Hello all. I'm new here, and I've learned much from threads in this forum. I'm hoping that someone might have an explanation for the distinctive wear on these spark plugs. These were taken out of a 2008 3.0L engine(165000 miles... engine, not the plugs). The plugs from the driver's side seem to have worn down the center electrodes, but the plugs from the passenger side have worn down the grounding electrodes. This truck was given to me by my 84 year old dad who can no longer drive... I have no idea what the maintenance history is on this truck and pops doesn't really remember. I'm working on catching up on some much-needed maintenance. :-)

Left is driver's side, right is passenger's side.

 

That's the way plugs wear on a "Wasted Spark" V-6 engine.

If you swap plug wires around every 25,000 miles from

1 to 5 and 5 to 1
2 to 6 and 6 to 2
3 to 4 and 4 to 3

They will wear more evenly.

The spark goes from coil to plug 1, from plug 1, to plug 5, from plug 5, back to coil.

The center electrode wears on drivers side, ground electrode wears on the passenger side, at least on Fords..


EDIT That's also why you need to run double platinum plugs, otherwise one side (driver) will wear out faster

 

^Exactly. My truck has always done this, but I swapped to Double Platinums for the 100k change since that's what is recommended for Waste Spark. They do wear better. My old single platinums prior to 100k would have outrageous gaps (.070 or .080) by 50k miles on the plugs. lol. The double platinums are usually around .050 to .060 for the same mileage.

 

Thanks so much for the quick reply. One more thing that I've learned from this forum. :)

 

Great Information! Do you happen to have the plug make and number and will it also fit my 03 3.0 ? As I have the same issue. Thanks

 

Autolite APP104 is what I've been using on my 03 3.0. You can take that number and plug it in to a cross reference tool for aftermarket part numbers and it should give you options for double platinum plugs from other manufacturers if you're partial to one.

 

Fordzilla80, Thank You for taking the time to reply and share the spark plug number.

 

+1 ^^^ all

Only use regular copper/nickle, or double coating, if there is a Coil Pack, single coating is a waste of money since one bank will wear out like regular copper

Since Ford orders/uses literally millions of spark plugs they will use single coating BUT..................
Coated tip on one bank and coated center on the other, saves them a few bucks
Also why you will often see 2 different spark plug numbers as OEM, same spark plugs just one has coated tip the other coated center