chalking up the timing marks so you could see them in the timing light was a very common weekend task. Compared to the vehicles I grew up with, the amount of ignition maintenance that is required on today’s vehicles is almost non-existent in comparison to the engines from the 1960’s.