Precise1 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 So, a 1998 Pathy with 254k showed up at my place yesterday needing an exam after being parked for 2(?) years and yes, it started up and was driven a few miles to my house. I found a lot of the usual things; valve covers loose, top off fluids, coolant leak, exhaust leak, needs a tune up but the condition of the spark plugs surprised me. It easily gapped at over .09"!! I stacked my 3 thickest feeler gauges and that wasn't enough. I foolishly didn't note the brand/type of plug so I'll pull it again tomorrow and use calipers to measure the gap!! The pathy started and ran pretty smoothly considering it needs cap, rotor, plugs and wires. What this tells me is how strong the ignition system and current is. I've had a couple of mechanics make comments about the same and I have experienced likewise. No pictures, but my first 1995 Pathy would stumble occasionally in 1st and I ignored it until it began to happen while shifting into second. It turns out the there was no center electrode in the distributor cap and the spark was arcing from the rusted and recessed center electrode spring down to the rotor, melting a crater into the cap's center. That spark had to jump at least .25" (6mm) if not more!! And it ran quite well!! I would not have believed it if I had not seen it... I'll dig up the pictures of the spark plugs out of the wife's R50 with 150k on them, the electrode is burnt down at a 45 degree angle. While I'm not a paid mechanic, I'm not used to seeing plugs like that. Any experiences to share?? B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trogdor636 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 It turns out the there was no center electrode in the distributor and the spark was arcing from the rusted and recessed center electrode spring down to the rotor, melting a crater into the cap's center. B I had a distributor cap on my 94 that sounds exactly like that. While not a Pathfinder, I had a Datsun 510 that had plugs that looked very similar to that. It ran pretty well despite it, probably not as smooth as you are describing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 My rig had the original cap and rotor and wires at 300,000kms. They looked fine but I changed them anyways. I probably could have left them but there was a small crack near one of the screws in the cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 My MSD setup wears out Pugs excessively fast. The stock coil paired with the box is more than enough but I went ahead and installed 45,000v coil which by itself is nearly double the stock output. Paired with the Multiple Spark Capacitive Discharge and you have approximately 12x the abuse going on. What I'm getting at is that I cannot go the regular interval for changing plugs... If the truck stumbles I pull the plugs and usually find gaps of .060 or more, V-power electrodes worn past the V and its enough to make me want to downgrade (doing so soon) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I heard a story from my auto teacher about a students car, a mid 90s caprice in the high 200k range and the orignal plugs. It ran fine with those plugs but ran horrid on new ones. Wouldnt idle, bad mpgs, ended up needing all igniton parts. When I got my 95 it had champions that where worn badly and mis gapped from .02-.07ish. It loped like it was a push rod cammer engine. But it had better power strangly, but cranked a long time before starting. Ended up swaping in AC's and netted a 2-3mpg gain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmoore4512 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Sweet!! When I first acquired my Pathfinder I did the usual swap, plugs wires and cap rotor etc... Bosch plugs, 3 of the 6 were similar to that....one was broken completely... Thank the Lord it was on the EASY side...LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 (edited) Are they Autolite plugs? I did a tune up on a 94 pathy a few months ago that had plugs that looked just like those....enough gap to drive a semi though! and the distributor cap had no noticable points left inside...i guess it was arcing enough to run. I was surpirsed too! Edited January 3, 2012 by Alkorahil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd21overland Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 When i bought my 92 from the elderly couple ( it was a 1 owner) he said he couldn't remember ever replacing the plug wires, rotor or cap. They were very worn and the cap (which was factory nissan cap) was cracked in a few places making it run horrid when water got on it but it still ran when dry and no issues with idle. I replaced all the ignition component minus the coil for better wet weather performance bu wasn't bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Are they Autolite plugs? I did a tune up on a 94 pathy a few months ago that had plugs that looked just like those....enough gap to drive a semi though! and the distributor cap had no noticable points left inside...i guess it was arcing enough to run. I was surpirsed too! Nope, NGK BKR5ES; factory standard. I'm beginning to wonder if these are the original plugs. Can plugs last 256,000 miles?? Think of all the $ you would save on tune ups!! B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now