[AT] B Allis (spark plugs)

[Ronald L. Cook]

Not exactly.  This is aircraft application again and I apologize for 
that, however, I removed a set of Champions as they were getting worn 
down and replaced them with the same Champion plug.  I had nothing but 
trouble!  Pulled them out with under 100 hrs on them and put in a set of 
new old military surplus plugs I had to get by while my order for 
another set of new Champions came in.  Keep in mind that these things 
are over 20 bucks apiece and I use 18 of them.  Some conversations with 
some cropduster friends of mine revealed they had all had problems with 
the Champion massive electrode sparkplugs and most had switched to 
iridium plugs.  $42 each.  I talked with my supplier and he said he had 
heard of no one having any trouble and suggested I install iridium 
anyway and return the faulty plugs to Champion.  They would test them 
and replace any faulty plugs.  I bought and installed the iridium plugs 
which were fine.  I sent in the faulty plugs and never heard of them 
again.  By the way, the threads on those plugs were funny too.  Very 
hard to get started in the holes.  Champions are so far on the bottom of 
my list of preferred plugs that you can hardly see them.  I do have to 
run some Champions in another aircraft engine as they are the only 
manufacturer currently making new plugs for that particular engine.  30 
bucks apiece.  12 in that engine.

At least most of my John Deeres only use two sparkplugs per engine. 
They all have Autolite in them.  My Willys still have Champion J8 plugs 
in most of them, but I no longer have those on the shelf, so when they 
get replaced they will be replaced with a different brand, I suppose.  I 
usually think the problems are related to fuel, carburation, ignition 
system health, etc.  And I believe that is usually the case.  But when 
you pull out plugs and replace them as a matter of routine maintenance 
and things immediately go haywire with nothing else changed, it has to 
be the fault of the plug as far as I can tell.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA

George Willer wrote:

> Gil,
> 
> I think you've hit the nail on the head!!!  Possibly Champions are the most
> likely old plug to be giving trouble... just because there are a lot of
> them.  When replacing an old fouled plug with a new one the new one gets
> credit for being better, since it fixes the problem.  That's how old wives
> tales are born!
> 
> The brand name written on the side of the plug doesn't really have much to
> do with how well the plug works if it's the right specification for the
> application.
> 
> George Willer