icerunner

BTW: See above, I tried to edit the VULGER title! and had no luck,
seemed funny at the time, hehe.....
famous last words...
hey, what i ment was "paris" likes to dance (on prom night) with wide "crazy" legs....?

well anywho
Do you have a strange Noise as soon as you hit the pedal and a rough idle??
its probably "knocking" "pinging" or "pre-detonation" and time to replace your older plugs (asap).
This is a solution important to many who have had this issue and i've heard it come up many times on the forum, so I will comment.

#1 SUSPECT: Spark plugs
I personally have fouled out older plugs on my 99' SR5 4runner with techron injector cleaner. I bought the runner used at 75,ooo miles and for some reason I changed all the fluids but didn't even think of the older plugs... (and "older" is ANY standard 4runner plug with over 30K) I used techron fuel injector cleaner with 1/8 semi empty tank and drove 10 miles to the gas station to fill up as it indicates on the bottle. The only issue was that I drove it 10 miles to long......I should of added it at the gas station!!!
BIG MISTAKE and I knew right away what I did. knocking,pinging, a huge loss of power ect....
I really wanted to puke, as I thought I trashed my injector seals...
(Nothing worse than watching a grown man cry himself all the way to a gas station....
.....at 18 MPH)

SO, IF YOU HAVE A STRANGE NOISE WHEN YOU HIT THE PEDAL, I produced the exact same symptoms you have... knocking, loss of power. You may have put the last nail in the coffin on your aged sparkplugs.... pull them out and see if they look bad. (wide/worn/rounded electrodes and fouled out)

did some research and found out that today's fuels have plenty of cleaning additives for injectors (as required By law) especially if you are using "top tier" fuel which is ANY grade (87,90,93) by BP or Shell.
But additives will help very little if the plugs are all old and fouled.

Remember 30,000 miles is close to max for standard 4 runner plugs. AND remember DUEL ELECTRODE PLUGS ARE REQUIRED FOR THE 3.4 ENGINE (it says so right on the engine) BTW my plugs had 78K before I trashed them with chevron techron. Once they the plugs were replaced, I could not believe the power difference at accelaration and idle .....AND NO KNOCKING.

SHOW OF HANDS:
My vehicle made it 78,000 Miles on the original Plugs, and I found out the toyota factory uses "NGK's" plugs on one side of the engine and "Denso" plugs on the other.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU GONE BEFORE CHANGING YOUR PLUGS and did you notice a difference?

good luck and god speed

gilby4runner

88,000 right now. I still get around 20 to 22 mpg. I have noticed a little lacking in power lately. I am about to do the 90,000 mile service so i will change them then

Elton

soo how do you gap those dual ground plugs ?

WATRD

Title edited, but I tried to convey the original spirit of what you were trying to say

icerunner

ROB: thanks Rob, that's good enough, I just did'nt want to get wacked with the "ban hammer"

ELTON: I'm pretty sure these OEM Plugs are supposto be pre-gapped, ready to install.

WATRD

No problem. Those who get banned go out of their way to earn it here. I appreciate you calling the title out and trying to fix it on your own. We should have the whole post editing thing ironed out soon...

gpcollen1

What do you mean by 'trashed' them with the Techron? Your plugs were way too old in the first place. I am not sure i follow you here.....

icerunner

TOUCHE' Gpcleen1,
From the look of your Avatar/picture (in your post) it looks like you let a bad water pump/gasket go a little too long aswell? Fyi I would consider the water pump "trashed".
So is it easier to "follow" my message now?


hehe.....right back at ya
btw Gpcleen1, I'm totally just kidding

Good question though, I bought the runner used at 70K and for some reason I changed all the fluids but didn't even think of the plugs... And I'm not blaming the cleaner, and [B]by "trashed" I mean unusable, fouled and coated with a dry yellow/gray film that took older plugs over the edge.... In other words, the " last nail in the coffin" or " " I Jumped the shark" or "the straw that broke the camels back".The engine ran like a champ at 78K untill the Chevron Techron was added.... Not the techrons fault, but just an important warning to think about when adding this stuff with older plugs in the engine.
Probably far too much resistance to spark after the concentrated Injector cleaner was added. My 99' 3.4L Engine started knocking and misfiring quickly after application.... [B]Ususally older spark plugs will slowly go bad which can be worse for your engine becuase an owner may not notice how bad the performance/engine sound is getting over time.
I'm real glad it was a quick death for the plugs.

I think people will get used to the sound and think that the occasional Knocking is normal or possibly something entirely else. Make no mistake, this is not something to let go for a while. A good thing to know when most will take there plugs well over 30,000 Miles thinking that their engine runs fine, so why change them?

Just something for one to consider 1st.

I pulled them out and they looked terrible.... Also at 80K the gaps were large... I waited too long (like most) and am putting out a "good faith" warning.....Replaced the plugs again at 118,000. Now the engine has 140,000 miles, and my engine is runs great.

MudHippy

First, I wouldn't recommend anybody going beyond 30k miles. Spark plugs are cheap enough, I mean standard electrode plugs(single or dual). And they need to be in optimal shape to perform well.

Second, I inspect mine every 5000 miles at least. I pull them, clean them, inspect the electrode for rounding-off of the tips edge(using an electrode file to resurface when needed), and check/set the gaps. After, they are just like new.

Third, I have seen EXACTLY what you describe from WAY neglected plugs. Huge gaps and a rounded edge on the electrode tip develope. Which can only do one thing, ignite the fuel/air mixture less efficiently=POOR ENGINE PERFORMANCE.

icerunner

Mudhippys post: inspect the electrode for rounding-off of the tips edge(using an electrode file to resurface when needed), and check/set the gaps. After, they are just like new.



[B]
Mudhippy : For the low cost of the plugs, would you recomend just swaping them out instead of repairing the plug electrode? Or is it just a judgement call?

btw: What's the easiest way to put someones post in your reply?

MudHippy

You mean like this?

Click the "quote" icon in the bottom right of the post you want to quote from. To do a multi-quote from many posts, click the multi-quote icon to make it activate for each post you'd like to take from. Then simply click the quote icon for the last post, instead of muti-quote, and the multi-quote tabbed messages will be added to that final quote.

Use the "Post your tests here" area to experiment with the task.

As to your question, I've always been frugal. Waste not, want not. If I can make them work as new for my 30k miles, I figure it's saving not having to replace them every 10k or so. That's about as long as mine go before I touch them up. I do alot of high rpm stuff, and my plugs seem to wear quicker than I like. They stay nice and clean though. I usually won't file an electrode more than once, so mine don't make it much past 20k miles before I replace them, though they could. The gap is more important anyway. And filing just ensures an even/accurate gap.

surf4runner

i went ~85K before i put in bosch platinums and it made a differance.

spare me the bosch issues - they went 40K flawless mi w/o any problems, and still looked good when i removed them.

NGK are in now and i have not noticed any differances in performance or mileage. i did notice the NEW plug differance, but it was the same as the last time i changed plugs too.