Changing Spark Plugs

[Nana J]

I have a 67 plate Ford Fiesta and have been told I need to change my Spark Plugs for  £92.64 (Supply & Fit).  I have only done 4,389 Miles and this company is showing it is an Amber requirement.  I don't know a lot about mechanics, but I thought they would last at least 12 - 15,000 mile.  Or did they see me coming as an older woman.  This is a large National Company 

[williamweb]

12 minutes ago, Nana J said:

I have a 67 plate Ford Fiesta and have been told I need to change my Spark Plugs for  £92.64 (Supply & Fit).  I have only done 4,389 Miles and this company is showing it is an Amber requirement.  I don't know a lot about mechanics, but I thought they would last at least 12 - 15,000 mile.  Or did they see me coming as an older woman.  This is a large National Company 

If your not happy my advice is to get a second opinion with a local independent garage.Seems expensive to me👍

[dezwez]

thats a rip off 👍

[Luke4efc]

30 minutes ago, Nana J said:

This is a large National Company 

Name and shame my friend.

[williamweb]

9 minutes ago, Luke4efc said:

Name and shame my friend.

Yeah I was thinking.Shame I’ve got a diesel, I was going to see what they would quote me out of interest👍

[Luke4efc]

1 minute ago, williamweb said:

Yeah I was thinking.Shame I’ve got a diesel, I was going to see what they would quote me out of interest👍

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if some of these places would turn around and say £80 plus VAT for changing the spark plugs on your diesel engine.

[Jim H]

2 hours ago, Luke4efc said:

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if some of these places would turn around and say £80 plus VAT for changing the spark plugs on your diesel engine.

Compression Ignition engines (diesels) as the name suggests don't use spark plugs. They do have glow plugs, but they only work when the engine is cold. They only need replacing when/if they fail. I never replaced mine in the 13 years I had my previous diesel.

[Luke4efc]

23 minutes ago, Jim H said:

Compression Ignition engines (diesels) as the name suggests doesn't use spark plugs. They do have glow plugs, but they only work when the engine is cold. They only need replacing when/if they fail. I never replaced mine in the 13 years I had my previous diesel.

 

[Jim H]

I knew you were joking. In saying that, Mazda have invented a high compression petrol engine that I'm sure at some speeds/loads can run without a spark, but I might be wrong.

Anyway, what is the service schedule for spark plugs? I had a feeling it's 3 years or 36k miles. If the car has done very few miles, then a quick check of them won't do any harm. I wouldn't have thought they need replacing due to wear. Nearly £100 does seams a bit excessive, especially as there is only 3 of them.

[TomsFocus]

The 1.0 EcoBoost plugs are expensive.  They're not the £2 plugs you'd stick in an old NA engine.

£60 for the plugs and £30 labour sounds fine to me (at garage costs, obviously cheaper DIY).

However, I wouldn't change them at 4000 miles personally.  They are recommended every 3 years which is why the garage will have flagged them as an amber warning.  But I'm going to assume you just don't drive far, rather than spending hours in stop start town traffic so they should be fine for another year or 2.  I wouldn't leave then more than 5 years though in case they get seized into the engine.

[Jim H]

I suppose it is l long time since I checked/changed spark plugs on an engine (15/20 years). Champion Copper Cored ones were good at that time. Also there was HT leads, Dizzy cap and arm..  oh and contact points to check/change.  It was easy to do on an old 1.0 Rover A-series!  I'm guessing the Ecoboost doesn't have any of them to worry about now.

I don't understand it is set at 3 years for plug change when the car on variable servicing can be up to every 2 years, if low mileage. Should it change to 4 years and/or every other service? Taking them out for inspection will be helpful for removal when changing them is required.

 

[Eng_Ahmad1986]

ford dealer here in Egypt specifies changing the spark plug every 100k km according to ford for the 1.0 ecoboost, thats about 60k miles , current mileage is 35k km on original plugs and they are working just fine, a friend of mine ( also 1.0 ecoboost)  has already made 75k km on original plugs without any problems, he would change them at the dealer at the 100k km service as specified.

so I think unless you are experiencing an engine condition that would foul the plugs or render them malfunctioning, like burning oil or having rich mixture for instance,  you are OK with current plugs.

[TomsFocus]

14 hours ago, Jim H said:

I suppose it is l long time since I checked/changed spark plugs on an engine (15/20 years). Champion Copper Cored ones were good at that time. Also there was HT leads, Dizzy cap and arm..  oh and contact points to check/change.  It was easy to do on an old 1.0 Rover A-series!  I'm guessing the Ecoboost doesn't have any of them to worry about now.

I don't understand it is set at 3 years for plug change when the car on variable servicing can be up to every 2 years, if low mileage. Should it change to 4 years and/or every other service? Taking them out for inspection will be helpful for removal when changing them is required.

 

Lol, just coil packs to worry about nowadays!  

The interval is different depending on age.  I assumed the OP's '67 plate was still on the older yearly servicing, 1.0EB had been 3 years/30k since the Focus back in 2010. 

If it's on the newer 2 year interval then they are recommended every 4 years/36k.

 

[MarksST]

Ford recommend that they are charged on the 4th year service, regardless of miles. Maybe the garage you used though the service intervals were yearly like the previous generation, they would have been changed on the 3rd year.

was the brake fluid replace on the last service? Just because you don’t do much milage doesn’t mean things won’t need replacing.

[Eatonm112]

The plugs used on the 1.0 and other eco boost engines are very hard wearing unlike engines from say the 90 s early 2000s which tended to have copper electrodes and after 12,000 miles you could see electrode wear. The ones of the Ford eco engines have a platinium electrode ( I think) and really dont seem to wear I changed mine somewhere around 30 to 40,000 miles and they looked like new.  I only changed them as the service schedule said to and as I buy them for £24 a set (3) from a well known auction site.

The reason for the expense is down to the metal used for the electrode. 

Anyway, is the OP has only done somewhere in the region of 4000 miles they really dont need changing.

 

I also wanted to add oil and brakefluid has a shelf life and therefore will need changing on a regular basis regardless of miles unlike spark plugs which really dont wear out if the car isnt used. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

On 2/2/2021 at 7:39 PM, TomsFocus said:

The 1.0 EcoBoost plugs are expensive.  They're not the £2 plugs you'd stick in an old NA engine.

£60 for the plugs and £30 labour sounds fine to me (at garage costs, obviously cheaper DIY).

I had to do a double take at this and check the prices, but that's about right it seems.

Ages since I had a plug change until our local garage decided it might be time to do my Mrs's SEAT Mii at it's 6 year service (but only done 8,500 miles, lol!) That's also a 3 cylinder engine of course but the plugs were £20.55 for 3 so I wasn't unhappy at that!