Looks can be deceiving with our plugs.
https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...&postcount=312

 

Followed this guide to get my spark plugs removed today. Boy that front Lead plug on the bottom was a PITA to get off.

Once all four were removed, (and marked to not mix up their locations) I noticed that were absolutely filthy. Fouled up with an almost acidic looking brown substance.

I don't have an actual spark plug cleaner, so what I do is attach a metal brush drill bit to my power drill, clamp down the spark in a press, and steadily grind away that build up. The tops look as good as new now, but the inner portion of the spark plugs are still bad.

After reinstalling and taking the car for a drive, I noticed a smoother ride, less popping, but the car still idles funny. I'm going to purchase some new plugs next weekend. Probably the NGK brand.

Great DIY though. Just wanted to say that.

 

Brown is good--black or white is not. Brown is not fouling.

 

About the tigthening procedures:

In the box of a NGK sparkplug RE8C-L that is just in fornt of me one can read the following "Tighten the spark plug with finger first, then screw about 1/2-3/4 (Conical seat plugs: about 1/16) turn more with plug wrench."

I guess that that is equivalent to the torque tightening procedure which figures have been provided up this thread.

Now the following question about sparkplug tightening: whether in angle or in torque is it there any noticeable influence in combustion going to the "loose" limit compared to the "tight" limit?

Cheers

jird20

 

If they are "loose" enough that the gasket is not sealing, the effect will be loss of compression and reduced engine performance. Why not spring for a torque wrench and do the job correctly?

 

FYI: Was at Auto Salon in Tokyo last weekend and HKS had special RX-8 plugs on show that they will release in Feb. No price info yet.

Tom.

 

If you use anti-seize or oil on the threads, a torque-wrench will cause you to overtighten the plugs.


Not to mention, with the leading plug, if you go in too far...you run the risk of the apex seal catching the tip of the spark plug...

 

Great walk through, helped me out since I'm not a car guy and typically just let the dealership do their thing when I need something done. I read the guide then went and did it myself, took me about 2 hours to do all 4. You know it makes you feel closer to your car when you work on it yourself...

 

I just tried my 5/8 plug puller way to small! Its 13/16 spark plug socket, or the metric equivalent

 

benfura: I'm in the middle of this right now and the 5/8's just doesn't seem to fit .... damn...

 

just got back from the auto parts store. 13/16 is working like a charm...

 

All 13b's Use The Same Plugs - Or At Least They Can , Im Using Rx7 Plugs In My 8 - They Are 9 Each And Last Upto 9 Months - Also , I Use 4 Of Them "9" - Instead Of The 2 ''7"s And 2 "9"s - Instead Of Two Leading And Two Trailing . This Gives You A Much Colder Ignition , Great For Fi

 

I've heard iridiums are not supposed to be cleaned due to the coating on the tip. Anyone confirm or deny this? Either way $80 to replace the plugs every 37K miles isn't bad.

 

So my parents call me about the rx8 that they have. My mom flooded it and my dad was trying to take the spark plugs out and they droped the spring that is in the spark blug wire/boot. That's how they explained it to me. Does anyone know how to get it back together?

 

Game Over, Thats all I gotta say.

 

That helps me very little. Thanks for the meaningless post. Anyone else got any ideas. They already took it to the shop. I was just wondering in case this happens again.

 

About a month or so, I bought a new '06 and there were 4 new plugs in the glove box. I assumed that these were supposed to be an updated plug that should have been replaced due to a recall or something and that the dealer just never got around to doing it. However I've not found anything as far as recalls for this on the '06.

Is this assumption correct about the recall or did I just get 80 bucks worth of spark plugs for no reason?

 

Dont worry about it until it is a problem.

There is no use in replacing the spark plugs if you are not experiencing:
loss of power, crappy idle, or hard starts.

 

The plugs were supposed to be installed prior to delivery of the car. Nothing to do with a recall. If you do a search on the forum you will find that at one point, Mazda realized that some new cars were flooding due to multiple cold shutdowns when moving the cars off the boat and around the lot prior to their sale. So, Mazda put the new plugs in the glove box and instructed the dealers to install them just prior to delivery of the new car to the buyer.

Wouldn't hurt to go back to the dealer and have them installed like they should have been before you got the car. Or you can do it yourself using the instructions in this thread. That way, if your car is one of those that got shutdown cold multiple times, it will decrease the odds that you will have to deal with a flood in the future.

 

That's pretty much the approach I was thinking I'd take. I really didn't want to crawl under the thing to see if the were different plug numbers or not.

 

Hmmm ... the only springs that I know of are in the spark plug wire connectors of the coils. The coils have a hard rubber boot that covers a metal spring-contact for the spark plug wire to fit into. Sometimes, the spark plug wire gets stuck to the coil connector boot and it comes off --- then the spring-connector pops out. All you have to do is take the coil boot off of the end of the spark plug wire, place the spring-connector into the coil, and then press (firmly) the boot back on the coil. Sounds like your dad was pulling on the wrong end of the spark plug wire .... unless he was also trying to replace the plug wires.

 

Cool- Nice to see that my thread is still helping people out around here.

 

Is this really a risk? As in "Do you need to get them dripping with anti-seize and overthighten them like a madman and almost ask for it for it to happen" or as in "Anyone not an expert risks killing the seals simply by changing the plugs for the first time" ?

 

I just did my second plug installation yesterday. Used anit-freeze (thin coating) and torqed to the specified 130 or so INCH-lbs both times. Never had a problem with rotor interference, and the old plugs (the ones I installed about 1 year ago)came right out.

 

Thansk GeorgeH