Beru plug gapping

[Rom]

Hi all,

I just installed new Beru OEM plugs as part of my 60K service, and I didn't visually check them before putting them in (it was late, and I was tired - I'd spent a good amount of time fitting the fuel filter!!). Anyway, the car is running fine, but the idle is a little rough. I hooked up my DTC scanner, and sure enough I'm getting a misfire in cylinder 3. I pulled the plug out, and found that the gap on one side must was 0.2mm and the other side was 0.3mm. That's a far cry from the required 0.8mm (I got the plugs from an OPC, so they should have been pre-gapped). The 0.2mm side is virtually touching the centre electrode!

Anyway, I wanted to re-gap the plug, but it's proving difficult to say the least... I can't get the ground electrode to budge at all, and I can't get good leverage because the only thing to lean on is the insulator - which, of course, I don't want to touch.

Do you absolutely need a special tool for these 2-electrode plugs, or is there some sort of trick to do it? As this plug is so far off I'm thinking of pulling all the plugs and re-gapping!

Thanks!

Shash

[Tool Pants]

Spark plug gappers usually have a tool to bend the side electrode. Or you can just pry against the insulator....

[Rom]

Well, I've confirmed it's the spark plug... I put one of my old Bosch plugs in (which is still in very good condition), and the erratic idle has gone away! Of course I need to swap that plug again, so I need to get this sorted... I might just get the plug replaced, since it was supposed to be gapped correctly in the first place. Either that or I need to find a proper gapping tool. I don't want to weaken any of the electrodes or insulators - I've seen plugs lose their tops under compression!

So, how often do people get incorrectly gapped plugs from Porsche...? This is my first set direct from the OPC, and already I have one! Just bad luck, or a common occurrence?

Thanks!

Shash

[Loren]

Maybe it was dropped...

[Rom]

Maybe it was dropped...

Not by me... and none of the boxes looked crushed. Also, both sides are incorrectly gapped - so it would have had to have been dropped twice (or it did some sort of backflip when it dropped to hit both electrodes!).

Thanks!

Shash

[cbracer]

I don't think there is any gapping on these type of plugs. Sounds like you have a bad plug, not a gap issue. Buy a new on and be happy. Oh, and stay away from Bosch plugs, they are actually crap.

[Rom]

I went out and bought the same gapping tool as Jeff and it gaps it fine - although I haven't tried refitting it yet...

cbracer - these plugs are meant to be correctly gapped at 0.8mm - only the 4-electrode type plugs are not meant to be gapped.

Thanks!

Shash

Edited June 29, 2006 by Rom

[Tool Pants]

We have changed the plugs on several 2.5s with the 2 side electrode plugs, and the 2.7/3.2 Boxster and 996 with 4 side electrodes. I check the gaps on the 2.5 plugs and usually find a few that are offf a little bit. But it is easy to adjust the gap on that type of plug.

The 4 side electrode plug is a different design. There is a gap spec for this type of plug but I have not figured out how you would measure it.

[Rom]

If you slide the wire gauge between the side electrode and the center electrode, won't that be good enough? Although the gap on 4-electrode plugs seems to be pretty huge, so you'd need a big enough wire gauge.

Thanks!

Shash

[Stefan]

TP, are you suggesting that the 4-electrode plugs are not recommended for the 2.5L Boxsters? I have been using Bosch Platinum +4 in my 1999 2.5L for 25k miles and I will be changing them in the next 10k miles.

Just curious.

[Tool Pants]

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=720