biker1

After reading the thread by gregstevens today I went to check the plugs, hopfully like most of you will be doing, although the plugs were still in the head they were by no means tight (13lbs) as they are supposed to be!! they were dually tightend.

IF anybody thinks it will not happen to them THINK AGAIN it might, so just for the sake of 10 mins have them checked.

UKjasonm

I dont know about 13lbs on the spark plugs but I nearly gave myself a hernia trying to get the cover off and then you meet the coil bolts. I tried undoing the coil bolts and I gave up as the engine and car were moving more than they would.

I think ive come to the conclusion that Honda's man of steel fastened mine, and applied a minimum of 50b/ft to everything on the car !!!!

AnDy_PaNdY

50lb/ft into aluminium better not do that too often

mikerich

biker1
question from an innocent
do you think they were loose to start with - or just got that way?

AnDy_PaNdY

Do they fit them dry or use some sort of copper slip compound

Turtle

I've just checked mine. The allen bolts holding the plug cover on were very hard to remove. After that it was simple. I was really suprised how tight the cover bolts were - make sure you've a very good fit with the allen key, or I can see tears coming.

As to the actual plugs - No:1 was barely above hand tight , certainly below the torque setting. The others were closer, with No:4 pretty much spot on . I've torqued all of them as per the manual.

My car had ~1650 miles on the clock when I checked them - so I'm certain they came like that from the factory.

I don't think the No:1 was loose enough to come out like Greg's, but I do think it's really worth checking - difficult as it is. If you don't want to do it, get the dealer to do it. I'm happier now I know my plugs are okay...

-Brian.

mikerich

So is this a thing to do when checking on delivery?
I.E.the FAQ

xviper

Don't mean to horn in on your thread over there but I've noticed that the bolts on the cover and the bolts on the coil retainer need to be "snapped" loose. I don't think they were torqued on that tight. It's just that they may be a bit "stuck" perhaps from some kind of protective coating that might have been sprayed onto the parts or the engine as a whole. I just make sure that the wrench I'm using is in the slot perfectly and apply sudden, hard force the get the thing started.

Tonky

Makes you wonder how many catastrophic engine failures may have been due to this and put down to something else!

biker1

A few questions answred:
mikerich, I dont think my plugs were working them selves loose I just dont think they were properly checked at the factory, all of them were about 5lbs instead of the 13lbs.
ukjasonm, yes the cover allen head bolts are tight so are the coil bolts but that doesnt mean the plugs will be! see bmarchalls expierence I think you will find everyones alloy cover bolts are really tight.
It would be really bad luck and unlikley for the plug to unscrew its self all the way and pop out of the head but if theres a chance look at greg stevens.(say no more!!)