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Post by Jeff Roblin on May 20, 2007 14:15:05 GMT -5
Has anyone ever tried performance spark plugs; splitfire in particular in our Ford engines?
Any reviews, good, bad or indifferent?
Thanks in advance.
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badmav70
Daily Driver
ford nut
Posts: 144
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Post by badmav70 on May 21, 2007 0:30:41 GMT -5
my opinion, save your money.. years ago a friend tryed them, but wasnt impressed
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girard
Daily Driver
Posts: 112
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Post by girard on May 21, 2007 21:13:41 GMT -5
I concur, I tried splitfire, accel u- grove and Bosch +4. I really couldnt detect a difference. I run Bosch platinums in all my vehicles now. They are under $2 bucks apiece and have served me well. I did have some major carb problems years ago in my '75 351 Granada there was no plug that could burn all that gas and soot.
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Post by hipogranada on May 29, 2007 8:34:10 GMT -5
a few years ago I installed a new set of platinum plugs in my '93 5.0 Thunderbird. The car didn't have platinum plugs as original equipment.
couple of months later it started misfiring, just out of the blue. I was at a loss to figure it out so I took it to a local shop and had them hook up an ignition scope so that we could see where the miss was. It was random - happening on several cylinders with no pattern.
I told the mechanic I'd recently replaced the plugs with a new set of platinums. He told me to take it home and replace them with OE Motorcraft NON-platinum. He had seen a lot of this, cars that didn't spec platinum plugs would start missing like mine was.
Took it home, put in original-equip Motorcraft plugs and the problem went away. From what the guy told me, if the ignition system wasn't designed to run platinums, there's no gain to be had and it may cause problems - like mine.
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Post by Jeff Roblin on May 29, 2007 8:44:48 GMT -5
Yes - I heeded everyone's advice and put a set of standard Champion plugs in DA MERC. I alternate between AC and Champion; I've never really established a preference.
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Post by hipogranada on May 29, 2007 23:20:56 GMT -5
So I guess Da Merc is ready for the road trip to Carlisle!
Talked to Henrik a little bit ago. He had stopped for the night on his way to New York. Funny, he ended up staying in Carlisle tonight, that just happened to be where he was on the road when he was ready to call it a night.
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girard
Daily Driver
Posts: 112
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Post by girard on Jun 11, 2007 15:08:43 GMT -5
Guess I've been lucky then. I never had any problems with platinum plugs. To be honest though my older cars havent seen a lot of miles.
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Post by zonker on Jun 12, 2007 1:23:14 GMT -5
most of the newer plugs like splitfire or the plus 2 or plus 4 electrode plugs are for the most part a marketing sham. not only are they of no benefit, they even go as far as being detrimental.
if additional power or fuel economy is what you seek, then look for the plug with the smallest diameter center electrode, and consider dropping down one heat range and adding .005" to your spark plug gap settings.
also, you might consider indexing the plugs as well so the leg of the grounding electrode is facing furthest from the intake valve.
doing this will maximize spark plug efficiency and coil output within the combustion chamber, but if you have a weak coil or inferior spark plug wires then you may be making the car run worse than before because you've just increased the spark load required to jump the gap.
rob
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Post by Jeff Roblin on Jun 12, 2007 7:45:43 GMT -5
Good Post!
I remember something about heat ranges of plugs. Your post kinda brought me back to that. I've always figured these Splitfire plugs and the like were a farce.....and I heard rumours that they could be harmful.
Good to know for anyone considering of experimenting.
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Post by tonytrolle on Jun 25, 2007 1:53:43 GMT -5
there is NGK U-groves too and race plugs which look like someone has welded a shakeproof washer around the center electrode.
Also VW use two and three electrodes plugs (well they do in europe) as standard and you can feel the differance.
Damm I can remember the part numbers too (worked in an auto parts shop some times)
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Post by hipogranada on Feb 4, 2008 22:45:30 GMT -5
Changed plugs in my '02 Explorer 4.0 SOHC today.
For whatever it's worth, the OE Motorcraft plugs had 133K on them. Yes, they should have been changed at 100K. I've been busy. The specified gap is .054. The plugs I pulled out were, to be polite, really used up - ran past the end of my plug gapper, which exceeded .080.
Why it didn't misfire is beyond me. I don't think this would have worked with points/condensor. But if this serves as any kind of testimonial to OE Motorcraft plugs, so be it.
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