what spark plugs should I use?

[scottd60]

My girlfriend and her son both have Zetec SE Contours...I'm getting ready to change the plugs on both of them. My Haynes manual says that they use 2 different plug part numbers: one on cylinders 1 & 2 and one on cylinders 3 & 4? Never heard of anything like this before. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[dennyb]

The stock spark plug is usually listed along with recommended gap on the emission and vacuum hose routing sticker under the hood. What does this say? The owners manual also lists parts like this in the back.

 

[Lavell]

I'm looking at my Haynes manual and this "2 types of spark plug" is only required for the '99 and 2000 Contours. So unless your girlfriend and her son has these model year cars, I wouldn't even bother trying to figure that out.

I have a '96 Contour and this is the spark plug that's in it now: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...=Search_03435_1106378_3168&pt=03435&ppt=C0334

 

[jrichardson]

I use autolite double platinum in all four cylinders.

 

[scottd60]

Her son's is a 2000 SE atx (192K) and I think her's may be a 98.5 SE atx (~100K) since I come accross a couple times where it needed parts from 99 or newer...the 98 parts were clearly wrong.

from the Haynes manual:

Spark Plugs:
Four-cylinder engine
1995-1998 Motorcraft AZFS-22PP
1999 and latter
Cylinder #1 and #2 Motorcraft AZFS-22F
Cylinder #3 and #4 Motorcraft AZFS-32FE
Gap 0.050 inch

Any idea why Ford would even use 2 different plugs...never heard of such a thing before in the 30+ years I have worked on cars?


Thanks

 

[jrichardson]

Any idea why Ford would even use 2 different plugs

only thing i can think of is they saw more wear on one set so decided to use longer life plugs on that set so all the plugs wore out at roughly the same rate.

 

[striker2]

the difference is one set has platinum on the center electrode while the other set has it on the ground strap. this is due to how waste spark ignition system works. you DO NOT need to keep that, instead you can get double platinum plugs which have platinum on BOTH the ground strap and center electrode.

 

[scottd60]

the difference is one set has platinum on the center electrode while the other set has it on the ground strap. this is due to how waste spark ignition system works. you DO NOT need to keep that, instead you can get double platinum plugs which have platinum on BOTH the ground strap and center electrode.

Thanks!