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Misfire after re gapping spark plugs.

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gapping misfire plugs spark
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17K views 31 replies 8 participants last post by  Merc6  
J
#1 ·
I re gapped my plugs on my 2012 Cruze 1.4l Turbo to .035 and now it is misfiring and Service Stabilitrak and Service Traction Control have come on along with the blinking engine light.

1 of the boots ripped while removing it. I will be replacing it once the new boot comes in. I was lucky enough to find just the boot alone without the entire assembly. My questions are: what are the springs in the boots? And could it be the gapping or the spring possibly not being seated properly in the ripped boot causing the misfire.
 
#2 ·
Normally what happens is the spring gets caught up on a lip inside the boot. It's easy to fix with a pen or screw driver just pop the end of the spring free of the inner lip. Make sure all four come up past that inner lip. If any get caught up that will cause a misfire as the electrical current can't make the jump as that leaves a HUGE gap to the plug. Always check this any time you have your coil strip off before reinstalling
 
#3 ·
Also .035 is ok with a stock car if you're using copper tip plugs. Iridium tip plugs actually don't conduct as well as copper but have much less spark gap growth. If you're running copper and gapped that wide you'll need to check them every oil change. However the gain in low end smoothness and drivability are worth it.

Fyi if you're tuned back that down some at least .032 if you're running a big three kit if not less say .028-.030
 
J
#5 ·
The two screws are tight from the T30 for sure. The ripped boot actually sat about 1/4 inch deeper in the spark plug well than the others (the rest were flush as they should be) but the springs did all come out above the lips.

When I originally pulled the coil pack off, all 4 boots and springs remained in the wells. When I reassembled, I inserted the plugs, then the boots, the springs and then finally placed the could pack. Should I put the springs in the coil pack, then the boots over the springs on the coil pack and then insert all into the wells?
 
#26 ·
This sounds to me like the boots and springs weren't secured properly to the ignition rail. My coil pack comes off with the boots and springs attached and the spark plugs are sitting naked in the cylinders.
 
#7 ·
Jeremi1023 said:
From what I have been reading on the forums .035 seems to be the magic number. Is that not good with the iridium tips?
Click to expand...
My car has random stumbles under load if I gap that large, the stock .028 runs 1000 times better. Gapping so large from the get go leaves no room for the gaps to grow as the plugs get older. You can look but will not find any other turbo car with gaps above .030, as anything beyond that your asking for spark blowout.
 
#8 ·
.028 is what I regapped the stockers, then I pocketed them for coppers gapped .032. I reached the end of life on the coppers and went back to the stockers for now. Once all the stuff going on here calms down, I'll go XIR.


In short, close the gap so possibly .030 and see what happens there. Are you using feeler, wire, or the coin to measure the gaps?
 
M
#10 ·
Hey just wondering. Not trying to sound rude or anything. Just trying to understand...These spark plug threads got me going in circles lol But if the coppers are so great and they worked so well for you why would you suffer driving on the stocks again? When coppers are only 10$...I mean they must not have made the much of a difference if your willling to go back to the stocks for now????
 
M
#9 ·
How did you find the boot alone or where i should say? and how much you pay? Ive been delaying swaping my plugs for 2 reasons. Especailly dont want to rip a boot. And have to come up with 90$ or whatever to replace them. And also waiting for some more definitive results on whats best. As far as which plug and which gap.
 
J
#14 ·
I got the code scanned and it is in fact the broken boot cylinder misfiring.

Are there any super temporary fixes for this? Someone had said electrical tape around the boot to prevent it from sparking into the block.

I have the boot on order from Tonkin Online. So this fix would be temporary just so I can drive a bit normal again.
 
#15 ·
Your mis-fires are from the torn boot. Where did you find just a boot? The original spec for the 2012 Cruze 1.4T engine, which you have, was 0.033-0.037". I ran my 2012 ECO MT at 0.035" with no problems. The reason for the change to a smaller gap was to allow the spark plugs to be gapped to 0.028", put in the car, and then ignored for 60,000 miles. This is exactly what most people will do.

I know a lot of folks will say a coin gapper isn't sufficient, but I use one with no problems. The springs we are talking about are actually the ignition coils inside each boot. When you pull the ignition rail off you will invairably get one or more of these coils stuck in theh side of the boot. Stick a skinny screwdriver in the boot and release the springs. They should be straight and not touching the sides of the boot.
 
J
#16 ·
I was able to get the boot alone from Tonkin Online Parts.

"BOOT. 25186679 $4.27"

There is the description and part number with price.

Seems to be what I need.

I did wrap the boot up with electrical tape and the car is fine at lower rpms, but once I need to get on the highway, it misfires.

Hoping the boot comes in soon.
 
#22 ·
M
#18 · (Edited)
Hey man i just looked. I think in your first post you said you have the 1.4turbo? The link you gave says for 1.8liter if i read correctly??? Either way please let us know if it worked out for you...

Ive read on here lots of poeple ripping their boots..They recommended greasing them up so next time will slide out easy. Is there a special grease to use or any grease is fine?
 
J
#19 ·
Mo Cruze said:
Hey man i just looked. I think in your first post you said you have the 1.4turbo? The link you gave says for 1.8liter if i read correctly??? Either way please let us know if it worked out for you...
Click to expand...
Yeah I do have the 1.4l turbo, and I realize the description says 1.8H*, but it is listed under parts for the 1.4l turbo, so I am hoping it will be okay. What does the H actually mean?
 
#21 ·
I've pulled the ignition rail off both my ECO MT and my son's LS MT and the boots appear to be the same. I think I'll order one and keep it wrapped in the shipping material just to have it on the shelf. Thanks for that link. Also, Merc's regapping BRK7E vPower plugs every oil change was what I had to do as well.
 
J
#24 ·
Heads up guys, it looks like the part from Tonkin is for the 1.8 engine.

I cross checked the part number they gave and all other sites say it is the 1.8l engine boot.

They have it incorrectly listed under the 1.4l engine on their site.

I ended up cancelling my order, and had to order the entire ignition coil.

Lesson learned, I guess.
 
#25 ·
I poked around on the site and those boots are listed as working in the 2011 and 2012 LT and LTZ as well. This information is buried on the detail page for the boots.
 
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