Pulstar pulse plugs.....good or bad??

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As I understand it the spark only starts the air / fuel combustion process. Once the flame is lit the spark plugs job is done.
So if a lower voltage spark (comparatively speaking) is capable of lighting the mixture how is a higher voltage spark of any advantage?
I can understand if the engine is in poor tune or has a mechanical malfunction it might be advantageous but otherwise it seems like a an unnecessary excess.

Do you need a flame thrower to light a candle when a match will do?
 
We've had capacitive discharge ignition systems available for YEARS in the aftermarket, primarily used in high compression/forced induction/nitrous applications on drag cars. I run an MSD 6A box on my Town Car, which is a CD-type ignition. Moving the capacitor from a computerized box to INSIDE the spark plug doesn't really sound like the brightest of ideas.

You can have all the AVAILABLE power in your ignition system you want; The stock OE Ford TFI ignition was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 38,000 volts and I don't remember the current delivery figure, but is enough to fire even a relatively high compression street engine with ease. This is still overkill by a substantial margin for most traditional I/C engines.

You need enough available voltage and current to bridge the gap on the plug during the point of high pressure (dependent upon camshaft timing, my 302 is ~190psi cranking with ~9.5:1 compression) and this is normally eclipsed two-fold by the available power in the factory ignition system, which is over-powered in case of instances such as an instantaneous lean condition, which will require more power to bridge that gap in a state of compression.

A CD ignition system simply provides more AVAILABLE power at the plug, but the MSD boxes (and others) do an additional thing: they fire the plug more than once. This allows for the ignition of any residual gasses as well; like an advanced version of the dual ignition setups used in the 30's, 40's and 50's on engines like the Van Blerk I4, which had an extremely large bore size, and hence had dual plugs per cylinder to aid in the propagation of the flame-front and ensure more complete combustion. A more advanced implementation appeared on the Ford/Mazda 2.3L I4 in the Ranger and Mustang, the I-4 with eight plugs.

There is simply no logical reason for using these plugs; they will not bridge the gap and spark any "better" than a traditional plug powered by a healthy stock ignition system and I can see them being potentially FAR more problematic, as you are placing the tip of a capacitor into the volatile environment of a combustion chamber, all of which, and even more so in forced induction applications, sees incredible heat.
 
Originally Posted By: Rabbler
As I understand it the spark only starts the air / fuel combustion process. Once the flame is lit the spark plugs job is done.
So if a lower voltage spark (comparatively speaking) is capable of lighting the mixture how is a higher voltage spark of any advantage?
I can understand if the engine is in poor tune or has a mechanical malfunction it might be advantageous but otherwise it seems like a an unnecessary excess.

Do you need a flame thrower to light a candle when a match will do?


IMHO, one of the most common sense posts in this thread.

The spark voltage required is proportional to cylinder pressure at time of ignition. If an ignition performs it's duties: Light the mix ontime everytime, then feeding all of the electrical output of the Hoover dam to the ignition won't improve it's performance.

As far as CD ignitions and MSDs particularly: Do you know why they have multiple spark discharges at lower speeds? If they didn't you would get missfires. CD spark durations are short enough that at low engine speeds, and low swirl velocities in cylinder/combustion chamber, the ignition is unreliable. At higher engine speeds, and higher mixture velocities past the plug tip, the extra sparks aren't needed. Plus, there is no time for them anyway.
 
Ok, I'm a rank amatuer in this and many other fields, and my brain is beginning to hurt.
Is it fair to ask for third party test data? If the Pulse plug is so good then why isn't there scads of empirical data out there?
I've got another forum I freqent, Honda Rebel Forum, and one of the posters is excited about the new E3 Sparkplug. As far as I can tell, the same problem exists, no traceable data! Even the EPA site they link to doesn't come up with anything. Oh, and supposedly the EPA endorses these plugs. They cite two university studies but then don't make the data available.
Any help or encouragement here would be appreciated.

Rebel Forum

E3 Sparkplugs

Steve
 
On the mazda board I am a member of they had a massive group buy for these (in the neighborhood of 100-115 people buy plugs).

Ive noticed that while people like them, there have been 2 issues. The first is rapid wear on the plug and the second is plug failure. There has been roughly a 12-15% failure rate of these plugs based on member responses. With the majority of the failures being plugs breaking where the insulator meets the base.

All in all Id say if you want/need to upgrade your ignition do it with a standalone box like those from MSD and other companies.
 
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Hey hi-miler fancy seeing you here and on the rebel forum. Watch out for those special plugs, splitfires messed with our old honda accord. The split opening adavanced the timing. Performed great at high speeds but at idle the advanced timing caused a fast idle, of course the idle circuit compensated to lower the idle. Result rougher idle with more hunting, no fuel mileage gains to speak of like splitfire claimed back in those days.
 
I could see an extra projected tip advancing the timing but a split ground electrode?
 
Hi Qwerty
I've seen you here before, I think, just need to make the connection in the grey matter to remember.
You answered with what I thought was going to end up being the case. Splitfire, whether intentionally or unintentionally had the technology, just half the diamond instead of the full.

Marius
Were there any deductions made as far as performance is concerned? Any hard numbers?

Thanks
Steve
 
So if you guys don't mind me asking a simple question---- How much do them things cost?

I drive a 2004 Dodge 1500 Quad cab with a Hemi, the dang thing uses 16 spark plugs, would I have to mortgage my home to buy 16 pulstar plugs. The upgrade double platinum Champions are right at $3 each, and do a real good job to boot. No way would I spend more money on a fangled fad like this.
 
i was wondering about heads that require 2 plugs per cylinder. whats the advantage if all it takes is ONE spark to light the fire? im not saying there is NO advatage. im asking why design a head for 2 plug per cyl?
 
the modern Hemi has a problem. You can't have a head in this configuration and get good emissions. It almost didn't make it to production!

Read about it at www.allpar.com.

The 16 plugs improve emissions, not performance. So it really is a design shortcoming.

And most modern cars have VERY stout ignitions due to the fact that misfires are simply not tolerated by OBDII cars.
 
I've never seen any "copper plugs" with copper electrodes. The copper was internal on the Champion plugs I used. Where did you see the copper electrodes?
 
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