It can be hard to tell when the spark plugs need to be changed these days. It used to be you would change the plugs every 30,000 miles. Now, the spark plugs can last longer than 100,000 miles. If you are faithful about having your automobile serviced every 30,000 miles, the plugs will get changed when they need it. If you aren’t, you may start to have some of the problems listed below.
Hard Starts/No Starts
In order for your vehicle to start, air and fuel are drawn into the cylinders when the starter turns over the engine. The starter then sends an electrical signal to each spark plug so that it will generate a spark. The sparks ignite the air and fuel, and, voilà, you have combustion. This is what starts your automobile. If the spark plugs or worn, they may not be able to produce sparks. Your engine may not start.
Misfiring Engine
If you do get the engine running, you may hear and feel it misfiring. This means that not all of the cylinders are firing. If the problem is the spark plugs, you may have multiple plugs that are worn out and need to be replaced. Consequently, the plugs are only firing in some of the cylinders. This will make your engine cut out briefly. The best time to feel the engine misfiring is when you are sitting at an idle.
Rough Engine Idle
Let’s talk more about this. When you are sitting in your automobile at a stop, you will feel your vehicle jerking. You will also hear the engine stop for a split second. When this happens, the specific cylinder that was supposed to fire at that time was unable to fire. The reason why I could be that the spark plug in that cylinder is worn and unable to produce sparks.
Surging/Lagging
As if the above were not bad enough, you will also have engine performance problems if the spark plugs are bad. For example, if the plugs are firing too frequently, your engine will surge. If the plugs are not firing enough, i.e., misfiring, the engine will lag.
Reduced Economy
Finally, as you can see, worn spark plugs cause your engine to run inefficiently. Consequently, you will realize a reduction in your fuel economy. This is one reason why we recommend you stick to the factory-service schedule in your owner’s manual. This keeps your engine efficient and gets you the best fuel mileage.
Call us today if you are overdue for a factory-scheduled service. We may need to change the spark plugs.
