Knocking noise after replacing plugs and wires

[andreacoffman]

Bought the car in Nov 2010. The wires in my 93 pathfinder (167,000 miles) were looking rusted, so I replaced them with new wires (Duralast) and went ahead and replaced the NGK plugs with Autozones Copper Autolite while I was at it (central electrodes were barely there). I gapped them to .032 according to Autozone, then replaced each plug and wire one at a time. Now I'm getting a knocking noise. It sounded perfect before.

Anybody have any ideas what went wrong? I had to crawl on top of the engine to get to #'s 4 and 6. Could I have done some damage to the engine being on top? Should I have bought the NGK and another brand of wires.

Thanks for any help.
Andrea

[Towncivilian]

Not many of us have WD21 Pathfinders. You may have better luck posting on NPORA I think.

[Chuck Tribolet]

That engine tends to collect a lot of sand and grit around the sparkplugs. It needs to be blown out with compressed air
after pulling the wires and before pulling the plugs.

[m0nkeyprince]

i went with NGK wires and plugs, but you should be fine, yea, like chuck said, theres usually sand and stuff that accumulates around the spark plug well. mine had small rocks inside, believe it or not. If the sound persists then you might think of what might went wrong.

[andreacoffman]

Thank you guys. I think you're right about the accumulation. After a couple of days, the sound has disappeared. I'll be sure to blow some air around the plugs next time.

Thanks again,
Andrea