Fouled Spark Plugs? 1979

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3799
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: Fouled Spark Plugs? 1979

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

Pescado wrote:Can you expand on “tired engine” for me
Yes. A Fiat DOHC will rev pretty high, up to 7000 rpm in stock form for the early engines, and up to 6000 rpm for the later (larger) engines. More for engines that have been built for higher rpms. However, if your engine is old and has low oil pressure, excessive wear, etc., it may not be a good idea to rev it this high. In other words, don't push an original engine that has many miles on it. That's all I meant.

-Bryan
Pescado
Patron 2021
Patron 2021
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:55 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat spider 124
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Re: Fouled Spark Plugs? 1979

Post by Pescado »

18Fiatsandcounting wrote:
Pescado wrote:Can you expand on “tired engine” for me
Yes. A Fiat DOHC will rev pretty high, up to 7000 rpm in stock form for the early engines, and up to 6000 rpm for the later (larger) engines. More for engines that have been built for higher rpms. However, if your engine is old and has low oil pressure, excessive wear, etc., it may not be a good idea to rev it this high. In other words, don't push an original engine that has many miles on it. That's all I meant.

-Bryan
Gotcha….thanks Bryan
AlexD
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:38 am
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000

Re: Fouled Spark Plugs? 1979

Post by AlexD »

18Fiatsandcounting wrote:I'm kinda getting the impression that the "Italian Tune-Up" is what you need. Drive the engine hard, 4000 to 6000 rpm at full throttle for a while, and I'll bet your spark plugs will look perfectly normal. These engines love that.

-Bryan
Can’t say that I’ve heard the phrase “Italian tune-up” before but I love it. My Spider is coming home from the hospital soon after about 5-month of intermittent troubleshooting and repairs. Apparently she’s running better than ever (we’ll be the judge of that :-)) so the Italian tune-up should be fun regular maintenance.
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