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Spark Plugs

R

Rich2279

CEG'er
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Messages
293
Location
New Jersey
What are some good replacement spark plugs that you have had luck with? Do they need to be double platinum or not? Part #'s? This is for the Duratec non SVT.
 
Keep an open mind

Keep an open mind

One of the things you'll see on the board is a mantra on spark plugs that goes like "autolite double plats...". I'm sure these are fine as enough people have had positive experiences with them in these apparently sensitive cars. However, there's a big world out there beyond Ford and Contours that have similar problems to solve. When I first put my motor in I put in autolite single plats and had nuisance missing and bucking for quite a while. A simple high quality but inexpensive NGK with "V" power made this all but disapear. Not wanting any issues at all, and after studying the issue thoroughly, I settled on the Denso Iridiums. All I can say is WOW! At any RPM under any load level the motor is solid and smooth. They are expensive, but to really solve a problem like this is worth much more.
 
mosh said:
One of the things you'll see on the board is a mantra on spark plugs that goes like "autolite double plats...". I'm sure these are fine as enough people have had positive experiences with them in these apparently sensitive cars. However, there's a big world out there beyond Ford and Contours that have similar problems to solve. When I first put my motor in I put in autolite single plats and had nuisance missing and bucking for quite a while. A simple high quality but inexpensive NGK with "V" power made this all but disapear. Not wanting any issues at all, and after studying the issue thoroughly, I settled on the Denso Iridiums. All I can say is WOW! At any RPM under any load level the motor is solid and smooth. They are expensive, but to really solve a problem like this is worth much more.
Click to expand...

The double plats are reccomended. The single plats are not.

While there are many differing opinions on the best plugs for our wasted spark ignition(click link for cool animation:cool: ), it seems to be that the single plats produce undesirable results.

In that big world beyong Ford and Contours, there are Buick V6 engine Series I and newer, Harley Davidson V-Twin, BMW Airheads, Citroën 2CV, Mazda B engine and Chrysler V10, and many other engines(including many on motorcycles) that use the wasted spark ignition. What they all have in common is that they aren't designed to use a single platinum plug.
 
Clarification

Clarification

I wasn't clear....I do believe the double plat requirement is valid. My single plats weren't up to spec...had not yet at that time studied the recommmendations.

Anyways, Iridiums work great
 
muntus said:
The double plats are reccomended. The single plats are not.

While there are many differing opinions on the best plugs for our wasted spark ignition(click link for cool animation:cool: ), it seems to be that the single plats produce undesirable results.
Click to expand...

I heard it called WASTE, not wasted, but that animation uses the alternate terminology. Those whacky guys across the pond... :crazy:

Further, the single plats are stock from the factory in these cars and work fine, however only the center electrode is platinum on the single plat plugs & the ground electrode becomes scalloped over time - as happened to me. That means the plug gap is ever increasing with every mile. I had 96,000 miles on my car & my ground electrodes looked like tiny spoons. The double plats should last, well, for the life of the car, or at least until they become physically damaged.
 
Last edited:
TourDeForce said:
I heard it called WASTE, not wasted, but that animation uses the alternate terminology. Those whacky guys across the pond... :crazy:

Further, the single plats are stock from the factory in these cars and work fine, however only the center electrode is platinum on the single plat plugs & the ground electrode becomes scalloped over time - as happened to me. That means the plug gap is ever increasing with every mile. I had 96,000 miles on my car & my ground electrodes looked like tiny spoons. The double plats should last, well, for the life of the car, or at least until they become physically damaged.
Click to expand...

Sometimes the truth needs a bit of explanation. In 95 the stock plug was single platinum, but each bank had a different part number with the platinum button on the center wire one one bank and on the side wire on the other bank. The repalcement Ford plug was duel platinum to make it idiot proff so that the wrong plug would not get installed on the wrong bank.

Starting in 96, the factory plug was a fine wire plug. As I understand it, the center wire was platinum, but the side wire may have been iredium, another long lasting metal for such use. I'm quite sure that it it wasn't plain steel like the standard plugs with copper centers to the center wire.

If you don't use a double platinum, or at least a plug that has better than normal steel, one bank of the engine will have short plug life.
 
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