Author:diamondlarry
Publication:www.gassavers.org
When Fran reported on his experiment with spark plugs, I decided to round up my plug collection and do some tests of my own. I have acquired quite a collection of plugs in an attempt for mileage increases. I have a set of Splitfire Triple Platinum, Bosch Platinum +4, E3, Torque Master, and for control purposes a set of NGK standard plugs. It wasn't until Fran's report that I knew how to find out how effective each plug was at improving mileage and power.
The route I chose was a one mile stretch of a county road near my house. I also chose 50 mph as my testing speed. I crossed the starting point already at my test speed. At the end of the mile, I turned around at a small township firestation to go back to my starting point. To keep the conditions as constant as possible, when I turned around, I accelerated to 15-20 mph in 1 st gear then shifted into 3 rd gear and accelerated to 40 mph then shifted into 5 th gear to accelerate to my testing speed of 50 mph. At each acceleration, I pressed the gas pedal to 2/3-3/4 throttle. I did 5 runs for each of the 5 plugs. After the 5 th run for each plug, I did 5 acceleration runs to test for possible power increases. I did the acceleration run by cruising at 30 mph in 4 th gear and flooring the gas pedal. When the speed reached 35 mph, I started my stop watch and continued accelerating to 55 mph at which time I stopped the stopwatch. Below are my test results.
(click to zoom)
I took the highest and the lowest mpg and times and discarded them to come up with an average for each plug in each category. My tests indicate that the only significant increase was with the Splitfire Triple Platinum plugs. It also shows that mpg actually decreased with the E3, Torque Master, and Bosch Platinum +4 plugs. According to the Splitfire website, their plugs sell for $5.99/plug. My conclusion: While Splitfire Triple Platinum plugs do give slightly increased mileage, it may not be worth the added cost.
Threaded Mode
