N.A. 4v Spark Plugs, Oil, and fuel Question?

Venomous96Cobra · May 29, 2010

Okay im just wondering what some of the 4v guys are using/running in their cars! I would like some input like I have said previously this is my first 4v and was wondering what result you guys are currently getting from the following items listed above in the topic line! I am about to change my plugs soon, I have no idea what is currently installed in the car. I am not having any problems but I always like to replace my plugs when I buy a car! I am running 10w 30 but the car has 98k and is burning a bit of oil! as far as fuel I always run 93octane

any recommendations regarding oil I was thinking of switching to Royal Purple 20w 50

give me your opinions on plugs!

RockstarMentality · May 29, 2010

How hard do you drive this car? thats a pretty thick oil. i mean unless u floor it at every opportunity, i dont see a need to run that thick.
i goose it at WOT probly once or twice a day and im still extremely aggressive outside of that and i run RP 5w30.
remember these engines in particular do not respond well to friction. with an oil that thick and heavy its gonna take more time to get lubrication all the way up to where it needs to be.

Venomous96Cobra · May 29, 2010

I dont run tha hard! I like to get on it once in a while, especially when someone thinks that they're 4 door civic is faster :wink: Im also burning a bit of oil! if I take it easy im okay but if I get on it once or twice a day I probably go through 1/4 quart every week i figured some thicker oil would help reduce consumption. also I live in Florida so i didnt think running 20w 50 in summer would be a problem! but like I said this is my 1st 4v before that I had a few 5.0's and all wheel drive turbo dsm's, and with the dohc and turbo's 20w 50 was a good choice for the summer and helps avoid lifter tick... look I dunno much about 4v's so any help/advise is appreciated...

uncltrvlnmatt · May 29, 2010

Ford recomends 5w-20, but I use 10w30 in my Cobra, never had any issues. It is important to use a quality oil, none of that Wal-Mart special crap.

Cobra's came stock with copper plugs. When I changed mine out after I bought the car it had platinum plugs in it. I ran the copper plugs for a week and threw them away. I put some Autolite Platinum's back in. I now have NGK platinum plugs in the car. I also run MSD wires and coils. The hotter coil made no noticable difference in performance or fuel economy.

Always run 92/93 octane fuel. The 4 valve engines are higher compression than the 2 valve engines and need the extra goose goose.

duff daddy · May 29, 2010

Im not 4v but...

Plugs: If your running a mostly stock setup, and no power adder, OE plugs will be the best and most reliable.

Fuel: 91/93 whatever you can get, its not so much the octane rating but more or less the quality of the fuel your using.

Oil: if your burning some oil, you need to see HOW much oil per mileage. Ford Chrysler and GM all say that burning 1qt of oil per 1,000 miles is OK!!! this is for new cars (still even in 2011 cars)

See how much it is. If the mileage is over 3k then you definatly will burn at least a quart per 1,000.

Venomous96Cobra · May 31, 2010

I would say with the higher miles I'm right at that range. My car currently has 98k on the clock. I drive my car daily and a lot! so I would say I'm at about at 1qt for every 1000 - 1200 miles! I did notice it was better when I used Royal Purple or Motorcraft oil when i bought a qt of the walmart oil when the car was low on oil and I was short on cash It consumed that oil as if it were water.

I will check the plugs tomorrow to see what condition they are in! and to see what is installed. I had NGK platinum plugs on my GT but wasn't sure if they would be as good in my modular as they were in my pushrod.

I have always liked running higher octane gasoline on all my cars so I guess I will keep running 93 octane!

Thanks for all the advice it is appreciated...

switch96 · May 31, 2010

Motorcraft 5W-30 has always treated me well.

96_SVT_Cobra · May 31, 2010

i run either royal purple, castrol syntec, or quaker state Q full senthetic 5w-20 in my cobra. also run premium gas (93) it says it right on the cluster :thumbsup:

RockstarMentality · May 31, 2010

theres only one gas station in my entire town of 55,000 that sells non ethanol-ated 93. and its like another 50c a gallon. and u have to go inside and prepay. and its right in the business district so getting in and out of that lot sucks. and its right by the cop shop. and its all the way across town from my house.
thats why i use 91.

edit: I decided to fill up with 93 the other day, so i drove ALL the way across town only to discover they added fnckin ETHANOL to the 93!!! bastards.

duff daddy · Jun 1, 2010

you have no need for anything more then 89 with your compression ratio..

RockstarMentality · Jun 1, 2010

every gas station in Iowa has ethanol in their 89. its either 87 or 91 and even then theres usually fnckin ethanol in the 91. u gotta figure out where to go

greenscobie86 · Jun 4, 2010

Every part store around me is obsessed with MotorCraft 5w-20 for some reason.

I've been using that for the last 2 changes but I feel like its a bit on the thin side(don't like the way the motor sounds with it.)

I think I will just make the switch to Castrol Syntec, or Mobil 1 5w-30 or 10w-30(whatever is on sale) and raise my oil change interval from 3k to 4k...

I also want to do plugs on my car, from what I've always read, the Copper Motrocraft plugs are the way to go...

Oh and I've been using premium(93) for the entire time I've had the car(4 months or so.) I changed my fuel trim setting on the SCT Xcal2 from "regular" to "economy" so maybe I should really be using 89 like Duff said?

96_SVT_Cobra · Jun 4, 2010

i wouldnt run 89 in mine... even when it was na. duffy is just one of the prius loving hippies, i wouldnt listen to his speal on octane and whats required, it says in every thing that comes with a cobra prem fuel. obviously u should run prem. and the amount u save compared to 89 is what 10 cents... 1.50 a tank, ill spend the extra. also duffy has a 2v. wth is he doing in the cool people section.

as far as ethonal in gas, its like that everywhere, its not going to hurt your car, mine made 550 rw with the 93 octane 10% ethonal on a nice safe street tune.

greenscobie86 · Jun 4, 2010

Yeah you're right... im not gonna run anything but premium in my car... The savings isn't really justified...

I still <3 Duffy though... He's the guy who made me realize that i couldn't change the valve seals on my 2v when i still had one... I'm a cool kid now

MustangChris · Jun 4, 2010

id run prium in a 4v.
always ran mid-grade in my 2v.

i use 5w30 mobile 1.

im not sure about spark plugs.

duff daddy · Jun 4, 2010

lol thats great you lvoe me, i lvoe ya too man, and thanks for that clutch !!! ( still sitting on my floor)

and yea fuel octane rating is prob one of the largest myths around..

MustangChris · Jun 4, 2010

we only get 91 here in CO... no 93....

have to hunt down teh E-85 and 93+.... lol.

MustangChris · Jun 4, 2010

they put that there because BP put mind-control products in their premium fuel that comes out in the exhaust. Ford pays them to make sure the products tell us to buy ford products... so ford makes sure everyone uses premium even when its not needed...

(strange that you have a 1996 cobra that says to use premium and my 1996 GT doesnt...)

uncltrvlnmatt · Jun 4, 2010

MustangChris said:
they put that there because BP put mind-control products in their premium fuel that comes out in the exhaust. Ford pays them to make sure the products tell us to buy ford products... so ford makes sure everyone uses premium even when its not needed...

(strange that you have a 1996 cobra that says to use premium and my 1996 GT doesnt...)

No it is not strange Chris. The compression ratio on a 2 valve is I beleive 8-1 or 8.5-1. You can run piss in the tank and it would still work. The compression ration ratio on a 4 valve is 10.5-1. That is why you need to run premium fuel with a 4 valve. Higher compression needs higher octane rating to reduce the risk of detonation (pinging).