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Post by Waterpixi on Nov 10, 2005 6:58:25 GMT -5
I already anticipate the first couple responses to this will be, you're a f***ing idiot. That's okay, I understand. I don't know much at all about auto maintenance (my dad is a mechanic & Marshall went to school for auto maintenance but niether of them have taught me much of anything so far). So I'm taking a basic auto maintencance class here in MA. Last night me & a kid with a toyota changed our spark plugs. I was so happy I did it, the teacher walked me through it & I thought I did a good job, but then Marshall asked, did I check the gap on them? NO I DIDN'T CHECK THE GAP. The teacher never said the word gap. He never said I might need to adjust it. He just said stick it in & screw it, so that's what I did. So, if this is a problem, how would I be able to tell? Or should I just take them all out and adjust the gap now? & how? I have a hideous 126-mi/day commute, and I'm going on a 8 hour trip up to VT Saturday. If I need to expect something really bad to happen, let me know? i know everyone here is really smart about this kind of thing so I'm guessing you're probably laughing at me already because it's a basic thing or whatever. I already said, I'm stupid, and f*** ups happen when you try and learn something new. I'm kind of frustrated now because last night I thought I did really good. I guess it did seem too easy. -holly
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Post by ufo on Nov 10, 2005 7:36:46 GMT -5
its a simple mistake and its no big deal. when i put new plugs in my ram i didn't gap them and for a good reason. i didn't know how to gap a Bosch 4 plug, in fact i don't think you can. anyway its not hard to gap them, just pull them back out and get feeler gauge and find the right thickness and then just gap the plug to that thickness. if its to big of a gap just tap the plug on a hard surface lightly and try again. its a simple thing thats looked over alot I'm sure.
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Post by Waterpixi on Nov 10, 2005 11:43:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice, Matt!!!!
I used the Bosch platinum spark plugs...still feel like an idiot for not checking them...I just didn't want to break down because of it. Next time I'm in class, i'm replacing the distributor cap, if you have any hints about that (if case my teacher leaves out other information like he did with the gap thing)...I've already been told it's a pain to get to it....
Thanks so much!!! -holly
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Post by ufo on Nov 10, 2005 20:33:12 GMT -5
well if your changing the cap and rotor on your ram well then your heard right it is a pain. but it can be done just takes time. one thing to watch for is that you get the plug wires back in the right order. they show the right order in a repair manual. what i would do is take a piece of masking tape and make a little flag on each spark plug wire and number it accoring to the plug (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) that way you know what wire is for what plug. then just plug the wires back into the cap in the firing order.
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Post by Waterpixi on Nov 10, 2005 20:51:17 GMT -5
Paradisd from DTW said to just replace the wires while I'm at it. So if I go in the parts store & ask for the cap & wires they'll know what I'm talking about? Good idea with numbering the wires. I don't want to be stuck at the garage all night trying to figure out what went wrong
(again I'm sorry for being an idiot with this stuff. I'm getting there....)
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Post by panthers65 on Nov 10, 2005 21:14:13 GMT -5
some times its a problem some times it isn't, I put new plugs in my old bronco, didn't check the gap, and it never gave me a bit of trouble, but when my brother did his 97 4.6 and didn't check the gaps, it was all screwed up.
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Post by Waterpixi on Nov 13, 2005 16:57:20 GMT -5
One of the guys from NH DTW let me come to his place yesterday and change some of the spark plugs on his Hemi. What a sweetie for letting practice on his truck. Hopefully I didn't break anything....
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kuhnzoo
3" body lift
More Guns, Less Crime
Posts: 66
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Post by kuhnzoo on Nov 21, 2005 9:37:14 GMT -5
Yo SalmonGirl: Everything still seems to work! Thanks for helping out with the plugs waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy in the back!! Most Dubiously, Evil Nemesis
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Post by Waterpixi on Nov 21, 2005 19:20:39 GMT -5
Evil nemesis??? oh my..... glad it's running ok! You crack me up Rob. Thanks SO MUCH for letting me work on your HEMI, it was fun.
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Post by Waterpixi on Dec 1, 2005 8:09:49 GMT -5
I just wanted to let you know that I changed the distributor cap, rotor, & wires last night in clss and the truck started up fine afterwards (YAY!!!!).... the teacher helped me a lot with the cap, he screwed it in place and stuck the rotor in...even after I backed into his car and cracked its tail light (it was dark out!) ....he said it needs to be changed every 15000-20000 mi, is that right?
Thanks UFO for the flag idea...I just unplugged & replaced them one at a time and everything seemed to go all right.
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kuhnzoo
3" body lift
More Guns, Less Crime
Posts: 66
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Post by kuhnzoo on Dec 1, 2005 12:47:34 GMT -5
You should probably change the cap and rotor at the same interval as the plugs. I do not know what that is for your truck, but the owner's manual should have a maintenance schedule that includes the tune-up interval.
Back in the "olden" days (before fuel injection and electronic ignition), a complete tune-up usually included cap / rotor / plugs / points / condensor / air filter / set dwell / set timing / adjust idle air-fuel mix / adjust low idle / adjust high idle / etc. Depending on vehicle or necessity fuel filters, PCV valves, plug wires and whole host of other items might have been replaced, checked or adjusted. And that was usually done every year or 12,000 miles. At least that's the tune-up procdure for my '68 Impala.
Glad you got your cap and rotor changed OK.
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