All About Spark Plugs
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- čas přidán 7. 12. 2016
- Maintenance expert and EAA Sport Aviation columnist Mike Busch, A&P/IA, will discuss fine-wire versus massive-electrode plugs, heat ranges, cleaning, gapping, rotating, measuring internal resistance, ignition system performance evaluation, etc. Savvy Aviation offers Professional Maintenance Services to owners of General Aviation aircraft, such as: Savvy Mx (Professional Maintenance Management), Savvy QA (Expert Consulting), Savvy Prebuy, SavvyAnalysis (Engine Data Analysis) and Savvy Breakdown Assistance. For more info see savvyaviation.com and www.sportys.com/pilotshop/spor.... This channel offers videos about those services, and webinars hosted by Mike Busch which were produced by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and sponsored by Aircraft Spruce and Specialty.
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I remember years and years ago my dad and I used only Champion plugs in our cars but now I use anything but Champion.
Outstanding video. Everything I ever wanted to know about spark plugs. Thank you
Love your videos! So much great information!
Very good and concise info especially for a new guy like me. Thank you
Great Information Thanks for the webinar
Very informative. Like the video.
A question. Many of the webinars accompanying slide presentation is of fairly poor quality. Have you considered redubbing the audio to an updated / better quality slide presentation? It just an annoying detail, since in most of the presentations the smaller test is barely or not legible.
The answer to your question 4 years ago is . . . no
Good talk, when I saw my Harbor Freight plug cleaner on the slide at 22:30 I about fell out of my chair. Kind of hit me like the torbo-encabulator video. THAT kind of humor...though it works fine, other than the mess, which must be CAREFULLY and completely cleaned out of the plug, and the fact that it takes all the coatings off of the plug, which is probably not good. New plugs are not THAT expensive, especially NON AVIATION ones. ;-)
Is there a resistance spec for the ignition leads, similar to the spec for the spark plug resistor? Seams like it would be a good idea to look at the resistance of the plug and lead in total to insure it doesn't exceed a specified maximum amount. Especially when you find out you've removed a plug that (drastically) exceeds the 5000 ohm limit. BTW, I like the flat side of the washer against the cylinder because it offers more surface area on the softer aluminum, which in my mind is less likely to create distortion at the top of the threads. I've looked for a recommendation too and can't find one. Thanks!
Is it possible that the resistor in Champions need to be ohm measured at temperature. Or is really bad quality?
Maybe the champion plugs resistor is being damaged because of improper cleaning. If its unsealed and you clean the barrel end with a solvent it could damage it?
In a champion plug manual ibthink it says never clean the barrel end of the plug with a solvent.
Edit, I describe the barrel end as in where the ignition harness screws on if 'barrel' is incorrect terminology
A "tarnish" will form inside the barrel of the spark plug. Use Scotch Brite to remove it. The spark will usually go through it but it will make the resistance check to be high. Also, on the spark end if the spark plug a film, like a tarnish, will also form on the electrode and ground lugs, from the combustion in the cylinder. This will also make the resistance check read high. You MUST remove the tarnish inside the barrel and on the electrodes otherwise you will be trashing perfectly good spark plugs. To clean the electrodes I use a rotating wire brush on a grinder, instead of the grinding wheel, and polish the electrodes. This also helps to remove any sharp points on the ground electrodes. I also found that it is much better to use a very fine glass bead with a standard blasting cabinet to clean the spark plugs. There are many times a thin film of lead that will build up on the insulator of the spark plug that is NOT removed by the standard media, as you have mentioned. Sometimes a spark plug will not work correctly, even with good resistance, unless you completely remove all of the discoloration from the insulator. Also, it is almost impossible to remove all of the lead buildup in the spark plugs, between the insulator and the steel shell of the spark plug, especially directly below the ground lugs if they are not cleaned with a bead blaster. Since I have been using the preceding procedures, I have had much better results with the spark plugs, far fewer spark plug failures between servicing. I also use only Tempest Spark Plugs for the reason that you do not use Champion Spark Plugs. Happy Flying!!!
very good
Outstanding web inarticulate, very informative
Is the information about the Champion plugs (bad resisters) still relevant? Thanks.
Tempest has very good literature about spark plug care on their website. To give the best ohm meter reading and eliminate the high resistance corrosion layer on the aluminum center contact inside the spark plug, clean with scotch brite and wd-40. Use a rotating wire wheel to clean the threads and end of the spark plug. Dip the thread end of the spark plug in ACF-50 or Corrosion X and put it into the barrel and then let it drain and dry before installing the spark plugs into the engine. Failing to clean the inside and electrodes can give you a false high reading. We use Tempest spark plugs, we do not like the Champions for exactly what you said. Also, we have had Champion spark plugs have combustion gasses leak into the barrel and destroy the ignition lead. The only work I do on Slick Magnetos, when they go bad, is to replace them with Bendix. We prefer to use only TCM / Bendix Magnetos. It is a very good idea to use a high voltage lead tester annually or after a couple spark plug changes / servicing, about 200 to 300 hours. We have replaced leads that looked as good as new, but did not pass the Lead Test, they must have had damage inside. We use the Copper Anti-Seize. We do not like the Champion Compound on the threads. We have had the spark plugs seize in the threads with the Champion compound but never with using an Anti-Seize, aluminum or copper and this helps to reduce the high resistance of carbon building up on the threads which happens if they are installed dry or with the Champion compound. We find that our Lycoming Engines run more smoothly with the Tempest spark plugs. We have found that the most often failure in Magnetos is that the Magnet gets weak. A weak magnet in the DUAL Magnetos makes the entire engine run rough. That is not a comfortable in flight situation, IF the engine will even start. Another great webinar.
great info!! However the slides are effectively useless due to the poor upload quality. Thank you however!
Brilliant video thank u
I had to toss all my champion plugs out of the 8 I think 3 were under 5K ohms. I use tempest now.
Just changed the plugs in my 172 from Champion to Tempest (first change after overhaul, done at annual). On examination, I found that the Champion did not have the slot in the surface as described here. I had heard that Champion is /has redesigned their spark plugs, which this seems to indicate. Any new findings/data since this change?
Too soon to tell. They have redesigned the plugs, as you mention. Hopefully the new ones are better.
Just measured the resistance(I know my stuff) on 8 Champion Plugs of questionable history from a high time Lycoming 360, the previous owner was a little tight too: RESULTS:
1T-1.6K, 1B-open, 2T-13K, 2B-open, 3T-155K, 3B-5.5K, 4T-4K, 4B-7K. Unbelievable. I knew the engine ran a tad off(it got better with the addition of El.Ignition), with the mixture never even, but it's never been rebuilt - original @ 40yo. Installed Tempest 38 fine wires today so lets see how it goes...
How do you feel about the Tempests?
@@jayanthkumar7964
Great! No issues.
Pull the red knob until the engine starts to die and carefully thread back in to desired roughness...LOL ! Navion E-225-4 Bendix fuel injected, runs happily at 10 to 10.5 gph.
Tempest fine wire insulators SUCK! On our planes, we would go through plugs like mad.
Note to self... dont buy Champions. Do buy Tempest.
About the cost vs duration of the massive / wire electrodes plugs. *if* it is the same cost on a long time, it is better to get the cheapest: for a given period of time, if the lifetime is 4 times as long, the more expensive will be an "old" one during a long time, but the cheapest one will be "new" 4 times...
you didn't mention labor to change plugs, on some radials there have been people install fine wires on the backside of cylinders and leave them in till tbo of engine because of such hard access......good until broken :)
Man, I'm definitely not trying to offend, and the narrator seems to REALLY know his stuff, but his style of speaking is extremely difficult for me to listen to. Too many.......uuuhhhh.......um.....um.,..........................................uh...................um................... ............................... consider discarding plugs with...................................uh........uh...........more than...................................um umuhhh around uh..........................................5 thousand uh..........um ohms.
Everyone has a different presentation style. Live with it or don't listen. I talk normally without a hitch, but under broadcast, I have my flaws...we are all waiting to hear YOUR broadcast.
@@ndav8r you're going to be waiting for a long time.