Platinum or Iridium Plugs for OPE?

Originally Posted By: dwendt44
Quote:
a mechanic told me that since it didn't come with iridium plugs that the wiring was not right for using iridium plugs. He said to stay with what the owner's manual said. I didn't know if he was right or wrong.

He was blowing smoke.
I've installed iridium plugs in several engines that called
for plain old copper plugs. No problems. I gap to original specs.


My 2¢


There's a vague possibility the mechanic has a point if the iridium nugget is only on one electrode, and it's the wrong one for the polarity of the magneto. If this is the case, it'd just wear the non-iridium side at the same rate as a copper plug. It may still outlive the rest of the machine.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro_Guy
Originally Posted By: SilverFusion2010
Changing the plug turned out to be a legitimate repair. The torch plug has a large crack in the insulator.

Good to know - my Champion 3500 Watt generator has a Torch plug in it. Did you happen to notice any difference in the way it started?


I actually haven’t run that unit yet but my brothers 7kw predator started first pull after plug change and then we proceeded to run his house with it for the pre hurricane season load test. Ran fine. His did not have a crack in the insulator, but did have the wrong plug installed from factory. It was one heat range colder than specified by the OM.

I’ll test the little generator this weekend.
 
Quote:
There's a vague possibility the mechanic has a point if the iridium nugget is only on one electrode, and it's the wrong one for the polarity of the magneto. If this is the case, it'd just wear the non-iridium side at the same rate as a copper plug. It may still outlive the rest of the machine.

IIRC, that was a reference to the platinum plugs.
Iridium plugs have to iridium on both ends.


My 2¢
 
Originally Posted By: dwendt44
Quote:
There's a vague possibility the mechanic has a point if the iridium nugget is only on one electrode, and it's the wrong one for the polarity of the magneto. If this is the case, it'd just wear the non-iridium side at the same rate as a copper plug. It may still outlive the rest of the machine.

IIRC, that was a reference to the platinum plugs.
Iridium plugs have to iridium on both ends.


My 2¢


^^^ nice. good info.
 
I recently replaced the original Champion RC12YC plugs in my John Deere D140 (B&S 724 cc V-Twin) with NGK BCPR5EIX Iridium plugs. That was a warm day prior to mowing season. It seemed to me that that the motor sounded better at idle. The original plugs had sort of a tinny sound at idle. I chalked this up to wishful thinking and an overactive imagination.

Tonight I fired up the mower and engaged the blades for about 10 minutes of cutting. While parking the machine and letting it cool down at idle, it still sounded better. Is this my imagination, or it it possible that there was some premature detonation going on with the original plugs? I am tempted to put them back in just to see if I have been imagining this.
 
The bcpr5eix are one step hotter than the champions I believe. OPE carbs tend to be set on the rich side. Or it could just be a stronger spark from the fine wire iridium plug vs the copper/nickel champions.
 
Originally Posted By: lars11
I have not tried iridium plugs on ope but you are stating that the plug change somehow improves fuel consumption in a snow blower. Since you are running it att full throttle and there is no feedback or connection between the ignition and carb that is simply impossible unless the plugs allows you to run it at lower RPM (which I doubt, did you reduce throttle?) The carb will feed exactly the same amount of fuel to the engine at a certain rpm regardless of plug. Unless you snowblower is equipped with a full ECM this is unreasonable and more likely a seat of the pants situation. Sorry, but that is likely it.
About the tarting though, that's interesting! MAybe I will try those plugs to ease starting!


Its called misfire count, your comment assumes none are taking place. Read my post you would see I said it blew black smoke coming off idle.
The engine runs pig rich due to its non adjustable carb, any misfire count above zero waste fuel. A lower firing voltage requirement and better spark greatly reduces the chance of misfire.

Many cars use multiple ground plugs to reduce the chance of misfire that could load the cat with unburned wasted fuel and damage the cat. It can be hard to notice a low misfire count but if its there you will notice a difference in fuel economy.
 
The BKR5EIX looks to be the iridium NGK replacement for Champion RC12YC, correct? I thought someone on this thread said it was one step colder?
 
Or "how to"....tyo into google " heat range spark plugs" and choose pictures
smile.gif
 
I bought an el-cheapo Homelite 2-stroke trimmer. Before I even filled it with fuel for the first time, I removed the [censored] Torch plug it came with and installed a standard NGK. Starts and runs great and plug should last the life of the engine.
 
I ordered an Autolite Xtreme Start XST458DP for my 6.0hp Briggs and Stratton on my Log Splitter. I'll update if it helps with cold starts. If nothing else it should run equal to the Champion in there now.
 
My Briggs/craftsman power washer is a dog to start at times. To the point I need starter fluid to get it running. Although I only use it 5 times a year and it's at least 6 years old. I don't know if the carb is gummed up. I do run it out of gas at the end of the season when storing. The plug is original. This season I ran my own ethanol free fuel. I've ran power foam through the carb.
 
I have never really worn out spark plugs in 4cycle ope. When i bought a smaller generator, it came with some torch spark plug. I had not heard of this brand. I did not want a spark plug failure during an outage, so i replaced it with an NGK (6637) BPR6EIX which is iridium.

Have not run it much, but seems to start easy.
 
Do the plugs need to be replaced? If the plugs need to be replaced use oem types.
 
Originally Posted by ARB1977
My Briggs/craftsman power washer is a dog to start at times. To the point I need starter fluid to get it running. Although I only use it 5 times a year and it's at least 6 years old. I don't know if the carb is gummed up. I do run it out of gas at the end of the season when storing. The plug is original. This season I ran my own ethanol free fuel. I've ran power foam through the carb.

Adjust your valve lash...
 
Originally Posted by CT8
Do the plugs need to be replaced? If the plugs need to be replaced use oem types.

So if your OPE comes with a Chinese TORCH sparkplug...you can only change it with a another TORCH sparkplug?
smile.gif
LoL
 
Originally Posted by Kamele0N
Originally Posted by CT8
Do the plugs need to be replaced? If the plugs need to be replaced use oem types.

So if your OPE comes with a Chinese TORCH sparkplug...you can only change it with a another TORCH sparkplug?
smile.gif
LoL


OMG
shocked2.gif
! that's exactly what happened to me. I changed my Torch spark plug in my snow blower for an NGK, It didn't work afterwards
frown.gif
. I'm sure it had NOTHING to due with the carb being plugged due the ethanol fuel I'm forced to use in NJ
crackmeup2.gif
. In all seriousness the NGK plug actually makes starting the snowblower a bit easier. They are both the standard OPE nickel, iron, copper plug from yesteryear. The NGK costs $2.30 at AAP the Torch costs $7.15 plus shipping and handling
crazy2.gif
.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted by Kamele0N
Originally Posted by CT8
Do the plugs need to be replaced? If the plugs need to be replaced use oem types.

So if your OPE comes with a Chinese TORCH sparkplug...you can only change it with a another TORCH sparkplug?
smile.gif
LoL
Originally Posted by Whimsey
In all seriousness the NGK plug actually makes starting the snowblower a bit easier.
After starting this thread in March, I replaced six OEM plugs in five machines with NGK Iridium plugs. The plugs that came out, all your basic Copper type, included some Champion, NGK, and the dreaded Torch. Of all these machines, an Ariens snow blower with the 254cc AX engine and a Torch plug has shown the greatest improvement. This machine will at least fire if not outright start on the first pull. Prior to this it was essentially an electric start only sort of beast.

Another machine with a Torch plug was a 3500 Watt Champion generator. I cannot honestly say if this machine is starting any easier, but it starts easily and runs well. Good enough in my book!

Initially I had made a mistake with a Honda push mower that came equipped with an NGK "5" heat range plug. The manual said it was "6" so that is where I started. All was well in the summer months, but things went south in the cooler fall weather. Chopping leaves in 35 degree weather required a full minute of full choke before the engine would run with the choke wide open. After replacing that plug with the proper heat range, everything returned to normal.
 
Back
Top