new type of plug

[Digger]

http://www.pulstarplug.com/

[Whelan]

Sound very insteresting. Maybe I'll be the first to give them a try, they sound promising enough.

[drunkenmaxx]

eh, if they were that fantastic, they would get a lot more attention.

[GrayFox]

hmmm... their site says "20,000 times more powerful" but this article ( http://findarticles.com/p/arti...18827 ) repeatedly says 10,000 hahaGains for the Corolla are said to be 2.2% better fuel economy, 10% better 0-60 time, and 5% more torque (which is about 6 more ft lbs based on the stock ~126)

[NUBlackshirts]

Seems the EPA tested these awhile back and did find a 2.7% increase in fuel economy (city driving test). But how long would that "return on investment" take at that rate?http://www.theautochannel.com/....htmlh ... co....html

[Whelan]

So if they are $25 a plug I would think you pay just under $20 if not $20 for a Denso or NGK if I'm not mistaken. So $100 for something that seems to give you a bit more than just an intake will. I'm game.

[drunkenmaxx]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »I would think you pay just under $20 if not $20 for a Denso or NGK if I'm not mistaken. let me know the next time you need a set of iridium plugs whelan. i will gladly sell them to you for only $15 each! the last time i bought some NGKs, they were only like $9 apiece for me. yes, there were iridium.

[Whelan]

If these things don't come out by july/august you will be hearin from me.

[Sublimewind]

Not a new concept... It a plug with an internal capacitor... http://www.racepages.com/brand/nology.h ... m/hot.html

[prathman]

Based on their description I am rather skeptical that these plugs will make a difference. Note that they don't add any energy to the spark (they have no separate power source), but just shorten the duration of the spark from 4 usec to 2 nsec and therefore increase the peak current. Now that could be beneficial if the ignition with regular spark plugs took an appreciable portion of the combustion stroke in the engine and therefore failed to use some of the energy available from the last portion of the gasoline to ignite - so let's estimate the time for a combustion stroke.Let's consider an engine operating at 8000 rpm so it'll have the shortest length combustion stroke. 8000 rpm = 133 rps = 533 cps (4-cycle motor), or 1875 usec per stroke. The 4 usec ignition time with conventional plugs is therefore only 4/1875 = 0.2% of the total combustion stroke time. Hard to see how reducing such a tiny fraction even more would have any noticeable effect - and it would be even less at lower rpms.

[ProtonXX]

Ill try them out too. Besides they have a 30 day return policy

[Digger]

They are taking orders now for a june 18th ship date to start

[ProtonXX]

ill be using this to determine my resultshttp://kalecoauto.com/index.ph...id=41

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by ProtonXX »ill be using this to determine my resultshttp://kalecoauto.com/index.ph...id=41That site has some FUNNAY ISH on it.... Anyone here need a new muffler bearing?? That site has them, they are rare to... I would think a Gtech would be better for (removed) dynoing though... just my .02$

[Digger]

I wonder how long they will last. If the capasitor blowes what happens then?

[rmarkw]

Their web site said they are suppose to last 50,000 miles. I'm skeptical that they do better than regular plugs. How old were the plugs that they replaced in the cars that showed the gains? They may have gotten the same or better results by replacing the plugs with just regular new plugs. I'm sticking with what I know works: Keeping tires properly inflated, clean air filter, new Iridium plugs every 50K miles.

[manicdan]

well i just read my new popsci magazine, and well these sparkplugs have a 2 page add in there. so now ill just wait till the dynos show up

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by Digger »I wonder how long they will last. If the capasitor blowes what happens then?Capasitor of this type would be VERY difficult to "blow" per-sey as thay aren't anything more than a air-gap. Caps are easily made, all they really are is layers of a conductive matieral with a dielectric sandwitched in-between... http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon....htmlCaps are very tolerant to extreams (see: Optima batteries)I honestly do not understand there description of it's output, they list it in Watts, which is a mesure of heat expended through a resistance? Now if they gave the voltage at the gap that would be different, may ignition systems up the voltage to 50k-80kv but with lower current. That is how it's so easy to jusmp a spark across a gap at higher pressure... as pressure rises, so does resistance, same goes for heat, as heat rises so does resistance... making it harder for the spark to jump the gap.. Even something as simple as a lawn mower needs to run the ignition through a step up transformer (coil) to allow the spark to be able to jump the gap.

[Whelan]

"Uhhhh.....Ya Hit Yur What?"

[manicdan]

since watts is based on volts x amps, they either put more amps in or more volts or both. i wonder if these things will make our lights flicker?

[Daox]

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »I honestly do not understand there description of it's output, they list it in Watts, which is a mesure of heat expended through a resistance? Now if they gave the voltage at the gap that would be different, may ignition systems up the voltage to 50k-80kv but with lower current. That is how it's so easy to jusmp a spark across a gap at higher pressure... as pressure rises, so does resistance, same goes for heat, as heat rises so does resistance... making it harder for the spark to jump the gap.. I think this makes at least some sense. The spark plug's job is to heat the air/fuel mixture immediately around it to its ignition temperature. If you can create a hotter spark it should lead to better and more effecient heating of the air/fuel around it. This would cause less misfires and a more complete burn. Of course, most plugs already do this quite well. Of course you need a high enough voltage to actually jump the gap, but thats not really the spark's job. That is the ignition coil's job. In this case the capacitor in the plug just helps out the ignition coil.IMO these things probably would work very good on older cars with a single ignition coil. However, on our engines there are seperate coil packs for each cylinder. I think thats why you see the low 2.2% increase with these plugs on the Corolla. Sorry fellas, we already got a good ignition sysem, thanks Toyota.

[Whelan]

lol it was a joke. I understood the concept he was explaining, lol.

[manicdan]

2.2% on my car is 4hp, thats worth 100$ to me

[Digger]

anyone try these yet.

[ProtonXX]

Im still waiting. Theres a 3 week delay for QA

[Digger]

tic toc ........... just wondering lol

[ProtonXX]

still waiting, was shipped Tuesday finally

[Digger]

Hope it is worth the wait

[Sublimewind]

Meh, i wouldn't be expecting a whole lot...

[ProtonXX]

finally got the plugs installed. It took forever because the pulstars just came out & are still having QA problems..half the plugs I ran thru worked & fit in my spark plug socket. Out of 8 plugs I did finally get 4 that worked & the results seemed positive so far.Tech guy was annoying & I had to hang up on him because he blamed my spark plug socket for half of the parks plugs not fitting & breaking while being installed. I was very close to asking for a refund after talking with himThe saving grace was pulstar reps who replaced the plugs w/o question. its too early to tell because I maybe have 25 miles in them & comparing them to my beat down iridiums isn't fair.So far the car just floats & there is a noticeable power increase across the full range. The car idles at 1k RPM now.

[Sublimewind]

Sounds sketchy to me.... I wouldn't beta test anything for a comepany, on my personal car... Unless i was totaly reasurred that if anything bad happened, they would take care of it... Sounds like a tipical engineer to me to, thinking that anything that they do is, "gods word" I don't inderstand how you break plugs during install on a motoer that the plugs are right on top of the motor.... or ho do they not fit, where they not of proper dimentions? the "nut" was to big? More power to you man, you are heading off into territory i wouldn't walk... Keep us updated,Cheers...

[Whelan]

Spark plugs that cannot even meet factory specs to fit?The more I hear of this the more I may just go get another set of Denso IR.

[ProtonXX]

I really cant tell how the plugs don't fit. 1Its a combination of the porcelain being to big too big & off center, When I was torquing it in the engine the off centered electrode caused it to snap. 3 of them snapped and the 4th one i dint even touch cuz it didnt come close to fitting in the socket.Once Ill get some time & Im done testing these pulstars Ill experiment with the brisk halo plugs instead, but they will go in my 6 cylinder grand am cuz finding 6 working pulstars would be a nightmare http://www.briskusa.com/media/...m.wmvh ... .c...plugs

[Sublimewind]

Sounds like you are asking for trouble....Why not just go with something tried and true??

[ProtonXX]

Thats just the way I am, im always asking for trouble . Besides I seen a post of someone somewhere selling $800 1zz for when I blow mines up So far the plugs have been working great. The starts went from 2to 3 cracks to 1-2. The idle is stronger & smoother, & acceleration improved a bit.Mileage results are still up in the air. Altho my scan gauge is reporting better mileage its not calibrated to match the tank usage

[Raven]

Those plugs sound verrrry scarrrry kids! You're a braver man than I.

[ProtonXX]

Plugs are going back to where they came from lol. The effects of having new plugs wore off & the mileage too a big drop. Maybe one was broken, maybe pulstar need 3 more months of QA. But I know I dont ever want to talk to their tech support guy again Ill just pop in my spare set of iridiums(that all fit in my spark plug socket) back in tonight

[BlueCrush]

Bummer!

[WaveAction]

that sucks, was hoping they were gonna make a difference, but really..a spark plug is a spark plug..

[Digger]

Was hoping for a hit. strike three Called......

[ProtonXX]

I put my new iridiums back in & I lost the power gained from the pulstars . I think the ECU/CAT is playing a mean joke on me robbing me of mileage. But I dont feel like tinkering anymore because the plug quality is questionable.

[manicdan]

correct me if im wrong but our cats suck once they get too hot, and those plugs burn much hotter, so im wondering if it just trigged that to quickly and the mileage came down with it.

[ProtonXX]

Yea i think something is wrong with my cat because I can unscrew my rear o2 sensor & get more power with the same mileage. But I dont have a clue yet on how to go about replacing my cats, I wish I could find something plug & play.However with the pulstars the car was running just like I had a CAI installed (more power/big drop in mileage), however Im tuning my Vibe for more mileage not performance

[ProtonXX]

Just got done testing halos (http://haloplug.com). They resulted in less power & mileage. Thanks to the guarantee they will be going back on the mail tomorrow for a refund too. Im going to run my iridiums again & do one last follow up.

[prathman]

Quote, originally posted by manicdan »correct me if im wrong but our cats suck once they get too hot, and those plugs burn much hotter, so im wondering if it just trigged that to quickly and the mileage came down with it.Totally different mechanisms. Catalytic converters will run hot if there's unburned fuel leaving the engine since their function is to burn any hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas and reduce emissions. So a spark plug that works well (i.e. ignites and burns all the fuel) should lead to lower temperatures in the catalytic converter.OTOH, the temperature rating of a spark plug is determined by how much of the ceramic insulator extends into the combustion chamber and is heated by the burning fuel. If the plug isn't hot enough then there will be deposits building up instead of burning off. AFAIK, the spark plugs tested here don't have a different temperature rating from the standard OEM ones.The difference is instead in the peak current and the time duration of the spark. These plugs concentrate the total electrical discharge into a shorter time period and therefore have a greater current than regular plugs. The voltage and the total number of electrons in the spark are both unchanged. Whether there's any benefit from the larger current over a shorter time seems highly questionable to me since the spark time for OEM plugs is already very short compared to the time of the combustion stroke of the engine.

[ProtonXX]

When I put my iridiums back in the car ran rough & starting missing at idle.Then i realized I think i messed up by not regapping the pulstars so i put them back in with a huge gap of .080. Oddly the car still runs much better with more HP.Ill try a .100 gap if I can fine a sparkplug gapper that goes that big