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Diamond Fire E3 spark plugs

Like I said, copper refers to the CORE, not the entire center wire. Copper IS NOT exposed to the combustion chamber. It would be like the movie "Gone in 60 seconds".

I did not elaborate on the alloy of steel used on most copper core plugs, but it is not pure nickel.

Something else you need to be aware of. The platinum tip originally was only on the firing electrode. That is not always the center electrode. On engines with coil packs, like ours, half of the engine fires from the center electrode to the side wire, while the other half of the engine fires with reverse polarity. When Ford first introduced platinum plugs for common use, it was on a coil pack engine. The factory installed plugs had the platinum button on the firing electrode only. Half of the plugs had the platinum button on the center wire, and half of them had the platinum button on the side wire. Replacement plugs were dual platinum, with a platinum button on each tip to make them idiot proof so that they would not be accidentally installed in the wrong cylinder.

Platinum is not the only long life metal for spark plugs as you know. Iridium is getting more and more common, often with platinum on one tip and iridium on the other.

The biggest concern on plug life is the metal on the firing electrode. The receiving tip is not as critical, as it is the firing tip that erodes away with use. That is why single platinum plugs (with steel alloy side wires) work well and last well on engines that all cylinders fire conventionally.

Back to the original topic. I still view plasma plugs as snake oil. The dyno figures are not significant. The variance is within statistical range. What snake oil companies often do, is pay for several double blind tests until they find one in which they came out on top and then they publish that while ignoring the rest. Even if the test has validity and integrity, the difference just isn't significant.
 
FunInNorthDakota said:
That table didnt say anything about autolites. The autolites ran about a dollar less a piece at the parts store, but I bought those cause they had them on hand and I was working harvest and didnt know when the next day I would be able to go to town to the parts store is.
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I was referring to their claim of being Iridiums when they are really only a smart part iridium.
 
Dyoel182 said:
I was referring to their claim of being Iridiums when they are really only a smart part iridium.
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they are as much iridium as any other plug. I use iridium for their wear characteristics. My original point was that iridium plugs will not make horsepower.

Yeah Big Jim I was aware that the oems are not full platinum plugs. Most plug comanies sell platinums, which are platinum center electrode nickle ground electrode, Double platinums, which have platinum on the center electrode and ground electrode, iridiums, which are generally iridium center electrode and a nickle or platinum ground electrode, although some companies also sell plugs made with a double iridium construction. Other than that you have your standard copper plugs and some specialty companies also sell silver plugs.

Once again though, I still believe that none of the aftermarket "performance" plugs will add ponies to your engine. Those plasma plugs are about the biggest buncha sillyness I have ever heard of though. Supposedly they use a capacitor inside the plug to create a shorter stronger spark. I cant see how this would make any difference, especially with modern engines where you have multiple sparks during every firing cycle of each plug, ie, each plug fires several times to ignite the fuel air mix instead of just once. Creating a more powerful spark is less important than the fact that the plug creates multiple sparks. I find it more likely that the shorter spark, even though it is "hotter" would cause you to burn less of your fuel as there would be less time available to ignite the fuel. Although the difference would probably be miniscule anyways.
Once again, if a company like ferrari takes the time to index plugs at the factory, why wouldnt they spend a few bucks extra for each plug to get those "PLASMA MIRACLE PLUG"

I will probably buy a set of plasma plugs for my contour about the same day that I go out to pick up my new electric supercharger, intake tornado, E-Bay 20hp IAT mod, and some of those miracle fuel additives
 
FunInNorthDakota said:
they are as much iridium as any other plug. I use iridium for their wear characteristics. My original point was that iridium plugs will not make horsepower.
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No they arent. They are "iridium enhanced" and aren't classified as an iridium plug like the NGK or Denso. As for iridium plugs not making more power, dyno charts prove that they do make more power over a regular copper or platinum plug.
 
Dyoel182 said:
No they arent. They are "iridium enhanced" and aren't classified as an iridium plug like the NGK or Denso. As for iridium plugs not making more power, dyno charts prove that they do make more power over a regular copper or platinum plug.
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do you just make this stuff up on the spot or are you deluded?
 
I only repeat what I read. Here is the quote for you: "The primary iridium plug manufacturers at this time are Denso with a 0.4mm center electrode, while Champion and NGK have 0.7mm center electrodes. These are the best performance plugs on the market for traditional automotive use and many racing applications. Autolite has introduced an iridium-enhanced plug (the iridium content is too low to call it an iridium plug) so we do not consider this in the same class as Denso, NGK or Champion."
 
Its from SparkPlugs.com who also has the dyno sheets showing the performance differences for one plug over the other.
 
This is a great conversation. I'm glad i found this.:cool:

I agree that many sparkplugs are snake oil. I don't really find a difference between them in the end. My double plat motorcraft plugs work great and have always worked great on all my cars.

I know people on this site mention ngk iriduims often. I don't really know if they work that great for NA cars.

THe srt-4 was measured with a FI car. That being said, certain plugs work better with specific fuel powered vehicles. SInce that is a given i don't see how different plugs can be universally used to gain power output.:shrug:
I guess in the end, stick with what works. IF you want to upgrade, upgrade your ignition system if you really believe spark plugs make that much of a difference. Because i'd rather spend that 70 dollars for 6 iriduim spark plugs somewhere else.:cool:
 
The accuracy of a dyno test back to back with different types of plugs? Yes I'll admit dyno runs can vary from run to run but if you look at the other tests they've done with other cars you'll see that some plugs do make more power than others.
 
Diamond E3

Diamond E3

Back to the original question: Are diamond E3's any good? Well, here is a quote from my personal experience:

Some of you may remember I was testing E3's in my contour, on the CLAIM that it was better gas mileage - well, I did see an slight improvement over the Autolite's I had in for 60K, at first. Then, Monday, I went to start the car, and it shuddered and stalled. Hmmm... Well, long story short, replaced the fuel filter (it was time anyway), checked the fuel pressure and spark, both looked fine. Pulled the plugs (I checked the spark by pulling a few wires and testing with the autolite's I still had) and low and behold, NO platinum left on the surface ring, and they were completely fouled. Cleaned up the autolite's, put them back in, and the car fired up. I'm going to run over and grab a new set of the autolite XP's tomorrow.

Hope this helps someone.

I didn't get 10K out of them. Your mileage may very, and maybe your Duratec won't do that, but I wouldn't risk it again.
 
E3 in a chainsaw

E3 in a chainsaw

I just put one in a McCullough chain saw that is notorious for fouling plugs. I went for the E3 after getting a guarantee that if it fouled, I can bring it back to Checker for a new one. I started up the Eager Beaver 2.3 after sitting all winter in a couple of pulls, which is outstanding for that little 2 cycle. I can justify one plug for experimentation purposes, plus it's far easier to get to than the Mystique's 6 plugs.
 
Mazdaspeed6 guys ran into trouble running Pulstar plugs.... they'd run fine initially but one or more would invariably foul and fail. Pulstar would send a new set but similar results would follow. They eventually blamed it on the MS6's ignition being too hot but I really doubt it.
I concur with Big Jim's recommendation. (Mazda6club site if your interested)
 
Not sure how a hot ignition would foul a plug since its usually weak ignition systems that cant burn off the crap that end up fouling.
 
Dyoel182 said:
Not sure how a hot ignition would foul a plug since its usually weak ignition systems that cant burn off the crap that end up fouling.
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Any time a snake oil company is confronted with "it didn't work on my car" the response eventually is "it doesn't work on XXXXXX cars". Fill in the XXXXXX with whatever car you are complaining about. Often though, the first response is "what did you do wrong?"
 
couple people on the probe forums i'm on are raving about these plugs in their turbo probes...i guess we'll see what they say in 10~k miles.
 
I'd be willing to bet if you swapped them with a NGK plug in the middle of the night they wouldnt notice a difference.
 
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