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Is there an upgrade spark plug for my 169 that can be recommended or should I just get the usual NGK BKR5EZ?
General Spark plugs
- Thread starter fourbie
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Currently reading:
General Spark plugs
If that is the recommended plugs for your car, then best to stay with it.
The R in the number is for resister or suppressed plug to comply with radio interference laws, in the old days we used to prefer non resister plugs as we found the use of resister plugs, resisters in the rotor arm and suppressed carbon leads increased the voltage the coil needed to supply to fire the spark plug, hence on damp days misfires were more likely as electricity like water takes the easiest route.
Engine
Year
Doesn’t sound right to me 14mm plugs
Original plugs are good for at least 20k miles and can be stretched to twice that
As long as the car is running fine fine there is nothing to be gained from more expensive plugs in my opinion
If you must there are plenty of threads on fitting more expensive plugs
Some latter engines are fitted with a special plug to optimise the burn although alternatives can be fitted and work due to the shorter reach I would not consider them a upgrade
If its a 60hp..
As above
Since I got my 69hp 500 Ive looked into the options..
There isnt a direct replacement:
But plenty of Iridium recommendations
I bought the Bosch 4 electrode style..
But havent fitted them yet
As above
Since I got my 69hp 500 Ive looked into the options..
There isnt a direct replacement:
But plenty of Iridium recommendations
I bought the Bosch 4 electrode style..
But havent fitted them yet
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What doesn't sound right?
I got this reference number off this forum and they are said to fit by the sellers.
It has done 50k and I have no idea when they were last changed.
It's a 2004.
I had a 05 1.2 and 06 11 and they both had these 12mm
NGK DCPR7E-N-10
The 14mm were fitted to older punto and some other countries
I am unsure if they were ever fitted to early UK cars
up to engine number according to NGK website
As far as I can tell 14mm we’re obsolete by 2004
Would be worth checking what’s actually fitted before ordering
Just like the 169 were still made after 2012 using old stock
The engine number is a pain if you still have the heat shield fitted
Looking at the numbers on the still fitted plug will be the quickest and easiest way to tell
Would be worth checking what’s actually fitted before ordering
Just like the 169 were still made after 2012 using old stock
The engine number is a pain if you still have the heat shield fitted
Looking at the numbers on the still fitted plug will be the quickest and easiest way to tell
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This is what I found amongst others.
4x NGK BKR5EZ (7642) Standard Spark Plugs For FIAT PANDA 1.2 11/03-->12/11 87295176429 | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4x NGK BKR5EZ (7642) Standard Spark Plugs For FIAT PANDA 1.2 11/03-->12/11 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.
www.ebay.co.uk
This post contains affiliate links which may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
That disclaimer is a bit odd 
There's nothing wrong with using a thread lubricant providing you adjust the torque settings appropriately (no more than 75% of the dry figure). Alteratively, with new plugs, use the angle tightening method, which will give the same thread compression force regardless of whether a lubricant is used.
This is what I found amongst others.
4x NGK BKR5EZ (7642) Standard Spark Plugs For FIAT PANDA 1.2 11/03-->12/11 87295176429 | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4x NGK BKR5EZ (7642) Standard Spark Plugs For FIAT PANDA 1.2 11/03-->12/11 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.www.ebay.co.uk
Shop4parts only show the 12mm from 2004-2009
Spark Plug 55188857
www.shop4parts.co.uk
Personally I would have lifted the bonnet and doubled checked what was fitted as your car is on the cross over period.
Far quicker than google and 100%
This post contains affiliate links which may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
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I like to have the replacements with me before I mess with any work. I live 40 minutes away from Halfords or any such motor shop so I buy things online in the main anyway.Shop4parts only show the 12mm from 2004-2009
Spark Plug 55188857
Personally I would have lifted the bonnet and doubled checked what was fitted as your car is on the cross over period.
Far quicker than google and 100%
I've recently completely revised my approach to lubricating spark plug threads. I started off in the trade cutting my teeth on engines like the "A" and "B" series BMC offerings - Austin Cambridge, Morris Oxford, A30 and 35, MGB and Midget/Sprite etc - I was repeatedly instructed to apply a dash of copper grease to the threads before installing. I never saw anyone using a torque wrench to install plugs in those days! You quickly acquired "the feel" for how tight to do them. In fact you can feel the crush washer collapsing as you tighten it once you know what it feels like. Then they started making alloy heads - remember the "O" series anyone? - and after a while I bought a tub of Alumslip - like Copaslip only using ground aluminium in place of the copper. So now I used copaslip on cast iron heads and Alumslip on ally heads, always tightening by feel alone. Then taper seat plugs came along with no crush washer! People got really confused with them and tried to angle tighten them the same as the older type with crush washers. This resulted in some spectacularly over tightened plugs and some even snapped off where the threaded section meets the body of the plug leaving the threaded section in the head! To this day I remember a horrific "battle" I had with a plug snapped off (by a customer) on his Bedford CF van. This engine was an OHC design which lay over at an angle to the N/S with the plugs underneath the overhang - anyone remember them? They were difficult enough to do on the Victor saloon but in the CF the engine was half hidden back under the scuttle. The air was absolutely blue around my workstation for days!
I still mess about with vehicles of this sort of age and usually will use a dod of the appropriate antiseize on their plugs, same applies to the old horticultural machines I love to work on. However there's been a revolution in antiseize provision where spark plugs are concerned on modern engines and I'm now convinced that antiseize should not be used with these plugs.
So what am I talking about? well, if you look at a modern plug you might think that the threads now seem to be chrome, or maybe nickel, plated? I thought so too. In fact this is a sacrificial coating - NGK call it trivalent but the other manufacturers have their own variant - The Motor Factors up here seem to all supply NGK so it's been some time since I've bought anything else. The NGK thread plating, apart from protecting against corrosion is also designed to shear if the plug has tended to seize in position thus making removal after long periods much easier - 60,000 miles/6 years is not unknown these days. I've been asking around some of the specialist garages around here and none of them are lubing plugs now! All say that seized in plugs are very uncommon and my local VAG specialist also told me that the plugs in my wee direct injection petrol engined Ibiza have solid copper sealing washers which are there so that when the plug is correctly tightened - torque wrench with no thread lube mandatory - the side electrode ends up pointing in just the right direction in relation to the injector spray nozzle. Also it's advised not to remove and reinstall without using a new washer as retightening results in the electrode being displaced! What a load of tosh I thought, but if you read the link to Bosch plugs I'm about to give you you'll see Bosch actually mention that! Apparently plug electrodes facing the "wrong" way can have an effect on correct combustion in Direct injection engines and also be detrimental in regard to LSPI - Google it if you're interested, it's complicated and interesting.
So I'm now looking at plugs this way. If it's threads look "chromed" they go in dry. If they look like "plain metal" - and some of the horticultural stuff is still this sort - they get a dod of lube. Dry fit long life plugs - typically called Iridium or something similar - stay in for the length of their projected life because if you remove them you end up disturbing the trivalent coating so they may then corrode and seize if reinstalled dry and you're also going to be trying to find the right thickness and hardness of copper washer if they are in a DI engine. Standard type plugs with a projected 2 year life mostly, I still remove at yearly service time to check gaps but don't wire brush or otherwise clean in any way. Seems to be working out Ok so far.
Here's the "informative" reading:
5 Things You Should Know About Spark Plugs - NGK Spark Plugs
The five things you should know about spark plugs include information on anti-seize, corona stain, gapping fine wire, torque and copper spark plugs.
ngksparkplugs.com
and
As to method. When removing plugs I unscrew it by about a turn and a half to two turns and then poke my long blow gun nozzle down the hole beside the plug - plugs all seem to "hide" down deep holes these days don't they! - and get all the dust grit and other rubbish out with a good long blast to, hopefully, stop it going down the hole when the plug is removed. If you slacken the plug before blowing out it loosens the dirt and lets the air blast get rid of more of it. Things are better these days than they used to be because many engines use "coil on" individual coils, one per plug, which effectively seal the plug recess from dirt. If the plug comes out clean with no sign of lube on it's threads I will reinstall the new one using a torque wrench. However if there's lube on it then there's obviously going to be residual lube down the threads in the head so I tend to hand tighten using the feel I've developed over many years for what's tight enough. The "proof of the pudding" was that the Ibiza plugs were changed at slightly over 6 years old back in march/april I was worried about damaging the coils - which are well know on this engine for being hard to remove - and maybe them being siezed after 6 years so I got our local VAG indy to do them when they were doing a cam belt - they came out clean as a whistle! He was also good enough to show me how to tackle the coils (there's a "special tool" no, really? What isn't there a "special tool" for these days?) So next time I'll be having a go myself if I still have the car.
S4p have never sent me a wrong part so I think you can trust them. However pulling a plug is so easy why not?Shop4parts only show the 12mm from 2004-2009
Spark Plug 55188857
Personally I would have lifted the bonnet and doubled checked what was fitted as your car is on the cross over period.
Far quicker than google and 100%
I suppose I retired just in time, never having torqued a plug, stripped, snapped one, have one come undone, in fifty years, as Jock says tighten by feel, I recall the ohc slant engine Vauxhall engines, the bit I hated was after 500 miles of doing a head gasket having to remove the cam carrier etc. to get to all the bolts to retorque the head. Renault 4 and 5 and similar engines often needed the plug threads "helicoiled" due to people damaging them, in fairness it wasn't the most accessible design along with a short reach plug in an aluminium cylinder head.I've recently completely revised my approach to lubricating spark plug threads. I started off in the trade cutting my teeth on engines like the "A" and "B" series BMC offerings - Austin Cambridge, Morris Oxford, A30 and 35, MGB and Midget/Sprite etc - I was repeatedly instructed to apply a dash of copper grease to the threads before installing. I never saw anyone using a torque wrench to install plugs in those days! You quickly acquired "the feel" for how tight to do them. In fact you can feel the crush washer collapsing as you tighten it once you know what it feels like. Then they started making alloy heads - remember the "O" series anyone? - and after a while I bought a tub of Alumslip - like Copaslip only using ground aluminium in place of the copper. So now I used copaslip on cast iron heads and Alumslip on ally heads, always tightening by feel alone. Then taper seat plugs came along with no crush washer! People got really confused with them and tried to angle tighten them the same as the older type with crush washers. This resulted in some spectacularly over tightened plugs and some even snapped off where the threaded section meets the body of the plug leaving the threaded section in the head! To this day I remember a horrific "battle" I had with a plug snapped off (by a customer) on his Bedford CF van. This engine was an OHC design which lay over at an angle to the N/S with the plugs underneath the overhang - anyone remember them? They were difficult enough to do on the Victor saloon but in the CF the engine was half hidden back under the scuttle. The air was absolutely blue around my workstation for days!
I still mess about with vehicles of this sort of age and usually will use a dod of the appropriate antiseize on their plugs, same applies to the old horticultural machines I love to work on. However there's been a revolution in antiseize provision where spark plugs are concerned on modern engines and I'm now convinced that antiseize should not be used with these plugs.
So what am I talking about? well, if you look at a modern plug you might think that the threads now seem to be chrome, or maybe nickel, plated? I thought so too. In fact this is a sacrificial coating - NGK call it trivalent but the other manufacturers have their own variant - The Motor Factors up here seem to all supply NGK so it's been some time since I've bought anything else. The NGK thread plating, apart from protecting against corrosion is also designed to shear if the plug has tended to seize in position thus making removal after long periods much easier - 60,000 miles/6 years is not unknown these days. I've been asking around some of the specialist garages around here and none of them are lubing plugs now! All say that seized in plugs are very uncommon and my local VAG specialist also told me that the plugs in my wee direct injection petrol engined Ibiza have solid copper sealing washers which are there so that when the plug is correctly tightened - torque wrench with no thread lube mandatory - the side electrode ends up pointing in just the right direction in relation to the injector spray nozzle. Also it's advised not to remove and reinstall without using a new washer as retightening results in the electrode being displaced! What a load of tosh I thought, but if you read the link to Bosch plugs I'm about to give you you'll see Bosch actually mention that! Apparently plug electrodes facing the "wrong" way can have an effect on correct combustion in Direct injection engines and also be detrimental in regard to LSPI - Google it if you're interested, it's complicated and interesting.
So I'm now looking at plugs this way. If it's threads look "chromed" they go in dry. If they look like "plain metal" - and some of the horticultural stuff is still this sort - they get a dod of lube. Dry fit long life plugs - typically called Iridium or something similar - stay in for the length of their projected life because if you remove them you end up disturbing the trivalent coating so they may then corrode and seize if reinstalled dry and you're also going to be trying to find the right thickness and hardness of copper washer if they are in a DI engine. Standard type plugs with a projected 2 year life mostly, I still remove at yearly service time to check gaps but don't wire brush or otherwise clean in any way. Seems to be working out Ok so far.
Here's the "informative" reading:
5 Things You Should Know About Spark Plugs - NGK Spark Plugs
The five things you should know about spark plugs include information on anti-seize, corona stain, gapping fine wire, torque and copper spark plugs.
and
As to method. When removing plugs I unscrew it by about a turn and a half to two turns and then poke my long blow gun nozzle down the hole beside the plug - plugs all seem to "hide" down deep holes these days don't they! - and get all the dust grit and other rubbish out with a good long blast to, hopefully, stop it going down the hole when the plug is removed. If you slacken the plug before blowing out it loosens the dirt and lets the air blast get rid of more of it. Things are better these days than they used to be because many engines use "coil on" individual coils, one per plug, which effectively seal the plug recess from dirt. If the plug comes out clean with no sign of lube on it's threads I will reinstall the new one using a torque wrench. However if there's lube on it then there's obviously going to be residual lube down the threads in the head so I tend to hand tighten using the feel I've developed over many years for what's tight enough. The "proof of the pudding" was that the Ibiza plugs were changed at slightly over 6 years old back in march/april I was worried about damaging the coils - which are well know on this engine for being hard to remove - and maybe them being siezed after 6 years so I got our local VAG indy to do them when they were doing a cam belt - they came out clean as a whistle! He was also good enough to show me how to tackle the coils (there's a "special tool" no, really? What isn't there a "special tool" for these days?) So next time I'll be having a go myself if I still have the car.
The start of this thread referred to NGK plugs, I worked for a Mazda dealership for some years and we always used them, to this day I do, due to the quality, also for heater plugs on my diesels.
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Back in the day I used to religiously remove the plugs, clean with a wire brush, and re-gap what seemed to be fairly often. I don't think I have done this in literally years so reading your comment has set me thinking.
I mentioned the plugs to the he MoT chap and he said basically it would do no harm to change the plugs.
So now the question I ask is this - at 50,000 miles, which my Panda has on it, and 18 years of age should I bother to put in new plugs especially as it will be doing only a few hundred miles in a year?
Bad plugs give the coil packs a hard time.. damage can go further
For the sake of @£15
I would just do it
My 1242 petrol has @50k
Plugs are going in today.. I suspect theyve never been out...
For the sake of @£15
I would just do it
My 1242 petrol has @50k
Plugs are going in today.. I suspect theyve never been out...
Correct
As the gap erodes away eventually it will became hard for the spark to jump the gap
If the plugs are original or changed at a Fiat dealership they will have the Fiat part number on the side
If they have a NGK part number on the side they have been changed. By somebody else or at an independent.
But nobody can tell when by looking at them
As varesecrazy says bad plugs effect the coil packs etc. Some years ago my sisters Honda, bought new and always dealer serviced, developed a occasional misfire, the dealer fitted two lots of expensive coil packs, the misfire continued, I asked her if she had ever been billed for spark plugs in all the servicing she had been paying for, No! So I told her to tell them to fit plugs even though they insisted it was not due, misfire cured! Worn plugs need higher voltages to jump the plug gap, so in turn are more likely to break down.Bad plugs give the coil packs a hard time.. damage can go further
For the sake of @£15
I would just do it
My 1242 petrol has @50k
Plugs are going in today.. I suspect theyve never been out...
Incidentally I am not a fan of wire brushing plugs as the metal fragments from the brush encourage the insulation around the centre electrode to break down.
Once on a Ford Motorcraft course they demonstrated how even sandblasting a brand new plug then testing under load it failed earlier, so every service my customers had regardless of mileage always had new plugs (only the petrol engines
)Many of my customers I had for more than 25 years, a few nearly double that, so they considered what I did good value.
Long service intervals etc. may be a good selling point in the showroom, but not in the real world.
Diesel oil changes are a good example also.
