My Spark Plug change experience
OK, so I went ahead and did the spark plug change. 61,740 miles and a month shy of 5 years since I picked her up new at the dealer.
Short version: CX-5 was running just fine, changed the plugs, no problems and it idles a little bit smoother now. No discernible performance difference.
Long version:
First of all, I bought the NKG plugs through Amazon. $54.77/tax delivered. They've dropped a couple of bucks since then.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
Then I bought a 14mm elongated spark plug socket. It's from Baum Tools out of Florida, but ordered through Amazon. $13.95 delivered (no tax). This socket worked perfectly both getting the old ones out and putting the new ones in. The plastic insert had just the right amount of "hold" for the plugs. Highly recommended!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
Note the plastic insert for the holding the plug:
OK, here's a new plug. I checked all the gaps and they were all spot on. I did NOT use anti-seize on the threads, but I did put some dielectric grease on the inside of the coils when I reinstalled them.
Here's the first plug I pulled out. It's the one on the drivers's side of the engine. A bit of oil on the threads, but not bad. Like ColoradoDriver, you can see that I too had the PE5S plugs as OEM. The plugs were not hard at all to remove. Some initial resistance, but easily backed out.
Here are all the plugs. They are in order: driver's side plug on the left through the passenger's side plug on the right. Only the first plug had any oil on the threads, the other were dry.
Here's a closer look at the tips. I think they all look great, but I don't mind one bit that I changed them.
And finally, a closeup of the directions on the NGK box. The new plugs are not tapered, they have crush rings, so, as instructed on the box, I tightened the new plug by hand first and then used the socket wrench to turn it another 1/2 turn to crush the rings. The entire process from start to finish took about 45 minutes because I worked slowly and methodically AND because I took pictures! (shrug)
