[MidLifeCrisis330Xi]

Indy dealer mentioned that when I replace the spark plugs, the car needs to be programmed. True? Doesn't make sense to me. Unless he was just referring to resetting the maintenance indicator. Thanks.

[John 070]

Absolutely not....I changed mine and nothing changed with the vehicle, did not run better, or worse. I had to reset the reminder for the CBS though.

[TittoBlunt]

Spark plugs and coils don't need programming. Maybe he was referring to the injectors. Those need to be programmed in when replacing.

[benzo23]

no

[Miller335]

Everyone says no but when I switched to NGK plugs my car ran like crap for the first 30 seconds first cold start of the morning.

I put factory plugs back in and it runs smooth as butter again on first cold start.

Some cars might need adaptions reset changing out the plugs but I can't find much info to prove it.

[XM_Rocks]

Originally Posted by Miller335

Everyone says no but when I switched to NGK plugs my car ran like crap for the first 30 seconds first cold start of the morning.

I put factory plugs back in and it runs smooth as butter again on first cold start.

Some cars might need adaptions reset changing out the plugs but I can't find much info to prove it.

That seems odd.

Was one of the plugs possibly bad?

Did you ever sort it out?

Mine were plug and play with no programming needed... no rough starts or any other issues.

[Miller335]

Originally Posted by XM_Rocks

That seems odd.

Was one of the plugs possibly bad?

Did you ever sort it out?

Mine were plug and play with no programming needed... no rough starts or any other issues.

Just kept the factory plugs in was my fix so far.

I gave my NGK's to Ken@wedgeperformance, not sure if he got off his butt yet to install them to see if they worked in his car.

[smallseafishie]

Originally Posted by Miller335

Everyone says no but when I switched to NGK plugs my car ran like crap for the first 30 seconds first cold start of the morning.

I put factory plugs back in and it runs smooth as butter again on first cold start.

Some cars might need adaptions reset changing out the plugs but I can't find much info to prove it.

That's because anything other the OEM or BOSCH replacements are prone to cause issues. I believe the NGK ones require manual gapping to perform correctly. All of which are not related to coding.

Short answer is no to coding.

[AtlantaDude]

No programming needed for me. Just reset the bitching betty and was good to go.

[XM_Rocks]

Originally Posted by Miller335

Just kept the factory plugs in was my fix so far.

I gave my NGK's to Ken@wedgeperformance, not sure if he got off his butt yet to install them to see if they worked in his car.

Strange that its only the first 30 seconds on a cold start.

Its not constant... so pulling coils while running would be hard to troubleshoot which coil/plug is causing the issue.

Wonder if the car threw any internal codes that might help diagnose.

[MidLifeCrisis330Xi]

Originally Posted by smallseafishie

That's because anything other the OEM or BOSCH replacements are prone to cause issues. I believe the NGK ones require manual gapping to perform correctly. .

Hmmm now you have me concerned since I was planning on getting the NGK Laser Iridium Spark Plug (ILZFR6D11) from AdvanceAuto since I had heard that they were better than the OEM BOSCH. Don't mind having to manually gap them if they perform better. Maybe I should just stick to OEM?

[Miller335]

Originally Posted by XM_Rocks

Strange that its only the first 30 seconds on a cold start.

Its not constant... so pulling coils while running would be hard to troubleshoot which coil/plug is causing the issue.

Wonder if the car threw any internal codes that might help diagnose.

No codes.
Have a BT cable and JB4 to look at them but nothing ever showed up.

Most probable cause is an injector slowly going bad. Car had HPFP and injector recall done back in 2011 and I heard that they program the car to be less sensitive to misfires on a cold start.

FWIW, I did reset some adaptions via BT cable and it clean up the cold start with the NGK's a good amount but it still had issues with the idle bouncing around.

Bought a new set of factory plugs, installed them and it runs perfect again on cold starts.
I just have to tell myself I could have an injector slowly failing.

[thyshallsmite]

LOL ...no

[gtaccord]

Stick to oem/bosch.

[TittoBlunt]

NGKs are also OEM for the N52s. It's what I use and never had a problem with them.

[MidLifeCrisis330Xi]

Originally Posted by TittoBlunt

NGKs are also OEM for the N52s. It's what I use and never had a problem with them.

Just looked up my specific vehicle on www.realoem.com and for my specific build date (12/2005) it shows the following:




How do I read the "up to" date on this? Shows two types of NKG and the BOSCH with different "up to" dates. Seems like since my vehicle was mfg'd 12/2005, I should be able to use any of those plugs? (since 12/05 is within each of those "up to" dates)

[smallseafishie]

Originally Posted by MidLifeCrisis330Xi

Hmmm now you have me concerned since I was planning on getting the NGK Laser Iridium Spark Plug (ILZFR6D11) from AdvanceAuto since I had heard that they were better than the OEM BOSCH. Don't mind having to manually gap them if they perform better. Maybe I should just stick to OEM?

Well my comment is in reference to N54 engines which require more frequent spark plug changes than N52 motors. No personal experience on N52 spark plugs... For modded N54 motors, NGK 5992 plugs are to be gapped to be 0.022", better performance but shorter life span compared to OEM / BOSCH.

My experience with autozone / advanced auto spark plug cross reference replacements have been horrible. I had terrible results for both an Isuzu and my old M20 E30 motor. I buy the SAME exact plugs now which are readily available online such as Amazon to ensure no issues.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by smallseafishie

That's because anything other the OEM or BOSCH replacements are prone to cause issues. I believe the NGK ones require manual gapping to perform correctly. All of which are not related to coding.

Short answer is no to coding.

I have actually heard the same thing on Nissans, to use OEM and not switch to Bosch etc......

[John 070]

Originally Posted by gtaccord

Stick to oem/bosch.

I went with Bosch because they were a little cheaper. As I recall, green instead of the blue ones that came out. But the OEM clearly had the same part# as the Bosch, so imho Bosch is the way to go....