Well, by the time my account was validated to post this, I'd already checked with the shop, but I'll post anyway in case anyone else has as much self-doubt as I do.
Changed my spark plugs for the first time the other day. Just changed them to the OEM NGKs.
I tightened by hand first, then with a wrench until I hit a natural stopping point and couldn't open hand tighten any further.
Car immediately idled smoother but had a gas smell in the cabin. I left it for the night, no gas smell in the morning, so I took it for a 12 mile round trip drive, but had my doubts, so I went back with a torque wrench the next morning.
Definitely had a bit more tightening to do to get to 18/18.25 ft-lbs on all four.
After tightening, no more gas smell, until I filled up the tank after a solid day and a half of driving and then got a very strong gas smell.
Seriously doubting my own work now, I took it in to the dealer to have them double check me this morning (no gas smell this am, but still wanted to check). There was very little chance I'd cross-threaded, and I knew I'd essentially tightened them to spec (allowing for calibration of the wrench, even though it was brand new), but maybe I'd jostled the fuel line (no evidence of this, no gas anywhere, mileage was normal, but some build up on the exterior of the engine). The engine was only warm when I changed them the first time, and it was pretty cold outside. When I tightened them, it was a warmer day, and the engine was cold. I guess the preference is to change them when the engine is red hot, owing to the aluminum cylinder heads (per the shop, anyway).
Dealer said I did a great job installing them--checked everything, hoisted it up and checked lines, etc, no issues. Couldn't recreate gas smell.
Probably whatever fumes had crept up during the initial driving when they were too loose finished working their way out. Or maybe I poured gas all over my shoe and didn't notice...because I did leave a small wrench under the hood...ha.
So I'm basically posting this because when I was searching for a solution to a gas smell in the cabin after spark plug change, the top result was the F-150 forum where apparently this is common, and some results for GTIs (and of course panic-inducing threads about fuel line issues even though there's a pretty direct correlation to spark plug change and gas smell), but hopefully this will help someone after their first install if they are nervous about overtightening or are getting a gas smell.
Changed my spark plugs for the first time the other day. Just changed them to the OEM NGKs.
I tightened by hand first, then with a wrench until I hit a natural stopping point and couldn't open hand tighten any further.
Car immediately idled smoother but had a gas smell in the cabin. I left it for the night, no gas smell in the morning, so I took it for a 12 mile round trip drive, but had my doubts, so I went back with a torque wrench the next morning.
Definitely had a bit more tightening to do to get to 18/18.25 ft-lbs on all four.
After tightening, no more gas smell, until I filled up the tank after a solid day and a half of driving and then got a very strong gas smell.
Seriously doubting my own work now, I took it in to the dealer to have them double check me this morning (no gas smell this am, but still wanted to check). There was very little chance I'd cross-threaded, and I knew I'd essentially tightened them to spec (allowing for calibration of the wrench, even though it was brand new), but maybe I'd jostled the fuel line (no evidence of this, no gas anywhere, mileage was normal, but some build up on the exterior of the engine). The engine was only warm when I changed them the first time, and it was pretty cold outside. When I tightened them, it was a warmer day, and the engine was cold. I guess the preference is to change them when the engine is red hot, owing to the aluminum cylinder heads (per the shop, anyway).
Dealer said I did a great job installing them--checked everything, hoisted it up and checked lines, etc, no issues. Couldn't recreate gas smell.
Probably whatever fumes had crept up during the initial driving when they were too loose finished working their way out. Or maybe I poured gas all over my shoe and didn't notice...because I did leave a small wrench under the hood...ha.
So I'm basically posting this because when I was searching for a solution to a gas smell in the cabin after spark plug change, the top result was the F-150 forum where apparently this is common, and some results for GTIs (and of course panic-inducing threads about fuel line issues even though there's a pretty direct correlation to spark plug change and gas smell), but hopefully this will help someone after their first install if they are nervous about overtightening or are getting a gas smell.
