hmmm Spark plug problems

Hmmm I changed my spark plugs about 1 month ago and The car seems to be running rough while idling. I have a 1999 Grand am 2.4L and i gapped the spark plugs to .05 which is what they told me to do... After the first week of hearing the sound i opened up the top head part again and noticed that on the far right two black things that go over the spark plugs where jammed pretty hard and took a lot of force to get out whereas the other ones came out with ease. then when i looked underneath the main top head part that i had to take the 4 screws off of the two matching top cylinder shapes things had a little bit of the plastic type material burnt off of them right next to the little tiny metal tip at the very end. I thought to myself thats not good but perhaps taking the spark plugs out then putting them back in and attaching the black parts over them would fix the problem. So after putting everything back together i started it and bingo it sounded fine....for about 10 minutes Then it started sounding rough again, so I take it out and it still sounds that way. I thought to myself that maybe its the spark plugs, im using Bosche Platunum ones, however They were left out in the rain one night but with the boxes on so i didnt think it would be a problem.... Oh and one last thing the car also sounds rough when accelerating. It will kinda jurk for a few seconds when i put on the accelerator at a stop light when it turns green (especially if i accelerate hard) Anyways any input would be greatful, if it still makes the sound by sunday I will just buy new black things that go over the spark plugs and new spark plugs and see if that fixes the problem....

Paul,
If I were in your shoes, your best bet would be to just buy new plugs (stock) and the black boots - all brand new. Do not gap the plugs - if you buy the stock plugs for the 2.4, they will be pre-gapped from the factory. Attempting to correct your gapping of your current plugs will most likely cause even worse problems - you may even break off the electrode. I would just pull the plugs, put in the new ones with the new rubbers, and you should be good. It should solve your misfiring problems. If it still persists beyond that, then there may be other problems that we can adress.

Thank you for your quick reply and help! I will buy the plugs and black boots sunday and tell you how it worked out, again thanks for your help =D

Like Ridenour states change the plugs and boots, make sure that they line up correctly when putting the cover back on. If that doesn't take care of the problem then let us know there are several other things to look at but right noe there is no sense in looking at those until necessary.

Good luck,

Ok, i went to Schucks auto supply and they said it would take about 5 days or so for it to get it if i were to order it....so i told them that id check to see if i could find them elsewhere and if i couldnt that I would order it from there. I checked online but couldnt seem to find a GM store that sold them within my area (I live in Bellevue/Seattle WA) Does anyone know a site that has a place where you can find a store within the area that sells them? Since the guy at schucks told me it was like a kit...or something which i have no idea what it would actually be called even if i were to find it.

nevermind I found a place that sold them! cost like 8 bucks each for spark plugs and like 8 for each boot but after i installed them all i didnt notice rough idling and acceleration seemed to be very smooth. Thanks for all of your help! Also I have one more question, I want to buy a manual for my car (2.4L 99 grand am) And i need to know what the best one to buy is for idiots when it comes to cars. I want to know how to do a variety of things but want it to have either pictures or a very basic easy to understand discription. Does anyone know of a book like that and if so where to buy it. Thanks for your help in advance. :smile:

You should pick up a Haynes or Chilton manual for the car, I have the Haynes manual and it does have pictures but in my opinion there are not enough pics, the book is designed for the guy that likes to do his own work but I think more pics would help. Any way one of the other regulars has the Chilton manual and in conversation we have determines that they are basically the same information.
You may want to compare prices at your local parts house with prices on the net [ like Barnes & Noble.com or Boarders Books] you may find that the net may be cheaper [don't forget to add for shipping] especially if you can wait a few days for shipping.
After you get a manual, remember, you can always
ask questions on the Forum...that's why we are here, we like to help guys like yourself. In fact most, if not all of us would rather you ask questions before you get in over your head. So don't ever hesitate to ask a question no matter how simple you may think it is.

Good luck,
dan