Tune-up with E3 Plugs.. DONT!!! (pics)

[95TahoePA]

So, I did a tune-up on my Tahoe last Friday (7-19-13) and decided to get the E3 plugs to treat her right.. Plus they claim better gas mileage! Well, I am an example of the “more expensive is not better”.
Well, truck ran great….. for 5 mins. Then she started sputtering, misfiring, choking and plainly just didn’t want to idle correctly at all. So, scratching my head I though since the truck had 250K on it, maybe the Fuel pump was going. Tested the fuel pressure.. It was fine.Had the EGR ckecked.. Fine.. IAC motor cleaned of all carbon and checked.. Perfect.. nothing wrong with the IAC. Fuel Pressure regulator checked out fine as well. Which lead me to believe it was cap and rotor or timing. Changed the cap & Rotor again. Still ran crappy.. Had it timed. Guy charged me $15 because he didn’t have to do anything. It was at 0 deg. Mindboggled, I decided to make sure all plugs were tight.. they were. So I pulled #2 cylinder plug out JUST to take a peak to see if the plug was wet, oily etc and got the surprise of my life!
See photos.

 

[amtronic1]

Obviously you got the wrong plugs. I can't believe that they would not have checked that before spec'ing the plugs for your engine. Somehow you ended up with extended tips when you don't have enough clearance for them. What number are they?

You could just break off the offending lug, they are already indexed for you.

 

[lesterl]

My NGK's work just fine.... Got a hotter coil and regapped them of course....

 

[95TahoePA]

Amtronic - E3 42's. They were stamped on the plug itself so I know they didnt sell me the wrong plugs. E3 themselves said they are the right plugs and are just as baffled as I am.
E3 claims (this was a phone conversation with tech support) to have a longer threading to allow the plug to go into the chamber just a tad further to allow the fire to be closer to the middle if the open area of the chamber. Well, its to far into the chamber obviously..
I just hope, and same with E3, that there is NO internal damage to my motor. Any metal flakes that can score my walls or even any dings in the pistons/valves from the contact.

lesterl - I went and got ACDelco's afterwards. Truck runs alot better.

 

[lesterl]

I bet you got some carbon build up or someone has had the heads shaved or something.....