HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-10-25, Page 41Plugs Every 10,000 Miles
A spark plug may look
good to the casual observer
after 15,000, 20,000 or even
30,000 miles.
So . why change plugs
after 10,000 miles of use
in your family car?
There's a good reason
according to `experts. The
10,000 mile change recom-
mendation is not actually
based on the fact that
spark plugs are "worn out"
in the strictest sense after
10,000 miles of service.
This figure — selected
after extensive spark plug
life tests — merely repre-
sents a safety factor be-
yond which plugs may
misfire under the sudden
demands of peak acceler-
ation or extremely heavy
load.
Gas Economy Drops
It also represents the
point at which gas econ-
omy begins to drop. In
addition, the car is harder
to start, power is lost in
passing.
A spark plug is con-
sidered worn out when it
reaches the point where it
is likely to misfire — re-
gardless of its appearance.
And, contrary to popular
opinion, misfiring doesn't
necessarily mean the plug
didn't create a spark. It
means supply that the
plug failed to ignite the
gasoline properly—wheth-
er a spark was produced
or not!
A new spark plug with
the correct gap setting
needs about 5,000 volts to
fire. However, as the plug
remains in service; con-
stant heat and chemical
attack plus electrical ero-
sion cause the gap to be-
come wider, thus increas-
ing the amount of voltage
to fire the plug.
Gap Gets -Wider
Spark plug gap growth
occurs at a rate of about
.001 inch for each 1,000
miles of driving. Conse-
quently, a set of plugs that
has been in service for
10,000 miles generally will
have gaps that are about
.010 inch wider than the
original settings and
higher voltage is needed
to make them spark.
And, this is only for
normal driving, Operating
the engine at very high
speed can decrease the
amount of coil voltage
available to fire the spark
plugs by 30 to 40 percent!
Accelerating to pass on a
highway may practically
double the voltage burden
on the spark plug.
Needs More Voltage
That's why misfiring is
first noticed while accel-
erating because it's here
that the plugs actually
can require more voltage
to produce a spark than
the ignition system is ca-
pable of producing 4-- es-
pecially if the plugs are
badly worn.
Remember, as plugs re-
main in service, more volt-
age is needed to make
them spark. As the ignition
system ages, its ability
to produce high voltage
lessens. If the point is
reached where the spark
plugs require more voltage
to spark than the system
can produce, the spark
plugs misfire.
Can't Get Started
Servicing or replacing
the car battery may not
be the answer to a car's
winter starting 'woes. ,
That's what a high per-
centage of motorists
learned when they experi-
enced starting failure -and
sought to correct it solely
through attention to the
battery.
According too a hard -
starting survey conducted
by Champion Spark Plug
Company last winter, re-
peated failure was experi-
enced by 38.9 per of
car owners who had their
batteries charged after
initial `can't starts."
Of those motorists in-
-stalling- a new battery af-
ter not starting, 25.9 per
cent had at least one other
failure.
When car owners treat-
ed starting woes with en-
gine tune-up, they had
better success in forestall-
ing future problems, the
survey showed. Rate of re-
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peat can't starts was 14.6
per cent after a tune-up.
Installation of new spark
plugs alone was a better
answer to starting trouble
than battery service since
18.7 per cent had' addi-
tional problerris with new-
plugs.
The survey also revealed
hard starting continues to
be the leading problem
confronting motorists. In
the U.S., 29 per cent of
owners reported at least
one failure last winter. In
Canada, 30 per cent had
trouble.
Cold weather was not
solely to blame for start-
ing trouble. Warm weather
regions in the U.S. were
only slightly below the
national average in re-
ported
"can't starts."
In Pacific Coast states,
27 per cent of car owners
surveyed had at least one
failure while the South
Atlantic states had a 28
per cent "can't start" rate.
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