Spark Plug Gap

[Ksull72487]

2019 Chevy Sonic RS

.6mm to .7mm. Man that’s small. I just learned .028 is considered the high range so I will probably gap to .025 or .026. As gaps open over time and the middle of .6mm to .7mm is exactly .02559. Being in the middle end of the range allows the gap to widen over the service life of the plug with out the issues of being to small or too big.

Those of you guys gapping to .028 may want to think about that. As your at the highest end of gap tolerance and that gap will widen with use

Im going to check the factory gap. I’m sure it’s off and I’m curious what they did. Another reason I’m servicing early.

30K miles this cars so cheap to work on. I did Penzoil Platnium Dexos Oil, Fram Ultra Oil Filter. Replaced the Air Filter (Purolator $10) and Cabin Air Filter ($10). Was going to do a KN as I had them in every car. But as long as a filters that cheap on Amazon lol not worth it. Valvoline Dexos-VI trans fluid change ($50). Now I said heck with it. $17 dollars for 4 AutoLite Iridium XP let’s pull the plugs and knock those out. LOL.

Also guys. I’m going to reset the oil indicator at 85% as I know the car can go longer than 7,500 with the oil and filter I used. Turbos and heat do break things down earlier. But not that much. Chevy still has a goal of making a profit and I know Blackstone Labs will say try another 2,500 miles lol. I’ve sent used oil in enough times to know. That’s usually the case, if your using a good quality oil. Penzoil Platnium aka the Natural Gas stuff seems to be the best these days. Mobil 1 is still decent but not nearly as good. Ams Oil too damn expensive and Penzoil is damn close.

It’s so cheap and easy to do all this so I figured I’d do the maintenance early and get it in a good place for 30k as I know what was done and then slack. When the Brakes go. PowerStop z23 pads and rotors that set is cheap enough on Amazon and is better than stock. Rear Drums will last life of car.

Another reason I’m doing this early is these cars run hot, and turbos usually burn things out faster. I was amazed at where the oil temps and water temps get. I used my OBD 2 reader as I was curious lol. 200 degrees plus on the coolant and 300 on oil. Man o man. But not surprised either. It’s running hot cuz it’s a tiny forced induction motor and Chevy probably does it for emissions and to burn carbon.

$100 bucks and you pretty much covered all the routine maintenance if you do it yourself. That’s insanely cheap and why I am doing it early as I just got the car and I don’t know what was serviced.

Also did all 3 wipers for $18. RainTok on Amazon. They work well and they have the factory Chevy fitment. No bulky adapters, ugly as they are visible in windshield. At that price lol steal. When I bought the car with 28k on it the car had bulky adapters and like 3 different brands of windshield wipers lol as it’s the hatch. Silicone will last longer. But too much damn money. $18 for all 3 if they last a year with a factory fitment that’s a solid deal.

Performance. I changed my mind. Even with 400 hp theses cars aren’t that fast especially with an automatic. They aren’t BMW M235i with a ZF8 Auto or a Mini Cooper S. You’ll never make this car quick. Lol. Maybe fun to drive. So I’m not doing any performance related modifications. Once you had cars like that you’ll know real quick it’s never gonna be fast. It just doesn’t have the balls. Period. Still a solid little car tho. Just not going to spend in the performance section as the return for investment won’t be much. As things wear out I may upgrade like the brakes as replacing your self is cheaper than a factory part at the dealer. Just not focusing on it. The car was never designed to have power. Chevys engineers are just as good as BMWs. This car was built on a budget for a budget. Certain things cost too much to overcome. A BMW M235i wasn’t built on a budget for a budget.

ZZP’s 400 Horsepower Chevy Sonic Turbo Runs The Quarter-Mile In 11.5 Seconds​

A damn near stock M235i will do that. Chevy Sonic too much money. Lol. Short story your not living your life a quarter mile at a time in this thing and if you do you have too much money to waste. That’s 110% for sure.

I bought this car as a comeback car. M235i totaled used car prices through the roof. Sonic is cheap to repair and maintain. Run it till wheels fall off. Buy another BMW money pit. Lol. That’s my goal. Then again. The things so cheap to repair and service. It’s ridiculous I can’t remeber the last car I changed oil on with out jacking it up almost as fast as I could pump gas or a Mass Airflow sensor that cost $50. Maybe I don’t go back. Lol. Time will tell. Lol I’m older now so I don’t need the car that can out run virtually everything and a car is a depreciating asset in most cases. Unfortunately the Sonic probably depreciates faster than ****. But it’s repairability and cost to repair and maintain . Dirt cheap. As long as it’s driven to the grave. I’m sure the trade in value sucks. Lol. So that’s my plan.

 

[Ksull72487]

Did the plugs!!! Yeah guys I’m right. .025 is exactly .635mm. Chevy wants .6mm to .7mm. That is low enough to be with in spec and allow them to widen with use as they will. A higher voltage or better coil pack you could probably go wider.

But I’m calling this. .025 is your gap. I gapped the plugs twice with a feeler gauge. It should be hard to get in but not to hard. Enough you get friction.

Factory probably dosent gap them all 100% as they mass produce. So I would gap them twice at .025. When I say twice. Do 4 plugs feel them out. Then regap, always check them twice. Snug, Is what you want. Don’t use those coin ones they sell at Advanced either get a good feeler gauge.

I use to use the coin ones as a kid. They cause the bar to angle too much on the plug plus they could be inaccurate.

I think Chevy is targeting this range for blow out due to a turbo and the fact the coil is probably lower voltage.

Die Electric grease is a must. Pull the coil boots off. Wipe put back together and reapply. Tip: the spring inside the boot that makes contact with the plug. Stretch it slightly to ensure it connects to the plug with good force I imagine it looses its force with time. Just give it a quick easy stretch the coil will go right on. Die Electric grease yeah you need it the what those contacts connect.

I did use anti seize on my plugs but I wiped most of it off. Lol most manufacturers today say don’t do it. If you use anti seize you need hardly any. So I said ahh **** it it’s a GM product. We will use it and wipe it off. This way it’s semi dry. They go in easy and come out easy.

So now for the test. 60k maintenance at 30k. Plus the trans fluid. Do we see more mpgs? Lol I expect maybe 1 mpg. But I’m curious. Over all about $100 bucks and maybe an hour or 2 depending how good you are with tools and cars. Lol it’s easy to do. Too easy.

I don’t recommend over maintaining a car. I just bought it. So I like to do a lot of maintenance this way I’m starting from scratch on it. Plus it’s a GM product. Easy as hell to work on and cheap. This car will be driven to the grave before I buy the next one.

Those of you guys running tunes. First off 1
Step colder on the plug. Second off on Mini Cooper S and 2016 BMW M235i. Both cars were tuned. Turbos generally call for a 60k replacement on plugs. Naturally aspirated 100k. Dosent matter what it is? If your tuned I always did it at 30k. I’m just doing this for shits on my untuned Sonic as $17 bucks for 4 AutoLite Iridium XPs lol. I piss that. Lol so why not. But if your tuned. Replace at 30k

Report: on a 2019 Chevy Sonic RS the factory plugs were .025. God damn I’m good. Loose fit but not .026. Forums on here saw smaller gaps on the 2012s with the same engine factory. Leads me to believe Chevy figured **** out on the later models.

Conclusion gap is .025. I will report back what all this maintenance early does for MPGs. I did use AutoLite Iridium XPs. So far it runs good. AutoLite makes a good plug especially for small engines. I don’t have a problem if one fails the jobs to easy to do.

 

[Ksull72487]

Stay tuned for the next update. What does 60,000 miles on a heavy maintenance schedule for $100 bucks do to a 2019 Chevy Sonic RS for gas mileage at 30k which is early. We are about to find out!?!?!

Cars to easy and cheap to work on. If this was my BMW or Mini. Hellllll no. Lol. So I’m curious. I’m giving the Chevy Sonic a 10/10 for maintenance and repairability and cost. Now let’s see what it does if it does anything.

On a side note as long as you have your torques and stars. If I had to break down in a car. The Chevy Sonic is it. Lol. I’m really liking this thing for the ease of repair. Even the turbos cheap to slap back on their manifold and all one piece. Seems to be a good econo box car.

 

[Ksull72487]

With my report I’ll tell you how the AutoLite Iridium XPs run. I imagine they’ll do just as well if not better. A fresh plug will always beat out a 30,000 mile one. So only time will tell.

 

[Ksull72487]

So let’s conclude this for now!!!!

2019 Chevy Sonic RS 30k miles

Bought from Carvana.

1. Penzoil Platnium (Dexos Approved) 5W-30
2. Fram Ultra Oil Filter
3. All Filters Replaced (Purolater One was $10 on Amazon, Cabin Airfilter the same)
4. Chevy Fitted wiper blades $18 (3 it’s a hatch)
5. 4 AutoLite Iridium XPs (Gapped to .025, factory GM Plugs were the same).
6. All 194 bulbs LED. That’s interior and Licensed plate and one dome light which is not a 194 LED, I bought that separately.
7. LED headlights. Both High and lows.
8. Transmission fluid changed. ($50 bucks for valvoline - Dexos -IV).

I’m curious as to what this does for MPG. As I did it all pretty quick. Easy.

Tip I don’t recommend LEDs honestly HID is probably better for those projectors. Buy non canbus ones. Canbus bulbs fool the computer to tell you the bulbs out. Meaning the draw more power to make the computer thinks it’s on intentionally. Chevy dosent have canbus. Lol buy the regular as you don’t want a bulb that can light on lower wattage intentionally lighting at higher wattage to fool a computer we don’t have.

So next step is the MPG update?

UPDATE: Mileage has definitely gone up. More than 2 MPGs. Gap the plugs to .025 - .027. That’s your range. Stay away from anything above .028 and below .024. I attribute this to restoring lost power and replacing slightly worn items.