ggalan

my 03 honda accord has 80k miles so i decided to change the spark plugs, gapped it and now the engine light comes on every once in a while and sometimes it sputters. what can i check? i did everything by the books

BLKFLSH

Make sure all your coil wire connections are tight. The plugs should not need to be gapped. The stock irridium plugs (Denso NGK) should come pre-gapped, and should not be adjusted. Did you tourque the plugs down to 13ft lbs (I think)?

ggalan

thanks for the reply
yes, the ngk was torqued to 13 lbs and i air cleaned all the electrical connectors
you can feel a slight miss firing on idle at times and when i accelerate, sometimes it sputters

Weakbyyou

coil pack going bad?

ggalan

how can i check the coil pack?

redbull-1

Go to an Autozone or Aamco to get the trouble code read. Many of them will read the code without charge.

BLKFLSH

Was it doing this (miss-fire sputter) before the spark plug change? If not I would re-do everything, and make sure one of the plugs were not damaged during install. If it's a 4 cylinder it should be pretty easy to re-do, V6 not quite as easy.

ggalan

everything was smooth before, ran very smooth.
took it to autozone . . . hooked up the computer tool and it read fine

wondering if the 13lbs on the torque wrench was wrong, meaning that i didnt tighten enough or tightened too much

air cleaned the electrical connectors , a 4cyl.

the sputter seems slight on idle but when i accelerate you can notice and sometimes the engine light comes on

Targa250R

What is the exact part number of the plugs that you used?

Why did you gap them, and what gap meaurement did you set them to?

ggalan

Thank you everyone for your help
I purchased new plugs and it worked
The ones I bought from eBay were the problem for some reason

BLKFLSH

Great! Glad you got it. Were the EBay plugs the correct number? If they were, they should have had the correct gap right out of the box. I wonder if these same plugs (same number) are used on other cars, with different gaps. I've heard that gapping the irridium plugs can easily break the small tips.

ggalan

yup, the ebay plugs were the same brand, same number
when i said gapped, i meant that i checked the gap but they were all correct from the box

project_bluff

I've heard you're not supposed to gap iridium plugs because it will damage them..BUT iridium is supposed to be significantly stronger and tougher than platinum plugs..that's why they replaced platinum

thapimpfromchi

ebay plugs...

^^^ mystery solved. lol

BLKFLSH

If you've ever looked at an irridium plug, the tips are very small, and while the irridium may be a harder metal, that also means it is more brittle and doesn't bend like softer metals do. I'm no expert on spark plug material, but I assume that's why they say not to adjust the gap on irridium plugs, like you would other plugs.

honda8888

No go on eBay plug wires.. good to know. Glade you got the car running well again.