Good Spark plugs and wires???

[Bob Ayers]

I find that of the brands I have tried, the side electrode has eroded after 40-50,000 miles to the point that I start getting misfires. The plugs look fine otherwise and could probably just be regapped, but I figure if I have to pull 'em anyway, might as well replace 'em.

This is why double platinums are important. With EDIS, 2 plugs fire in series, one plug receives the negative portion of the spark, while the other plug receives the postive portion of the spark. Not only this, but they fire every revolution of the crank, twice as often as with a conventional ignition. The
negative polarity spark causes the "ground" electrode to erode.

I've posted this before, you can see how the EDIS fires 2 plugs in series. This applies to the 4.0L also:

 

[Donnie strickland]

A good discussion!

Thanks for posting that, Bob. The erosion I mentioned was the same for all brands I have tried, however.


I am aware of how EDIS functions. But my original question still stands: what is unique about the construction of the Bosch plug (as opposed to any other brand) that makes people say it is incompatible with Ford EDIS?

Nobody seems to know.

 

[Danger06Ranger]

Bosch plugs are junk, every car ive done a tune-up on that had new or old Bosch plugs had a missfire that went away with new plugs

 

[Ghost5.56]

I have run the Bosch plugs......all I got was bad performance. Some pinging, and overall sluggish performance.
Then I installed the Denso Iridium Plugs.....Very happy. No pinging and decent fuel economy.
As for the wires, I prefer the motorcraft wires that were meant for the truck. I believe they are 8mm?

 

[MAKG]

People place far too much importance on plugs and wires. For wires, you need ones that don't pull apart when you remove them. That's all. "Noise suppression," 8mm, whatever, don't make a Sam Hill worth of difference.

The spark plugs job is to make an arc. Copper is more conductive than platinum or iridium, but not enough to make a difference. Platinum is harder, so it lasts longer, but 50,000 miles is PERFECTLY FINE for conventional plugs. That's not at all "rapid erosion." Mulitple arcs are a gimmick; they do not work as advertised. Only one arc fires at a time.

The downside of platinum plugs is that they last SO long that they are far too often frozen in the heads. 100,000 miles is ten years worth of corrosion for many folks. The risk of breaking the spark plug on extraction or damaging the heads is much higher. Especially on #3 if you have air conditioning and a V6.

 

[97ranger4x4]

yeh that #3 Cyl is a PITA to change.

 

[Donnie strickland]

People place far too much importance on plugs and wires. For wires, you need ones that don't pull apart when you remove them. That's all. "Noise suppression," 8mm, whatever, don't make a Sam Hill worth of difference.

The spark plugs job is to make an arc. Copper is more conductive than platinum or iridium, but not enough to make a difference. Platinum is harder, so it lasts longer, but 50,000 miles is PERFECTLY FINE for conventional plugs. That's not at all "rapid erosion." Mulitple arcs are a gimmick; they do not work as advertised. Only one arc fires at a time.

The downside of platinum plugs is that they last SO long that they are far too often frozen in the heads. 100,000 miles is ten years worth of corrosion for many folks. The risk of breaking the spark plug on extraction or damaging the heads is much higher. Especially on #3 if you have air conditioning and a V6.

Thanks for weighing in on this.

Any idea where this thing about Bosch plugs got started? I don't have any special super-secret crush on Bosch plugs -- as I said before, I have used several different brands and I can't discern any difference -- but it's a casual curiosity of mine as to what could possibly be significantly different about the construction of Bosch plugs, if anything. Nobody seems able to explain.

Or is this another internet myth?

 

[MAKG]

I can't explain it either. I suspect it's an internet myth like the Bosch oxygen sensors (people used to claim frequently that they "switched slowly," which might make sense if you didn't know virtually all HEGO sensors are made by Bosch). I can't prove it, though. I haven't used Bosch spark plugs at all, as the Motocraft ones are considerably easier to find.

 

[Bob Ayers]

Copper is more conductive than platinum or iridium, but not enough to make a difference.

Copper plugs are no different than platinum, or iridium plugs! Since only the electrode tips are platinum or iridium, the difference in effective series resistance is in tens of milliohms (0.010 OHM). This is a nit, when you consider the plug wire resistance is in K ohms (1000 ohms)!!!

Again, your best bet is Motorcraft double or finewire platinums!

 

[exbass94]

Aren't Motorcraft plugs made by Autolite?

 

[Hardwareman]

That's what I'm going to run as soon as I pull my motor to stop the oil leaks and give it a tune up. I've pretty much always ran Autolite Platinums in my 4-banger (2.3) without any problems. I don't know if they're made by Motorcraft though.

I run these because the Motorcraft platinums are like $5.00 a piece and I've got 8 plugs to do........lol




Allen

 

[almostclueless]

People place far too much importance on plugs and wires. For wires, you need ones that don't pull apart when you remove them. That's all. "Noise suppression," 8mm, whatever, don't make a Sam Hill worth of difference.

The spark plugs job is to make an arc. Copper is more conductive than platinum or iridium, but not enough to make a difference. Platinum is harder, so it lasts longer, but 50,000 miles is PERFECTLY FINE for conventional plugs. That's not at all "rapid erosion." Mulitple arcs are a gimmick; they do not work as advertised. Only one arc fires at a time.

The downside of platinum plugs is that they last SO long that they are far too often frozen in the heads. 100,000 miles is ten years worth of corrosion for many folks. The risk of breaking the spark plug on extraction or damaging the heads is much higher. Especially on #3 if you have air conditioning and a V6.

I agree with the vast majority of that....though these RBVs need some TINY amount of noise supression, or there's a good chance the PCM could go nuts if it picks up any ignition signal thru one of it's sensor's wiring.


As for the plugs seizing in their holes, if we were all better mechanics, we'd use a dab of antiseize on a lot of threads LOL

 

[Bob Ayers]

Aren't Motorcraft plugs made by Autolite?

Both are made by Honeywell, an Allied Signal company.

 

[VaGent]

I agree with the vast majority of that....though these RBVs need some TINY amount of noise supression, or there's a good chance the PCM could go nuts if it picks up any ignition signal thru one of it's sensor's wiring.


As for the plugs seizing in their holes, if we were all better mechanics, we'd use a dab of antiseize on a lot of threads LOL

I have used antiseize on many many applications over the years. I am in total favor of it myself under certain applications. I was told once upon a time I was crazy for applying to the threads of my plugs. That "was" until the person who told me that came to me for help to remove the #3 plug in his a/c equipped Ranger that he had broken off the tip of the plug. And I just had to ask the question: who's crazy as hell now huh? LOL That guy has been using antiseize ever since. Can't imagine why can you? Everything has it's proper place & use no matter what it is.

 

[vrruumm]

Nice diagram, much easier than trying to explain the schematic. If I remember correctly, isn't it the passenger side that corrodes the electrode 5 times as fast as the driver's side?

Also, I seem to remember pulling alot of OE plugs that were double plat on one bank and cheap non plat on the other bank. I beleive they were installed like this from the factory. It is entirely possible that I am thinking of a different dis system though.