Has there been a change in spark plug technology in recent years ?.

We haven’t had a petrol car since the early eighties until I bought a new 1.2 Fabia for the wife in 2007. The main dealer did the first three services and I have done it since.

In the past 10,000 miles was always the recommended renew interval and usually one removed them at 5000 to give them a wire brush clean and check the gap.. However in the Haynes manual it gives the spark plug renewal interval of 40,000 miles for the Fabia and also says there should be no need to remove until then.

Surely these can’t be the same type of plugs as the ones I bought at £1.00 for four.

wemyss

Those Iridium spark plugs are easily available for about £15 apiece. Have a word with the garage.

I'm confused. The plugs were clearly a rip-off at nearly £50 each, but £120 for 4 hours labour seems amazingly cheap - are you sure there's not a few typo's or mix ups on the invoice? It's certainly worth querying.

From experience, you should also get a follow up call from Honda, just to ensure A) you are a happy customer B) Ensure the garage are maintaining standards and not letting the brand down. Use this opportunity to mention to Honda (call them if they haven't called you).

However, I do believe there's a good chance the plugs would be due a change at this kind of age (depending also on your mileage. Did the dealer not offer you the normal fixed menu service (level 1, 2, 3 or 4) for cars over 3 years old?