How to avoid blown spark plugs in your tuned Stinger

[Exam23]

Thanks Sal for reposting this and great thread of information!

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is general cost to regap plugs if not inclined or able to change them personally? After reviewing the “install” videos I’m not sure I want to tackle that job. However I could find a experienced Kia mechanic to regap them and curious what the labor cost would be approximately. Would about an hour labor or $50-75 sound fair? Any suggestions are appreciated and thanks in advance all.

I just did the upgrade to my spark plugs today. It was quite easy if you have the correct tools. It literally took about 30-45mins cause of the passenger side was taking a lil longer. Just be careful and you will be fine. I will have a video with the tools up soon enough.

 

[Regs120]

Does the tork tune require spark plugs still? Presstech laughs at the idea of having to upgrade the spark plugs.

 

[Tonkabob]

Does the tork tune require spark plugs still? Presstech laughs at the idea of having to upgrade the spark plugs.

Race chip laughed at plug gaps as well until they didn't. Tork has cranked up the spark dwell time. If Pressertech hasn't then better re gap.

 

[StungBlueGT2]

Does the tork tune require spark plugs still? Presstech laughs at the idea of having to upgrade the spark plugs.

None of the tunes or chips “require” upgraded spark plugs. They are just highly recommended for a number of reasons.

Our stock plugs are good and can handle extra boost if gapped properly. Unfortunately that’s where Kia dropped the ball. Many people reported gaps from .034-.038 which even caused problems on stock Stingers. As long as the plugs are .022-.028 you should be able to run stock plugs with any chip/tune. Tork recommends 0.28 and I’m sure PresserTech would agree plug gaps do make a difference when tuning any vehicle.

 

[eflyguy]

Presstech laughs at the idea of having to upgrade the spark plugs.

~4500 miles with my PT tune, no blown plugs yet.

 

[Tonkabob]

~4500 miles with my PT tune, no blown plugs yet.

I did several thousand miles on race chip w stock plugs no problem but the guy i sold the RC to blew his coils first week.

 

[Crisis]

I, too, just changed my plugs on the weekend. The plugs themselves weren't much of a problem but the coils on the passenger side took some work, especially the center one where I had to take the coil apart to get it back in. Probably took about an hour total.

After completing the job, I fired up the car and it immediately felt like it was short a cylinder and the CEL came on shortly. I was really concerned until I went back under the hood and saw that I'd simply forgot to re-connect the front coil on the passenger side - D'oh!!! Unfortunately, the CEL stayed on even after the coil was properly reconnected and the car is running fine. I have no OBD tool, but do have a scheduled service at the dealership this week, so I'll have them clear the code.

 

[Tonkabob]

I, too, just changed my plugs on the weekend. The plugs themselves weren't much of a problem but the coils on the passenger side took some work, especially the center one where I had to take the coil apart to get it back in. Probably took about an hour total.

After completing the job, I fired up the car and it immediately felt like it was short a cylinder and the CEL came on shortly. I was really concerned until I went back under the hood and saw that I'd simply forgot to re-connect the front coil on the passenger side - D'oh!!! Unfortunately, the CEL stayed on even after the coil was properly reconnected and the car is running fine. I have no OBD tool, but do have a scheduled service at the dealership this week, so I'll have them clear the code.

Spend the $10 and get a BT obd adapter. No reason to draw more dealer attention. Plus you can do logging as well.

 

[Crisis]

Spend the $10 and get a BT obd adapter. No reason to draw more dealer attention. Plus you can do logging as well.

Cool - Didn't even know these BT adapters existed. Any recommendations for best compatibility with iphone?

 

[turboAWD]

Will be interesting to see your results Hemz, I have been looking at getting a uni chip too.

The reason being that although its a piggyback it is tuned specifically to your car. So will be tuned correctly for the mods like exhaust on the car. Also all these bolt on ecu's from usa and Korea are not tuned for 98octane, which we have at nearly every fuel station in Australia.

You DO realize that 98 octane in Australia is more or less the same as 92-93 octane in the US, right? The two countries just use different measurement systems that come up with different numbers for exactly the same batch of fuel.

 

[Revvdmedia]

I, too, just changed my plugs on the weekend. The plugs themselves weren't much of a problem but the coils on the passenger side took some work, especially the center one where I had to take the coil apart to get it back in. Probably took about an hour total.

After completing the job, I fired up the car and it immediately felt like it was short a cylinder and the CEL came on shortly. I was really concerned until I went back under the hood and saw that I'd simply forgot to re-connect the front coil on the passenger side - D'oh!!! Unfortunately, the CEL stayed on even after the coil was properly reconnected and the car is running fine. I have no OBD tool, but do have a scheduled service at the dealership this week, so I'll have them clear the code.

For those such as yourself taking the coils apart, does the "wire" simply pull off of the coil? Or is it threaded? It's hard to tell from the pictures. Apparently there is a spring in there as well? Looking at doing this soon but wanted to know what I'm getting into for that end of things. I don't like fishing things from the engine tray....

 

[Crisis]

For those such as yourself taking the coils apart, does the "wire" simply pull off of the coil? Or is it threaded? It's hard to tell from the pictures. Apparently there is a spring in there as well? Looking at doing this soon but wanted to know what I'm getting into for that end of things. I don't like fishing things from the engine tray....

It just pulls apart. And if you're not careful, the spring flys out and lands down on the block under the intake manifold inlet... I was really happy that I bought a magnetic pickup tool before starting the job. You're a bit of a mind reader.

 

[Revvdmedia]

It just pulls apart. And if you're not careful, the spring flys out and lands down on the block under the intake manifold inlet... I was really happy that I bought a magnetic pickup tool before starting the job. You're a bit of a mind reader.

Thanks a lot. This spring is located between the wire and the coil pack?

 

[Crisis]

Thanks a lot. This spring is located between the wire and the coil pack?

The Spring is the actual connection between the coil and the plug.

 

[Shrikecorp]

Somewhat related...my Google-fu is failing me, can anyone enlighten me regarding which cylinders are which on the 3.3?

 

[Leonidas]

Brought a set of Denso's IKH24 5346, spark plugs. According to my basic-measuring-tool they are gapped at 0.40... unless I don't know how to use the tool. Are they selling them with different "gappings" or am I reading this wrong and should these be also changed to 0.24-0.26 as people suggest when using them on a Stinger 2.0 turbo with the RaceChip RS?

Image: denso — Postimage.org

 

[StungBlueGT2]

Brought a set of Denso's IKH24 5346, spark plugs. According to my basic-measuring-tool they are gapped at 0.40... unless I don't know how to use the tool. Are they selling them with different "gappings" or am I reading this wrong and should these be also changed to 0.24-0.26 as people suggest when using them on a Stinger 2.0 turbo with the RaceChip RS?

Image: denso — Postimage.org

Does the 2.0 use the same plugs as the 3.3? Pretty sure those are the plugs for the 3.3 and they do need to be re-gapped to 0.022-0.026 for best performance on the V6TT.

And just curious why you chose the RC over of one of the top hybrid style piggybacks?

 

[Leonidas]

Thanks, will visit a garage and ask them to re-gap the plugs.

I chose the Racechip RS because it's designed in Germany. I am located in Europe and customs charge +50% if I buy something from US, plus I can't return the product to US if it doesn't function correctly. Those are the main reasons.

 

[Hemz]

Done 8,000km's with stock plugs and 25% power increase with no issues. Get it tuned properly and you won't need to mess with the plugs?

 

[NoVAGT2]

customs charge +50%

Ouch