Spark Plug Service & Replacement at Stanley Ford Gilmer
Your vehicle is a very complex machine with hundreds of parts working together to get you from point A to point B, but if your spark plugs are bad, you are getting nowhere fast. Your vehicle can still function with one bad plug, but you run the risk of causing damage to your vehicle if you don’t get it replaced. In fact, the best recommendation is to change all of them if one goes bad.
Stanley Ford Gilmer can help with our spark plug service in our
service department. We know how much you rely on your vehicle to get around
Gilmer,
Tyler, and
Longview, and we are here to help keep your vehicle running longer with regular maintenance visits.
What Do Spark Plugs Do?
Spark plugs are an important component of your vehicle’s ignition system, they ignite the gasoline and air inside your engine using high-voltage electricity from your engine coil to create a spark that gets your engine running. Like all parts to your car, over time your plugs will wear out and need to be replaced. How often they need to be changed depends on the make and model and what the manufacturer recommends.
How Often Do They Need to Be Changed?
You can find manufacturer recommendations for all your vehicle’s maintenance needs in your owner’s manual. Depending on the make and model of your vehicle, the manufacturer's recommendation suggests average time frames for spark plug changes or in most cases based on the mileage of the vehicle. Usually, you will see 30,000, 60,000, or 100,000 miles as average benchmarks. However, there are times when replacement is necessary before recommended time frames. If spark plugs are not replaced in a timely manner, problems may develop.
- Check engine light flickers on when accelerating, or misfiring occurs, and engine damage can result.
- Miles per gallon of fuel may be affected.
- You can’t get your car to start.
- Diagnostic shows a misfire code.
- The vehicle shakes and shimmies or otherwise idles rough, and the engine vibrates.
- You can fail your emissions test.
The size of your engine determines the number of spark plugs. If you have a 3-cylinder engine, you’ll have 3 spark plugs, a 4-cylinder engine has 4 spark plugs, and 6- and 8-cylinder engines have 6 or 8 spark plugs respectively. When one plug goes bad, it is best to go on and have them all replaced.
Technician Procedure
The service tech will remove the spark plugs from the cylinder head and inspect the plugs to see if there are any signs on them that other engine problems exist. Once the system has been inspected, the new plugs are installed, and the vehicle gets a test drive to make sure everything is working as it should.
Spark Plug Service in Gilmer, TX
If you need to have your spark plugs checked out, set up an appointment with Stanley Ford Gilmer to get your spark plugs. Stanley Ford Gilmer is here for all your maintenance needs.
Set up your appointment today!
