Christcorp

Probably many opinions. Please hang in there with me.
I have a unique situation. My father in law bought a 2007 silverado 1500, new body style, brand new in 2007. A couple of months later he had a stroke that forced him to retire. As such, he could still drive, but only basic driving. e.g. supermarket, pay bills, in town, etc. He recently passed away and I inherited the silverado. I did ensure while he had the truck that it got an oil change once a year even though it didn't get many miles on it. I also had new tires put on recently. Not because of miles but because of dry rot/age in the New Mexico sun. As I said, I recently inherited the truck. 15 years old and it only had 17,000 miles on it.

So here's the question. I've done all the fluid changes; e.g. oil, trans, power steering, brake fluid. But I'm curious about the spark plugs and wires. I did remove 3 of the plugs and they look fine. The wires also look fine. The truck runs fine. Driving it back to wyoming from new mexico I averaged around 17-19 mpg on the highway. "About average rated mpg". The spark plugs are the original 41-985 iridium which are no longer made; and the wires are the original 9770 which I also believe may or may not be made any longer. I'm curious if anyone thinks I SHOULD go ahead and replace the spark plugs and wires. e.g. put in some 41-162 and some 9748RR wires? Do you think I'll gain anything by doing so? I work on cars so no expense in doing it myself other than the cost of the plugs and wire. And honestly, money isn't even part of the equation. Just curious if anyone thinks it's fine just leaving the original 41-985 plugs and 9770 wires in it or if I'd gain anything swapping them out. They only have 18,000 miles on them, but they are 15 years old. New Mexico and now Wyoming are very dry climates. So there was no rust on the plugs. Not sure about the wires. I don't see any rot, cracks, peeling, etc. and the vehicle seems to run fine.

Any thoughts?
Thanks
Mike

oldchevy

I would be more concerned with the wires than the plugs. You say the wires look good and are not brittle or cracked so I would leave them alone for now. I would also be more concerned with the serpentine belt and the AC belt as they might break without notice. Also the tensioner pulley, idler pulley, vacuum hoses, heater and radiator hoses.

Christcorp

I appreciate the response oldchevy. I did go ahead and replace both the plugs and the wires. They did seem to still be in good shape so I boxed them up as spares if I ever need them. Old habit I have; keep a lot of spare parts in the pickup. As for the belts; they too look really good. No fraying, no splits or cracks. All the numbers on them are even still perfectly readable. But I do agree that belts are something that could dry and rot over time, like tires, and could break at any moment. And belts are cheap, so I do have a new spare set on hand. Belts are so easy to replace with today's serpentine and idler pulleys that I'll just hold on to the new belts. They'll be there if I ever need to replace one of the two belts. It's literally less than a 5 minute replacement.

As for the hoses, I do agree that they can be an issue. Again, these hoses do seem to be in great shape. No cracking, not hard or super soft. But the one and only liquid change I haven't done yet is the coolant. I've tested whats in there and it's still potent and in good shape. But come springtime, when the weather is nicer, I will be draining the coolant and replacing it. At that time, I'll probably go ahead and replace the upper and lower radiator hoses. {possibly also the main fill/overflow hose too). The flow and return hoses for the heater core may also get replaced. We'll see. Or at least have a spare 6 foot of hose on hand to replace should it need it. It's generic hose and you can get 25 feet of the stuff for $10.

Thanks again for the input.
Mike

oldchevy

It's better to replace them before they break as they are old. I would rather replace them now instead of having them fail while driving and having to make repairs on the road.

Christcorp

I appreciate the input. As I mentioned, for things like hoses, when I do a radiator flush I will put on new hoses just because. Belts.... may or may not. I'll have an extra set. Replacing belts take literally 5 minutes to do both. Less than 2 minutes for the main serpentine belt. People who can't do that probably aren't on this forum and they probably need to get AAA service before their trips.

I've been working on cars for 50+ years. Things have greatly changed however over time. No modern car needs a 3,000 mile oil change. With the progress of synthetic oil, 5,000-7,500 is the norm. I'm not a fan of the 10,000+ oil changes. (Although, there are some good arguments for them). I've got hoses on some of my cars that are original. My lexus is a 2007 and my rav4 is a 2008. They both have the same hoses as when I bought the cars new. Belts have been changed but only out of convenience. e.g. needed to replace the alternator on one car so I replaced the belt while I was at it. Hoses, belts, oils, and many other parts/materials have come a long way. Glad to see my rav4 and many newer cars have drain plugs on their transmission fluid pans. Modern transmissions don't need to have their filters changed. Matter of fact, they aren't really filters anyway. More accurately, they are "Screens". Just to keep any physical material like metal or clutch material from entering the transmission gears. Transmission fluid doesn't need to be "Filtered" like motor oil does. Anyway, things have definitely advanced.

My main concern when starting this thread was that over the past 15 years they have "UPGRADED" the spark plugs in the 2007 silverado. They don't even make the original plugs any longer. I was just curious if there would be any advantage to changing out the plugs to the new one. After pulling them out, had the same plugs been available and still produced, I wouldn't have bought new plugs. The originals were perfectly fine. And with only 18,000 miles on them, and being iridium, I'm sure they would have been fine for another 90,000 miles. The plug wires...... that's a hard one to say. When you drive a vehicle every day, like my lexus, rav4, or other cars you sort of know when something isn't working right. Not really knowing how this truck runs being it's new "To me", I figured it wouldn't hurt to replace the plug wires. And being the original plugs aren't produced any longer, I figured I'd try out the new 41-162 plugs and see how they perform. It's obvious when belts, hoses, etc. are going out/bad. Plug wires can be tricky. So I just replaced them. I decided to retire recently, so I have all the time in the world to play around. Fortunately, money isn't an issue. With traveling around the country, I ALWAYS have spare parts in my vehicles. Belts, hoses, plugs, all the fluid, complete tool set, etc. Been that way my whole life. I'll probably put on the new belts because it's a quick 5 minute job. I'll keep the old belts as backups. Like I said, I'll probably replace the radiator hoses when I take care of the coolant. "Probably keep the old hoses as backups".

I definitely do appreciate all the feedback. That's how we learn. Getting other people's perspective on things.
Thanks
Mike