Sparkplugs, Sparkplugs, Sparkplugs... oh my.

Bruce(OR)

Well-known Member
Didn't want this to get lost in the post below.
I spent a few years in a tuneup shop and have screwed in all kinds and seen all kinds.
Champion. Best plug in the world bar none. For an old Chrysler product.
Autolites went into most everything else with the exception of the foreign stuff.
The off shore Japanese buggies got NGK (No Good Kind, I used to joke)and Bosch worked great in the German stuff.
Deviation usually resulted in a fouled plug and a returning customer with a free fix. Champion plugs could be used in Ford and
GM with not much problem, IF, IF you went a temp range hotter. They tended to run cold and foul out except for the Chrysler stuff.
How many of you remember "Split Fire" spark plugs? They ran a split ground electrode. Twice the spark was the story to sell them.
They might have worked fairly well if you were running a multiple spark discharge system. Funny enough that instead of twice the spark,
they generally ran about 1/2 the spark and the wrong heat range on the plug. Only about $5.00 each back in the day.
People came in wondering about those plugs and we would take a normal plug and split the electrode with a pair of side cutters.
Show it to them and got them off the idea of the new "Wonder plug". Funny, those plugs are no longer around.
As for the best plug out there, it probably belongs to Bosch. Bosch came out a few years ago with a plug that has no grounding
electrode placed over the center. They ground that off and closed the distance between the center electrode and the side.
The entire edge around the center electrode has now become the ground. As the entire plug was open to the cylinder, you get a better burn,
more power and cleaner emissions. Faster time was demonstrated at a 1/4 mile track somewhat secretly and those plugs have never been put
into market.
Newer vehicles have come out with iridium plugs and what not. It doesn't take too long to figure out to put back in what came out
per the factory spec with newer engines.
All gas engines run on spark plugs!
Wanna bet? A few years ago, quite a few now, GM was experimenting with fiber optic.
Now if Bosch was to open the program with their plugs, install one set when new and drive it forever. Plugs would never wear out.
How's that look for the after market?
It's called "Planned Obsolescence"
Volvo, a few years ago, once again quite a few years ago, came out with a 3 cylinder diesel engine in a carbon fiber body, built three of
them, 100 MPG to a gallon of diesel and shelved the idea.
Not enough customer interest was the reported story.
You don't need 100 MPG.

Whoops. The wife is talking to me and I lost the rest of this.
Have fun with plugs and thinking about how much money is being made at the prices being paid.

I am running "No Good Kind" in her Mitsubishi Chrysler with "Autoslugs" in the '85 7.5 Ford. That truck, with dual tanks, pretty much
passes everything on the road except a gas station.
 
Fun read, thanks for posting. Asking what spark plug is preferred on this forum is about like asking what brand of oil is best or who makes the best pickup lol you get as many opinions as there are posters, but hey different folks have different experiences preferences and opinions. I prefer Autolite others prefer Champion, that's to be expected with such a good broad mix of gents we have here.

Now if you reallyyyyyyyyyyyyy want to see folks crawl out of the woodwork, me included, ask an Electrical or a Legal question that will blow up the website lol

Best wishes yall

John T
 
Hey BrucE(OR),

Ever use of seen a palladium spark plug. I think it's spelled right. Had it since 1964 65
I have just one, new, and know what engine it went into, and what Chompion plug it replaced,j

Guido.
 
Bruce as a young man I lived in a small fishing port town and owned an ancient wooden boat . The Blaxland two stroke engine took an unusual plug that also did not have the ground electrode over the centre . It worked in much the same way as you describe the Bosch . The distance to the centre electrode was quite large from memory and it carboned up often , but the plug was made in two pieces and you could easily take it apart to clean it thoroughly . The boat and engine were built sometime in the 30's and were almost 50 years old then .
 
I've never been able to tell the difference in new plugs apposed to cleaned plugs. I normally sandblast them and put them back in.
 

Interesting RoadsideGeo , the Blaxland was a two cylinder inboard two stroke . It looked like two coffee percolator side by side and used a magneto for spark . I started it with a wide leather strap wound around the flywheel . I had great fun in it for a few years , almost made it out of Port Albert Bay into Bass Straight once .
 
A Legal electrical question....
Can I wire in my own household standby generator without a permit?
Oops. You said "or".
Can I wire in my household standby generator "OR" do I need a permit?

Here they come!

Actually the wind is blowing very nicely out there currently and the chances of a sudden power outage are increasing exponentially.
As for the permit, I live in the country and the county has no permitting office. It all comes from the city of Portland who have no clue of rural life style.
Permits are painful and usually moronic due to the inspectors that come out loom at everything else while they are out.
Long before the wife and I got married, she had an electrical inspector out. He looked at the exterior of a power panel and without looking at anything else, signed off on her permit. She was not too happy. I would be overjoyed and at that point and I told her he probably figured if it hadn't burnt down, it wasn't going to. . .
 

My sisters motorcycle had the misorable NKG plugs . The engine would quit randomly . Placing the plug on the engine and kicking the starter would invariably show a fat blue spark . Return the plug to the engine and it would not run .
Install a brand new NKG and the engine would start on the first kick .
Just about every thing here other than the trucks . Has been cross referenced to and replaced with a non resistor Autolite .
The end of phantom ignition problems caused by spark plugs .
 

I don't know how long you have been out of the loop around 2010 Autolite sold their sole to china they sure fudged up a good product. Autolite moved some production back to Mexico they are still JUNK...

Bosch I never had any luck with them...

From 2010 to 2012 I replaced every Autolite spark plug I had installed for driveabilty issues 99.9% of the time it was the Autolites : (... Bosch was the same... They even came apart in the cylinder : SHOCK :

This year I ordered Autolites instead of Motorcraft by mistake for a Ford ranger in the heat of battle I put the Autolites in a week later it was back for a misfire you guessed it all I did was put Motorcrafts in it all was good...



The net is full of other mechanics/shops having the same issues with Autolites...





https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ark-plug-manufacturing-moved-to-china.823134/

Quote the truth... If your paycheck depends on the parts you install don't use Autolites..

"I work for an independant automotive shop that has been in bussiness for 36 years. I have been here for 13 years. My boss swore by Autolite and wouldnt ever consider another plug. We do a large variety of cars and trucks here from new to classics from any part of the globe. He claims he had never had a problem with an Autolite and in the first 11 years of me working here, neither had I. A few years ago we started seeing the problems with the Autolite, wierd problems. Center electrods sliping down and hitting the ground electode and shorting it out. These would happen within a few days of a car leaving the shop. Hell knows no fury like that of a customer who has paid to have an ignition miss fixed only to come back again a day or two latter with the "same" problem. Even after showing the customer what happened to the plug it is very difficult to gain there trust again and of the four customers that it happened to, none returned for any other work. We contacted out local Fram rep and he was going to look into it for us and nothing ever came about with it. We now sell NGK. Its a shame, Autolite used to be a great product, hopefuly they can turn it around."
 
"I don't know how long you have been out of the loop ...
Ya' got me. That tune up shop was. . . 199...3,4, maybe part of 5? Only what? 25/27 years ago? Time flies when you not paying attention.
whu?
 
I earned my living as an auto mechanic during the 70s 80s and most of 90s. Twice I have pulled a vehicle into the shop for a tune up which was running on all cylinders and had a dead miss after installing new plugs. Put one old plug back in and ran good. Both times champion.
 
I've put many, many road miles on champion plugs. In the early aughts I started running the platinum versions they made with the standard appearance electrode (not fine wire). They last "forever".

The newer vehicles I own have the iridium and they seem to be even better. Replaced the ones in the Five Hundred on schedule and frankly they didn't show much wear at all.

In tractors I've run both Champion and Autolite. Many people seem to have had problems with the Champions but honestly I never had. For example, I put new Champions in a 460LP two years ago; I bailed hay with it this afternoon and it runs like a swiss watch.

I remembered when the split fire plug came out. What a racket. With conventional ignition you get *one spark*, *one time*. And it will jump wherever it ionizes first. The only difference I could see from looking at them is that they were side gapped, i.e. the ground electrode did not extend completely across the center. It's like the old racer trick to remove part of the ground to do the same thing. Supposedly unhide the spark from beneath the ground.
 

BTDT, things changed I use Autolites exclusively 70's, 80's 90's into the early 2000's Autolites went to ell : ( I use what OEM installed in it be it Motorcraft, AC delco, Denso, NGK are Champion.... Life is good again...
 
I have three vehicles with gas engines. All Toyotas. At 120000 miles I buy a new set, as per the manual. The old ones coming out look like new except for a tan look. Sparkplugs have become a non issue.
 

Yep, they are not thought of till you have a misfire then you add the expense of ignition coils to the equation.

Another thing that goes unnoticed is the accessory drive belt, tensioners and idler pulleys. A customer called sometime back said he had a few lights on in the dash and the engine was running toward the hot side other than that it was running great. I ask if the power steering was OK he said yes. I thought the belt must be good I recommended he stop the car have it towed in are I would come take a look. He chose to drive it back home get in another car the next day he drives it to the shop. I get in it pull it in the power steering works I open the hood the belt is gone it shredded. It was a 2016 jeep Cherokee 102K the belt was not a stocked item I ordered one from the dealer with the tensioner and idler to this day 60 days later the belt never arrived I got a belt from NAPA.

It never crossed my mind it had electric power steering : ( I got a call last week on a 2016 Toyota she had took it to the dealer for service they recommended a belt she wanted me to look at it I said YES it needs a belt at 100K....

Its not EZ to replace even on a lift with the wheels and panels off...
 

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