BlogJust before storing my
Cougar last fall, the engine had coughing fits of hesitation below 3,000RPM. The 5 months of hibernation didn't help, and a $75 dealer inspection yielded "plugs and wires, $1,200" to which I said "no thank you" and took my sick car home. Having changed my plugs less than a year ago, I had a tough time believing ignition was the problem. Some rants about
NGK Iridium plugs and how well they work for forced induction was enough to get me to buy a set. Plus they cleverly injected "Xtreme!" in the product name which always indicates high quality, performance, and chick magnet. More importantly they ran colder (better heat transfer) than the crappy copper OEM plugs I've been stuck with.
Stavos quickly discovered I was intoxicated during my last plug change as the gap was .05" instead of the recommended .038", which probably contributed to the coughing. Left holding perfectly good, slightly used OEM plugs and brand new Xtreme! iridium plugs, I opted for the excitement. I'd like to say I fired up my car and was immediately surrounded by hot chicks with a new 1,000HP dyno pull, but in reality all that happened was the coughing went away, which was about as much excitement as my back could handle after leaning over my engine for 2 hours.