kmcaprice14

Hi everyone. I am knew to the 4runner world, just having purchased a 1998 Black V6 Manual 4WD SR5 4runner in december. The truck is beautiful with only 115,000 on it. I love it so far. Being a little anal about service though, I am going through, doing a full tune up on it to ensure its in peak condition.

I went down to autozone to pick up some plugs this morning... I gave them the info for the truck and the brand I wanted (NGK) and they gave me the plugs. I noticed the ones I took out had dual electrodes, while the ones autozone gave me were single electrodes. I figured that it was no big deal and swapped them all (also cleaned the maf and throttle body). Anyway... it starts and runs very smooth, but the single electrode thing got me thinking.... do we have to run dual electrode plugs in the 4runner? If so, why? I can't seem to figure out why we would need to. I am running NGK vpower and everything SEEMS fine, but I wanted to check with the more experienced folk here. If I need to change them again, its not like its a tough job, but I just want to be sure I'm not doing any damage. Thanks!


PS I searched but only found people saying that OEM was dual electrode... I'm trying to figure out why.


Kevin

gilby4runner

I know that there are a few on here that can give you the technical reasoning behind using the dual electrode plugs. I figure that Toyota uses them for a reason... if it works dont change it. Also there is a specific warning label on my engine that tells me to use the dual electrode. Autozone tried to sale me the same plugs. They got a little pissy when i asked for the dual electrode. They were cheaper than the ones they were trying to sale me.

toytech76

Yes the single electrode plus will cause you problems. Take them back. Go to toyota and get denso plugs part # K16TR-11. Running single electrode will eventually cause a miss. The reason they are dual electrode is because both plugs off each coil pack fire at the same time. so you basically have 2 plugs firing at the same time

gilby4runner

For what its worth AutoZone sales the OEM plugs. Dont worry about going to the dealer for them. denso plugs part # K16TR-11.

kmcaprice14

Thanks so much for the responses. I guess I'll go get the right part... Its dam annoying to do a job twice, regardless of how long it takes to do.

toytech76

Thats what we are here for!

mkgarrison5

so what about the guys who use the newer irridium plugs for the 3.4's?? those arent duel electrode and supposedly last 100k miles.... personally i wont use them but i know guys that do. quite a few on this board i believe

kmcaprice14

I went to toyota, bought the right ones, and put them in... the others had a little white tinge to them like a misfire may have occured... good call. On the bright side, I can now change out all 6 plugs in 15 minutes... what a worthless skill.

Thanks again

toytech76

In stock form you need to use the dual electrode. I know that when you put on trd's 7th injector kit it tells you to use a certain single elecrode iridium plug. So I would only use them under those conditions

pkt1213

iTrader: (1)

How did you get NGKs at AutoZone? I worked there for about a year and you can't get NGKs. I had to go down the road to O'Reillys to get them.

RobD

Uh, what?

kmcaprice14

They have carried them for as long as I remember. I replaced my accords plugs a few years ago with NGKs.... I actually found the receipt when I was cleaning it out today. Maybe its a state thing?

But Virginia (former home) and South Carolina (current home) autozones definitely seem to carry them.

pkt1213

iTrader: (1)

Weird. Cause we couldn't get them here. That's crazy. Almost everyone that worked there went down the street to get NGKs cause we drove little Japaneese cars.

rearviewmirror

Buying parts for a car you like at VatoZone = .

Go with OEM spec on parts like that. Get the NGK or Denso dual electrode plugs that Toyota went out of their way to put a sticker on the engine to confirm the importance.

kmcaprice14

Yeah, I got the Denso's from the dealer... only $3 a piece, not too bad. I just never saw a car/truck that required dual electrode before, so at the time I thought nothing of it. Lesson learned.

Although, to be fair, having worked on my cars for the better part of 10 years, I think its a bit foolish to say you can get nothing good at autozone. They carry a fair number of reasonable parts that have lasted me tens of thousands of miles. There is a fine line between OEM quality parts and wasting money. IMO dealer parts are not always the best route (but I agree that in many cases they are).

MTL_4runner

Better now than later.
Just chalk it up to experience.

pkt1213

iTrader: (1)

I don't think I have put plug in the 4runner. My probe, accord, g20 and integra ran NGKs.

I know I bought Densos for something, maybe it was the 4runner.

I buy a lot of my stuff at autozone cause the dealership here annoys me most of the time. I got my timing belt, water pump and accessory belts for my 4runner there, al goodyear. I also worked there so I had a nice discount on lifetime warentee parts. I still get a 10% because I am in the millitary and the store manager give that.

kmcaprice14

Yeah, I also enjoy the military discount. Its a nice little bonus.