Monday, April 29, 2013

The Little Things Matter

This is just a quick post to remind everyone (including myself) that the little things matter.  And not taking care of the little things, or paying attention to them can cause a lot of unnecessary headaches down the road.

Case in point, I ordered some new OE (AC Delco) spark plugs for a 2006 Chevy Cobalt 2.2.  If I had not taken the time to pay attention to the little things, in this case checking the gap on each plug, I would have had a problem as soon as I started up the vehicle.

I would encourage you to always, always check the gap on any new plug you get.  I know the argument about them being pre-gapped and all that, but humans are involved, which means errors can creep into the equation.

It doesn't take but a couple of seconds to give each plug a visual inspection.  Simply put, use the diagnostic equipment God gave you, your eyes, and look over each plug.

Here is what I found on the plugs for the Cobalt.  This first picture is the proper gap:




No problems with that plug.  In fact, three out of the four looked like the above plug.  Good and ready to go.

However, one of the plugs looked like this:


As you can see from the above picture, this gap is far too low.

Again, this is just a quick and simple reminder.  Be sure to do the little things, it can save you a lot of time and hassle down the road.

Just because something is new or right out of the box, doesn't mean it is good.  Always check it.

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