1999 V70 T5 measured spark plug gap wear

[cn90]

Once you use Iridium, you will never go back to copper.

It is like "CD/mp3" vs "cassette tape"...LOL.

[Sommerfeldt]

Its not confidence building when the dealer people don't know their stuff, is it? I could see a cold weather adjustment of a small amount, but not 1/2 the gap for you guys in Scandinavia

Tell me about it. The more I ask those guys stuff, the less I trust them. I've asked them about several things, and they either don't know, don't care, or pull answers out of their, uh, "rears".

From what I've read after talking to them about the gap, it seems there's no special adjustment for cold weather conditions either - it's supposed to be 0.75 mm.

- S

[j-dawg]

Not to turn MVS into the j-dawg Diagnostic Adventure Notebook, but I popped the plugs on my Tee Five M to check compression and checked the gap while I was at it. They were all down to like .035-.040. It's probably been 10,000-15,000 miles since I gapped 'em.

Does that seem reasonable? I've never owned a car long enough to remove the spark plugs twice, so I have no experience in this.

[abscate]

Sounds a bit faster than my wear but did you gap them when you put them in or install from box? ( no judging)

[j-dawg]

I never changed 'em. I think they were changed like 50k ago, can't find my maintenance notebook. I pulled, regapped, and reinstalled them about a year ago.

[abscate]

Updated on my NGK which had 47000 on them, were regapped at 27000, now reading 035-040

Replaced with new Bosch Cu single electrodes

Once you use Iridium, you will never go back to copper.

It is like "CD/mp3" vs "cassette tape"...LOL.

Whats a cassette tape? Does that operate like my 8-track?

[wizechatmgr]

My bike uses NGK Iridium plugs from the factory. I removed them at 25k (think they suggest 10K or such) and they were still well within spec and looked nearly new. That's a much higher revving engine (easily 13k+ RPM. - unsure about compression) Suffice it to say I have the 2 old ones in my backpack in case I end up on the side of the road. In my case they were replaced for piece of mind more than anything else.

I have a full set of them for the Volvo but haven't installed them just yet.

Despite what people may believe - single electrode iridium gaps should be checked and VERY gently & CAREFULLY adjusted if outside of spec before/during initial installation. After that I'm not sure I would, but that becomes a personal decision at that point. They can get banged up on shipping...

Today's plugs aren't like the old ones of yesteryear. They potentially can go a lot longer.

[MadeInJapan]

Turbo cars, pre '01 I use 0.028.... '01 and later, 0.030. All cars run great on Volvo plugs. I've not had any good experiences with any other. The Bosch plats are fine but they tend to have to be changed sooner so the money saved up front is lost on the tail end when you have to replace them. I've had good luck buying Volvo plugs on eBay of all places. Better than FCP or Eeuroparts... Most of our Volvo's use the same plugs- I keep an extra set handy and I never clean and re-use or re-gap any of them. Just gap them up front and never trust that they are all gapped correctly out of the package.

[kaneelschep]

I also use the irridium ngk plugs. Had them for 40000km with 25000km of that on LPG. No issues whatsoever. Maybe when I replace rotor and cap I can check them for the fun of it.
The ones before were some strange brand I never heard of. They were definetely gone. burned all sideways.

[abscate]

I don't like the idea of leaving them in the head for 3-4 years - thats probably a bias from my air cooled VW days.

Every two years or so, out they come, new ones in with a bit of 3-1 oil on the threads.