Sparks Breaking??!

[cortez]

Has anyone else had this issue. 2017 Axys, SLP stage 2 kit. Problem started last year at around 1500km at the end of a ride, all the sudden i lost one cylinder, pulled the plugs and the mag side plug was broken, ceramic body was loose from rest of the body. Replaced the plugs and all was good again. This has now become a recurring issue, happened again around Christmas time - exact same scenario. Lost mag cylinder mid-ride, plug was broken in the same manner. New plugs put in, 5 rides later and it starts happening again. Most recently i was intermittently losing ignition on one cylinder, pulled the plugs and the mag side plug gap had opened up to probably 0.070" from the recommended gap of 0.027". On close inspection it wasn't the ground electrode pulling back from the center electrode from excessive heat like can happen sometimes - its the center electrode & ceramic insulator body actually pulling back (upward) out of the body of the plug. Has anyone EVER heard of this or seen this before? This has now happened 4 times in the last 1000km, sled runs flawless until this starts to rear its head. Swap plugs and its back to normal again. Only ever the mag side plug. See photos for comparison of 2 plugs, these are 3 rides old and the mag side as starting to crap out.

 

[MKULTRA]

2 in one day last week. One on each cylinder. Had at least 2 fail like that last year also.

Everyone keep saying it's a bad batch of ngk plugs. Try champion or new ngk stock.


Time will tell for me if it do it again.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

2 in one day last week. One on each cylinder. Had at least 2 fail like that last year also.

Everyone keep saying it's a bad batch of ngk plugs. Try champion or new ngk stock.


Time will tell for me if it do it again.

Yep ngk has been sucking lately.

5-10 plugs I know of.

I’m currently trying the E3 plugs.
We’ll see.

 

[Zrider]

Good old NGK(the No Good Kind). A bad batch is highly possible. One of the local turbo gents here in the Reno area had a box of NGK's a couple years back that weren't worth a s***. He tossed the box and I think went with Champs. A plug switch would definitely be in order.

 

[MTN Powderhound]

Had that happen last year on my 16. Was the mag side also. Only happened the one time.(1500 miles) Heard about more doing the same thing this year. Worth a try doin a plug brand switch.

 

[o2bncamo]

There are a lot of fake NGK's out there. This is a link right from NGK's website. http://www.ngk-sparkplugs.jp/english/techinfo/fake/index.html
Just putting the info out there. I have received counterfeit ones from amazon.

 

[cortez]

thanks for the input guys, I will see about alternate plugs. I have been getting these NGK's from my local dealer.

 

[Zrider]

thanks for the input guys, I will see about alternate plugs. I have been getting these NGK's from my local dealer.

If you haven't already done so, you should take them back to the dealer and let him know what is going on, so he can at least pass the info on to his supplier. Maybe some of his other customers have had the same problem.

 

[Reg2view]

Plugs in pic are counterfeits. Base, lot ID size and placement, Japan insignia, gasket are all giveaways.

 

[cortez]

Plugs in pic are counterfeits. Base, lot ID size and placement, Japan insignia, gasket are all giveaways.

Interesting - I wouldn't know how to differentiate real from fake NGK plugs but I wouldn't rule it out either!

 

[BeartoothBaron]

Definitely possible they're fake, but they're darn good fakes if that's the case. The only thing I see that's different from the picture on NGK's website is the marks on the band just above the thread are / / / / instead of | | | |. Going off this: https://www.ngk.com/product.aspx?zpid=9504; can't remember off-hand if and of the pile of NGKs I've had over the years had the / / / / markings. The best way to tell a fake is if you have a genuine one on hand; even pictures can be deceiving (the plug in the link above is a BP8ES, not BPR9ES, which may explain the different marks on the metal band). Fonts and colors that don't match and clear differences in shapes are common give-aways. Amazon and eBay are known problem areas for such fakes; dealers and auto parts houses are probably your best bet, but anything's possible these days. Still, there was a thread around a year ago with people having problems, and pretty sure most of them were genuine plugs. I'd have to say NGK aren't what they used to be.

 

[GreenState]

I've had the same thing happen a number of time with the 9ES plugs, just switched to the IEX plugs since they supposedly have a higher heat range, but two days ago the ceramic let go on one of those too. The other plug at the same time lost the threaded on electrode into the plug boot after the tiny threads stripped out. Ended up having to cut the plug boot in half to get it out of there.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

I've had the same thing happen a number of time with the 9ES plugs, just switched to the IEX plugs since they supposedly have a higher heat range, but two days ago the ceramic let go on one of those too. The other plug at the same time lost the threaded on electrode into the plug boot after the tiny threads stripped out. Ended up having to cut the plug boot in half to get it out of there.

Any spark plug with the threaded on piece needs crimped with a pair of side cutters.
(So it doesn’t fall off)

 

[diamonddave]

Yep. And loctitie

 

[DITCHBANGER]

Broke a BPR9EIX plug today. same thing ,the ceramic broke inside and the plug ceramic can slide up and down. 1st time that has happened in 30 yrs. WIll try to get a champion plugs.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

I’m running E3 plugs with good luck.
(200 miles so far)

 

[DITCHBANGER]

Broke another today, this time NGK BPR9ES, so bought some Champion RN57YCC. Now if one of them break something funky going on then

 

[05rmksteve]

I had some champion plugs do the same thing last year.

 

[XC500mod]

I have never seen this before. This year we had a 16 800 blow the ceramic off. At the same time my other buddy has ‘19 850 with a silber on 5 lbs of boost. One day he blew the ceramic off 3-4 times. Then he didn’t for 4 days a bad batch makes sense.

 

[BeartoothBaron]

What is going on that they can't even get a simple spark plug right anymore? I'll digress a little here, but about the only non-resistor plugs (as OE spec'd) you can get for the older Mercedes of mine are occasional runs from MB. NGK, Bosch, and others substitute resistor plugs that are "just as good" except that they burn out expensive ignition components if you run them long enough. I've got an old Bosch set I've been hoarding, but it's a true case of whether you want to have your cake or eat it. Here's where it swerves back on topic: NGK was the holdout for non-resistor plugs, but they seem to be drying up, and half of the last set I pulled from my car (with <10,000 miles on them) measured out at several kilo-ohms, so they were burning up internally. So it seems like the companies making spark plugs are happy to sell you an incorrect spark plug, and not even build it to last.

Fortunately, I've yet to have one break up on my sled. That could be because I've bought several sets and not used them right away; I can't remember when I bought the pair that's in it now (NGK BPR9EIX). I recently picked up a pair of Champion plugs because that's the OE spec, and I read some good reports of them over the NGKs, but now I wonder if those are no better based on Steve's experience. So the question is, what spark plug is left that hasn't suffered an unexplained failure? Should take some serious abuse to bust up a quality spark plug, where it seems like most of these failures are completely normal use.