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OT: Let's talk spark plugs...

C

Casey in Ky

Member
What kind of plugs do you guys run in your on road vehicles?? In the 4-wheeler and dirt bikes I"ve always ran NGK"s in them and been well satisfied. The last plugs I put in my old truck ("95 Chevy 4.3 4wd) were just plain ol" AC Delco copper core"s and they"ve been ok.

Do any of the "performance" plugs give any better results? What brands do you guys use and like?? And does anybody like Champions?? They"ve got an iridium core plug that is priced right, but I know nothing about them.

Next vehicle that"s gonna get the tune up is a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 3.7 V6. OEM plugs were Champion copper cores...

Thanks

Casey
 
Man, is this opening a bag of worms, remember one person saying he would walk before he uses another Champion! I beleive the main item is to use the correct plug for the equipment. I know Stihl, Briggs, Kohler and others put a lot of research studying effects of heat range on their engines.
 
Only thing I can tell you about plugs comes from my experience with old Farmalls. The local IH dealer has several old Farmalls that we use for stock (ish) pulling. Based on that experience Champions are rubbish, we have tractors that have chewed through several sets of Champions but we've only ever had one bad Autolite plug and it failed pretty well out of the box. I won't touch Champions now but to each there own. Sam
 
This is a can of worms. On my vehicles, I stay with AC Delco. I put a set of Autolites in my pickup once and it ran worse. I'd bought them at Walmart. Then, someone said Autolites bought at a parts store are OK, it's just the Walmart ones that are junk. (Did Autolite compromise quality to keep Walmart as a customer?)

When I was in the boat and outboard motor repair business, I used Champions almost exclusively in marine applications with good result. I've also never had a problem with Champions in motor vehicles, but it seems like almost everyone else has. Probably the simplest is to stay with what was original equipment in whatever application you're looking at.

Trivia time. How many people know that AC and Champion spark plugs are named after the same man? In about 1910, when the automotive business was in its infancy, a man named Albert Champion started manufacturing spark plugs and brand named them "AC" for his initials. He then sold out to Buick, which is why to this day GM uses AC plugs.

Mr. Champion then began another company manufacturing spark plugs and named them "Champion" after his last name.
 
I have found that in my 2 cyl. John Deeres when I used Champions they would burn up a lot faster than AC's. AC seemed to be a lot heavier duty plug and would last a lot longer.
 
Don't know about plugs but I'm not surprised if the parts at wally world are specials to meet their price.

I have found that scotchbrite sponges for use in the kitchen last much longer when bought in some other store than wally world. The WM sponges disintegrate before the scotchbrite abrassive is worn down.

I've heard it reported that WM forced Rubbermaid to close their US factories and make the product overseas to meet the WM price.

Gerald J.
 
I've never been big on Champions, but I had a Honda 3 wheeler that fouled NGKs to uselessness in about an hour of riding. I got a Champion in a pinch and never had to put another plug in that machine. I put atleast another 50 hours on it before it sold. I'm pretty sure that was a fluke! Jim
 
Seen several shows, commercials, etc. plugging these. Buudy of mine is running them in a 01 Chevy truck. When I was with him yesterday, he made the comment that it had a little more pep to it.
e3
 
Thats incorrect there was a pair of brothers champion brothers who made champion spark plugs. They often disagreed on the buisness and manufacturing so Albert went on his own and made AC plugs while his brother continued to run champion.
 
NKG resistor plugs never ran more than a day in our old 100cc Suzuki bike.
The two cylinder Deere's will often take offense to a Champion plug. In particular a resisitor plug. Some people do get by with a non resisitor Champ in a two cylinder.
While not a Ford fan. Everything around here gets non resistor Autolites and solid core/spiral wound wires.
14mm Autolite 215, 437 or platinum 4310's in small engines , Dubuque two cylinders and diesel starting engines.
3116 or 378's in Waterloo Two Cylinder engines. AC C88L will work fine there too.
The oldest two cylinder engines, Ford model A, old stationary engines get 3076 or 3077's if memory serves correctly.
The internal resistor guts of a sparkplug do fail from heat, pressure and vibration. Why install a potential point of failure when a solid core plug has nothing to fail?
As long as you are not running an AM radio,an AM Ham rig on your tractor or mowing the grass at an Airport. Resistor plugs gain nothing.
 

I do alot of snowmobile repair here in the winter and do i best not to use NGK junk.

Once you wet a NGK it is done , torch cleaning doesn"t help. Two stroke engines are pickie on there plugs and fowl them easy.

Modern snowmobiles are useing plugs that cost $8.00 to $10.00 each [ NGK ] so i can"t allow fowling to happen.



The br-8,9,and 10es plugs can be replaced with a Autolite 4053 with impresive results.

In my pulling tractor[ Super M ] i run the Autolite 388 plug with MSD and race fuel with great results as well.

I"m not by any means brand loyal , but when you keep a machine running well and preforming at its peak with out plug issues you keep useing it.


I run the 388 plug in my restored 55 cub as well. [ head cut .100 ,governor turrned up 400 rpm] runs real well .
 
The basic constrution and principle is the same no matter the name brand.Some have platnum etc and justify the cost increase by longer service.Its just an electrode in porcelan.That being said I like Champion plugs because they used to supply lots of info on their products.All Harley-Davidson number plugs are made by Champion.Now everyone else can laugh but Champion.
 
I'd listen to WGM as he echos what I have heard several tech's say. Use whatever the manufacture recommends. At least in cars seems to give alot less problems.
 
Well here's the thing:
There are different needs and different plugs.
Keep apples to apples and so on.
Across the board, all things equal, I would say I like Autolites for autos, and NGK for bikes/snowmobiles. Plugs have different coating like Champion, so they won't rust as fast if that is an issue.
And you can get specialty plug like fine wire electrode which spark better at idle and don't foul, if that is a problem.

I have tried all plugs over what 30+ years and have stayed with Autolites in my dragcar and a MSD7AL-3 box with good results, but I've tried them all - BOSCH plugs are pretty good too.
 
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