MrShim78

Hi Everyone,

newbie lexus es300 owner here (1997, 118,000 miles). the spark plugs were changed on my car last at about 57,000 miles, so its coming upto its replacement time. since i bought the car recently, i opened up the spark plug and took a look. not an expert on these plugs, but i have posted an image. this is a denso pk20tr11

http://www.amazon.com/Denso-PK20TR11.../dp/B0012QBYCE

can anyone tell me how much time i have left on this spark plug , can this go for another 2-3k miles or shall i change right away?

thanks in advance for your help and advice.

plus, i know there is alot of discussion on this forum. but , do i really need multiground plugs? cant i just go to iridium or regular platinum (not multiground?)

worldforgo

I would change all 6 soon. It looks pretty gone.

The Double Tip are 2.50 a piece for Denso's on Rock Auto, I would get them.

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Spark plugs are not that expensive so might as well change them. With that condition your engine is firing pretty clean. But it's time to change them if it was me.

BDSL

If you have already removed the spark plugs, just replace them. You are half way there....

EEngineer

uhm..looks ok to me.
the white stuff are from the additives we get in our fuel nowadays.

MrShim78

thanks GS4_Fiend. pardon my newbie-ness , but firing 'clean' means...? it sounds positive!

MrShim78

thanks Guys. i just took one out to see what the situation was. i am hoping for one more month out of them, I am in Canada and parts are more $$$ here, even spark plugs! $60 for 6 of these double plat ones... i want to use plat so i dont have to do that PITA rear plug job twice in a year or two..or three!!

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

They look good to me. Change them out when you get the time, don't worry about it.

I used Amazon as well when I did mine.

MrShim78

thanks! so its 50/50. i guess i'll change them out in a while then. try to get by a few more months...!

EEngineer

canadian tire has iridium IX on sale sometimes for $10 a pair, i picked up 3 pairs last time and changed it then. just keep an eye out.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

I would go with multiground, they're not that expensive and you only have to deal with them every 90k-100k miles.
In addition, there is a warning on the underside of your hood about single ground electrodes. I listened to the engineers that put this car together..


Looking at the pictures, is that the same spark plug in both shots? The left one looks like it has a chipped ground electrode.

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

If your car is waste spark (only 3 coils) then use multiground spark plugs. Reason for that is positive goes down one way and negative the other way up.

MrShim78

Hi Guys,

SO i finally got around to ordering and replacing my spark plugs..
but something happened ... on the spark plug in the front (the one next to the oil cap), when i took it out , this little rubber o ring came out with it (craaaaappp!!! is what i was saying when it happened), attached a few pics


i am not sure what it is, it was brittle and dry when it came out and broke into two on the way up or when i was turning the plug out. it has a very slight hexagon pattern on one side , i presume its for the spark plug.

the cars starts up fine, no engine check light or anything.

now before i go on, i was using a rubber spark plug socket (which i have concluded are crappy, should have used a magnet+regular socket). first i thought it was part of that but it doesnt fit int he hole , so not sure..

have i busted a seal ? will by spark plug well fill up with oil now ? (

please help! anyone seen this before?

fyi : i put anti seize on the new ones going in so i hope this doesnt happen again

EEngineer

ur sparkplug socket broke lol

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

That's your spark plug oil rings. They are mounted on the bottom of the valve covers. You need to remove the valve covers to change the spark plug seals. Oil is seeping in that's why ur spark plugs are wet.