Spark plugs in a 1993 Camaro 5.7 V8
Asked by SoCalPutz Feb 06, 2022 at 10:57 AM about the 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe RWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I'm getting a total tune up and the shop wants to know what plugs I want. I
know as much about cars as Joe Biden, so nothing. The car is really nice and I
want to keep it that way.
3 Answers
Your “93 Camaro originally came with Double Platinum plugs, which are nearly the specs of today’s Iridium plugs, and you have a relatively hot ignition to fire them. You may replace with the same plugs or go with iridium; there really isn’t much difference….. For anyone looking to research Spark Plugs, here’s a simplified guide to get you started….. Before the computer age, ignitions weren’t really hot and soft copper plugs worked well. When ignitions began to get hotter, copper got a nickel coating to resist copper deterioration. Later, ignitions progressively got even hotter, but needed plugs with more resistant coatings to process the spark. So earlier engines with weaker sparks won't get quite the performance out of a modern high-tech plug due to the resultant spark being too cold….. More detail: Older engines had cooler ignitions that required hotter plugs; or rather, plugs that retained their heat longer; this was to burn off deposits and keep the plugs in peak performance. The reverse is true in newer ignition systems. More modern, high energy ignition systems can't use heat-retaining plugs as the heat retention will lead to pre- detonation. Later, copper plugs got a nickel-alloy coating that made the surface harder so they weathered deterioration better, and this was the best of all worlds. These are the common spark plugs of yesterday. Today, Iridium & platinum, both precious metals, have a harder surface, so they deteriorate much slower: you get many times the life out of these plugs than you would a nickel coated copper plug, but these metals don't handle older, weaker spark as well. With today’s higher intensity ignitions, the stronger spark cleans these harder plugs, but when modern plugs are installed into older engines with weaker spark, it leads to incomplete combustion and lower performance..... Bottom line is, if your engine came with nickel-coated copper plugs (Thirty to Forty Thousand Miles), use only those plugs. If your engine came with platinum or double-platinum plugs (Sixty to One- Hundred Thousand Miles) and you have easy access to the plugs, continue to use that. But if your engine has platinum and access to the plugs is really difficult & costly, you may use iridium (One-Hundred to One-Hundred-Twenty Thousand Miles), so you can forget about changing plugs for up to a-hundred-twenty-thousand miles.
Your “93 Camaro originally came with Double Platinum plugs, which are nearly the specs of today’s Iridium plugs, and you have a relatively hot ignition to fire them. You may replace with the same plugs or go with iridium; there really isn’t much difference….. For anyone looking to research Spark Plugs, here’s a simplified guide to get you started….. Before the computer age, ignitions weren’t really hot and soft copper plugs worked well. When ignitions began to get hotter, copper got a nickel coating to resist copper deterioration. Later, ignitions progressively got even hotter, but needed plugs with more resistant coatings to process the spark. So earlier engines with weaker sparks won't get quite the performance out of a modern high-tech plug due to the resultant spark being too cold….. More detail: Older engines had cooler ignitions that required hotter plugs; or rather, plugs that retained their heat longer; this was to burn off deposits and keep the plugs in peak performance. The reverse is true in newer ignition systems. More modern, high energy ignition systems can't use heat-retaining plugs as the heat retention will lead to pre- detonation. Later, copper plugs got a nickel-alloy coating that made the surface harder so they weathered deterioration better, and this was the best of all worlds. These are the common spark plugs of yesterday. Today, Iridium & platinum, both precious metals, have a harder surface, so they deteriorate much slower: you get many times the life out of these plugs than you would a nickel coated copper plug, but these metals don't handle older, weaker spark as well. With today’s higher intensity ignitions, the stronger spark cleans these harder plugs, but when modern plugs are installed into older engines with weaker spark, it leads to incomplete combustion and lower performance..... Bottom line is, if your engine came with nickel-coated copper plugs (Thirty to Forty Thousand Miles), use only those plugs. If your engine came with platinum or double-platinum plugs (Sixty to One- Hundred Thousand Miles) and you have easy access to the plugs, continue to use that. But if your engine has platinum and access to the plugs is really difficult & costly, you may use iridium (One-Hundred to One-Hundred-Twenty Thousand Miles), so you can forget about changing plugs for up to a-hundred-twenty-thousand miles.
Stick with AC brand spark plugs. Single or double platinum, do not use iridium.
