E3 spark plugs- anyone tried them?

[rjacob]

I was just watching this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xBVq-UQkwk

and the SOUND impressive. But do they really improve gas mileage?

[gone-ot]

...not really, because the two additional ground electrodes cast A/F-vapor "shadows" around the central electrode and thus actually reduce combustion probabilty and consistency.

...think about it -- why do 8,000+ hp drag race engines "index" each spark plug so that the ground electrode is always faced "away" from the intake valve?

[kir_kenix]

Having net issues here and I wasn't able to stream the video. Last year we had and E3 rep come to my work and give a 2 hour presentation on how great they are. He made them out to be better then the 2nd coming of Christ. I'm usually pretty doubtful of such claims, especially since he didn't provide alot of technical information/reasoning.

However, the guy did give me a handful of various small engine plugs. Can't tell any difference in my lawn mowers, but 2 strokes (chainsaws, weedeater, dirtbike) all seem to start easier. No scientific side-by-side, just an observation.
I'm running those small engine plugs for the second year. I usually religiously change plugs every spring, but I pulled them and they look new. They are about 3x as expensive as normal plugs, so I'm not sure they would save any money unless you ran them for 3 years.

Will I buy E3 plugs again next year? Maybe for the chainsaw and weedeater, but everything else will probably go back to plain-jane copper Champions or Bosch small engine plugs.

[24tesla]

Ok, to echo what kir_kenix said, they seem to be great in the lawn equipment. I have converted to them in all my mowers, weedwacker, chainsaws, etc... For a car, save your $5.99 per plug and get the standard plugs for your car. Do some research on the web, you will find independent test folks have done, where they saw little to no increase in mpg to those that saw a decrease in mpg in the autos.
BUT I have seen a lot of positive in lawn equipment, even small engine and motorcycle repairmen that keep the 'bad gas' that they drain from motorcycles that have set up all winter, and wont run on that gas, and they can burn it in the mowers with the e3 plugs. I have tested this theory, with a can of old gas found in my Dad's shop. His mower would not crank, with the bad gas and a standard (Brand NEW) copper plug, but fired up and ran with the e3.

Hope this helps.

[atikovi]

I found a set in my Honda Insight. Replaced them with stock plugs and the car ran much better.

[Lazarus]

They been discussed before. You can do a search to find more info. Here's a thread that might help.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...work-4020.html

[Dr. Jerryrigger]

Sure does look impressive... but they didn't say any numbers, and from the graph they showed it rather minimal... it almost seems like they were trying to avoid quantifying any real world improvements... i wonder why they would do that? oh right...
The one thing that is clear about this; is they are spending a huge amount on advertizing.

The burn pics looked promising, but that doesn't take into account the turbulence that is in a engines cylinder, and how the various head configurations effect that.

[TheIVJackal]

Pretty sure they aren't worth the extra money. Some cars actually run even poorer with sparkplugs like those with the multiple grounds...
- Aaron

[merccom]

i have an 04 hyundai accent that i modded up pretty heavily. with ngk iridium plugs i consistantly got right at 50mpg. with the e3s i got 2 tanks with 51mpg. after around a year or so the electrode "disappeared".

[rjacob]

Any benefit to NGK Iridium over NGK Platinum as far as gas mileage? I know they are supposed to last longer.