Well For the most part since I bought the car last October Ive done the vast majority of the necessary maintenance, but something Ive been stubbornly putting off is changing out the spark plugs. Manly because the car has been running great(Ive been getting 400+ miles on the last several tanks of gas which equals about 24 miles to the gallon combined) and because the last time I changed out spark plugs and wires I seriously screwed it up by getting the ignition timing wrong as well as the wrong spark plug gap, but this was on another car.

But Im going on a road trip soon so I want to get the car in tip top shape, ill just make sure to take it slow and not make any mistakes.

At any rate should I go to the dealership and just buy stock parts or is it okay just to go to Shucks or where ever. If it isn't necessary to go to the dealer what is a good spark plug to get, something that works well but doesn't cost too much.

thanks

 

If your car is running nice the spark plugs may not need to be changed, most plugs last 60K plus miles. I use NGK, some use Bocsh etc,etc... No need to go to the dealer and pay 200% mark-up on the plugs they just got from the autoparts store you would have went to.

But if it is running well keep in mind if you have coil packs they do not like being disturbed as they get old so if you have a 3.0 with the crappy orange coils and it's running well, I would leave it be and throw a couple coil packs and some plugs in the trunk for the trip instead.

 

What color are the good coil packs? I have the orange ones...but haven't had a problem yet. And I get about 19 avg mpg....maybe my spark plugs need changing.