After reading a recent article in a trade publication I decided to share some of the facts with you. Spark plugs are not what they seem. Every time a new plug catalogue comes out there are more and more weird and wonderful numbers in it, most of these are for the new lean burn engines with extended service life. Once over there were only a couple of popular plugs but today every car has its own unique plug and only that one will do its job correctly. Heat ranges are a very important part of keeping your plug life long and getting maximum out of the air fuel mixture that is injected your engine. Plug Gap Plugs have a space or air gap as it is called between the centre electrode and the earth wire on the end. This gap is very important for good ignition of the mixture in the cylinder. If this gap is wrong or the plug type is wrong this can cause poor ignition and misfires, which in turn can cause poor performance and high fuel consumption. The gap on modern plugs is getting wider. this is to help ignite the leaner mixtures that are in use by manufacturers. The plug can manage this because of the high outputs of the modern ignition system with their frightening outputs. Resistors Resistors have been around in plugs for a long time. Today’s car needs resistors not just to meet the radio interference legislation but also to stop radiation causing problems with modern engine management systems. Heat Range Plugs were first made with steel but the heat range was very poor, making it hard to cover engine conditions fully as it warmed up. Also the spark plug range had to be large to cover all the different engines. They were next made with copper because of its ability to conduct heat and electricity well this was used to increase the heat range of plugs. Now there are platinum tips. Platinum conducts heat and electricity exceptionally well, this makes it possible to reduce the size of the electrode and open the air gap to help ignite the lean fuel air mixture in the cylinder Electrodes Spark plug electrodes are made of all sorts of precious metals. Multiple electrodes are a cheap way of extending service life, and with the new platinum tips, this makes it possible to reduce the size of the electrode and open the air gap . This helps ignite the fuel air in the cylinder. At the same time as increasing the service life. Today's plugs can last up to 100,000 miles. |