A spark plug question

[Guest]

Continuing on regarding my new found love of subarus.

After the timing belt was installed correctly and the LH inlet cam was re-positioned 180 deg (thank goodness no valve damage) and the thermostat was put back in the right way around, my overheating problems were sorted.

However, because of the issues I was having with the timing belt etc, i didnt use the turbos much. Now it all appears to be ok, i cranked up the beast only to find it sputtering along like a geriatric cow.

It runs fine at low revs etc, and the turbos do work, just not hard out.

So I cleaned the MAF, replaced fuel filter and air filter, and then went to inspect the plugs and coils.

Here in lies my question:

When the car was originally at the garage, in their attempts to try to get my car going after putting the belt on with the LH camshaft out of sync, they replaced the spark-plugs to try and address the low compression on two cylinders... It seems however that they put standard plugs in and not the type (platinum tips) recommended by Subaru.

Question. Would using normal spark plugs instead of the platinum tipped ones cause this stutter in power delivery?

thanks for looking

[funkytown]

a copper plug will be fine if gapped and installed correctly They should be about the NGK 7 heat range.

I run coppers in my race car and those go fine and dandy

To be honest sounds like your car needs an expert to inspect it in real life. Sounds like one of those cars with issues no one is going to solve over the intanetz

[Pappu1]

were the spark plugs gapped correctly?

the stock recomendation is 0.7-0.8

standard (copper) plugs work fine but need to be gapped propperly especially if boosting as over gap can mean the spark is getting blown off

[Guest]

thanks, i'm guessing they just took the plugs straight out of the boxes and put them in...

[funkytown]

NGK's are pre gapped for you so 'maybe' no cause for concern.

I'll repeat it feels like the poeple looking at the car might not know what they are doing, and should be given to a subaru expert in my opinion.

[Hikari]

A lot of mechanics start assuming and guessing which does not help at all. Try bring it into Winger subaru or if u know a subaru specialist..

[Guest]

 pappu said:

were the spark plugs gapped correctly?

the stock recomendation is 0.7-0.8

Cheers, will look into it. Thanks for the clarification that they will work ok if done properly. Considering everything done by this garage has been anything but, I will go on the assumption that they haven't been gapped properly.

funkytown, they told me they had to call in a subaru "expert" to do the belt. :

Not certain if the new plugs are NGK's though. Thanks for your comments

[funkytown]

no worries - hope it gets sorted. Which location are you - maybe we can help suggest someone to fix it for you.

Sounds like the place it went were complete muppets. I wouldnt rule out engine damage from either the rotated cam shaft, or the overheating. sounds like the motor has been unintentionally abused.. badly.

[Guest]

They tried for two days to get it running with the cam shaft out of sync, then tried to tell me I overheated it, which i didn't. Parked it up as soon as the pump failed. I ended up taking the car off them and fixing it myself. Saw the cam was out based on the marks, put everything back to how it was supposed to be and car started first pop. Of course, I had no clue that they put the thermo in the wrong way around too when they replaced the water-pump...It warmed up a couple of times before i realised that was the issue, but certainly didn't redline the temp. (went through a few litres of coolant though trying to get to the bottom of it) Anyway, I'm rambling now. Thanks for the help

[Guest]

BTW, in welly

[funkytown]

jesus.. sounds like you should be asking for money back or not paying the bill...

Pm Ichi Ban on here - he knows everything there is to know about subarus - He's built my race car motor and i trust his judgment and skills greatly.

He works from his home but dont be fooled - he certainly is as pro as they get.

Good luck with getting it all sorted.

[drakon]

Poor stuconz

Regarding running standard plugs in a turbo Ive always been told this is a bad thing to do and wont allow for peek performance. Sort of like running 91 in these instead of 95 and above.

plus stuconz you forgot to mention that the problem wasnt there until you actually put a free flowing exhaust system and removed the cat sensor (located at the start of the middle pipe section).

[funkytown]

 drakon']

Poor stuconz

Regarding running standard plugs in a turbo Ive always been told this is a bad thing to do and wont allow for peek performance. Sort of like running 91 in these instead of 95 and above.

plus stuconz you forgot to mention that the problem wasnt there until you actually put a free flowing exhaust system and removed the cat sensor (located at the start of the middle pipe section).

if copper 6's are in my 300wkw motor then i'd assume they go fine in a factory motor wouldnt you agree

You just have the change them more often and like all plugs make sure they are gapped correctly and in the required heat range.

If the OP is missing an o2 sensor it would still run reasonably well just not very economically.

[quote name='funkytown said:

To be honest sounds like your car needs an expert to inspect it in real life. Sounds like one of those cars with issues no one is going to solve over the intanetz

[Guest]

 drakon said:

plus stuconz you forgot to mention that the problem wasnt there until you actually put a free flowing exhaust system and removed the cat sensor (located at the start of the middle pipe section).

thanks monsieur Malfoy I did forget to mention the new exhaust, however, on recollection, I think the stutter was there prior to them being fitted, I just didn't thrash the car because of the garbage I was having regarding the timing belt and thermo and didnt notice it as much. In fact, the car was running fine until all this drama with the timing belt unfolded. Just hoping all these little things I am doing now will resolve the issue and its not a bigger problem I have to deal with. Time will tell.

[Guest]

Car running sweet again, no missing or stuttering.

Flat tops were NGK 5's with a 0.10 gap.

Put platinum tops back in with 0.7 gaps and replaced a couple of the coil packs due to cracks under the boots.

three strikes from garage and their subaru "expert"

[*]camshaft out when belt replaced

[*]thermo in the wrong way round

[*]wrong type of spark plugs

definitely won't be using that garage again, but am going to let them know they shouldn't work on any more subarus. However, if they hadnt mucked it up, I wouldn't have learned how to change the timing belt, spark plugs etc and that clever little bonnet support that you can move to give more clearance on the drivers side.

Just glad there was no real damage done.

Thanks drakon for helping get my car back on the road, and thanks to everyone else who imparted wisdom, very much appreciated.