I’ve had my car for an extremely pleasurable and totally reliable year now, and it’s time to do some servicing on it. Part of what I’m going to do is to replace the spark plugs.
For my cars & bikes over the years, NGK has always been my preferred choice. However, the correct Denso plugs for my car are literally half the price - about £29 vs £58 for NGK.
Has anyone on here used Denso plugs for any length of time please? Because it does beg the question from me, are NGK twice as good as Denso? Or do Denso only last half as long?
My car is 9 years old, done 31K miles, and the plugs are the original FoMoCo ones but when I took one out to check exactly what type are fitted it was such a sod to get out, so really I don’t want to leave the rest in any longer in case they take root permanently!
Or should I just take the other three out, wire brush the threads and put them back in with anti-seize on them?
I would welcome any advice, experience or opinions.
Morning Brian, by now, (9 years) I would be changing the plugs, regardless of mileage. On my previous NC1, I fitted Bosch Iridium plugs ( similar price to DENSO) although at 56k miles, the OEM ones were in excellent condition. Can’t actually remember the plug specs from Bosch but they were a direct replacement plug. I had read about OEM plugs being difficult to remove and approached mine with trepidation, happy to say they came out without issue. Be careful as some have reported stripping the threads in the cylinder head Will be changing again on the NC2 soon and I’m happy to use the Bosch plugs again Personally, I would fit any of the recommended branded plugs i.e. Bosch/NGK/DENSO/ etc whichever is available at the time and also the price point if wanting to save a few bob! I’d also read the Fomoco ones are rebranded NGK?
So really, in your experience it doesn’t really matter if I use NGK or Denso or Bosch then? As you rightly said, Bosch ones are available at about the same price as NGK, £28.50 to be precise.
I’ve no objection whatsoever to paying twice that for NGK if there is a definite advantage to them; but from what you’ve said, there isn’t really, so it’s pointless. Thank you for that!
With regard to removing the one original plug as I said in my original post, it was tight and was creaking well as I took it out, definitely a heart in mouth feeling for me, but it came out OK. The first couple of turns were OK but after that it became more difficult. I think what I’m going to do with the other three is remove the coilpacks, blow the cavities clear, undo each of them a couple of turns and then put some Plus-Gas around them and leave it a while to see if that helps a bit.
Thank you again for replying, I appreciate your opinion.
I’ve been watching your Ahura project taking shape btw, very nice indeed but I felt for you with that roof motor - ouch, what a kick in the wallet that was!