Topic: Pulstar Spark Plugs

[TrailsLessTaken]

Didn't know if any of you guys had heard of these, I guess they just came out a month or so ago.  I asked at Napa earlier but the guy there didnt know anything about them, so it may be ordering online only at the moment... but anyways here's the readers digest of what I learned today:

A buddy of my was telling me that over on the Titan forum he's on, he was going to buy a set of these Pulstar plugs and just for fun have it dyno'd to see how they performed compared to his stock NGK plugs.  Well his wife wouldnt let him spend the money so one of the site sponsors sparkplugs.com offered to pay for the dyno test and also sent him a brand new set of NGK plugs so it was new plugs vs new plugs.  He ended up gaining 16hp and 10 tq by switching to these Pulstars.  Im thinking about getting a set for my truck to see how they do.  They have a 30 day, money back no questions asked so I cant really go wrong with it.  The only downside is the plugs are 13 bucks a piece but if i can pick up say even 15 hp for 100 bucks these might be worth trying in the jeep to, to see if it makes a difference in it. 

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/titan-general-discussion/113371-pulstar-dyno-testing.html

http://pulstar.com/

[FourbangerYJ]

I would find it hard to believe that a spark plug would net such a huge gain in performance. $13 is a lot for a plug.

[Jeffy]

"The worlds best, mot powerful spark plug"  It says it right there on their site.  How can you doubt that, it's on the Internet!

[TrailsLessTaken]

I would too, but thats the only thing they changed out in between dyno runs.

[Torch_Ind]

"The worlds best, mot powerful spark plug"  It says it right there on their site.  How can you doubt that, it's on the Internet!

[chrisfranklin]

A couple of years I bought a set of those plugs for my 4banger -- me:  "hey, look they got them for the 2.5 Jeep in my year, let's do it, it could be the Missing Link, the Rosetta Stone for 4banger power!"  

Nah, I wasn't quite that stupid about it, but I did need plugs, so I decided to give the Pulsestar deals a go.   After a number of weeks with them, I couldn't detect any performance difference.  Ended up going with the oft recommended 1-dollar-a-plug-Champions and that's what I continue to use.  

Everything I've read says the Jeep 4Bangers don't go for plugs with the fancy metals -- iridium, platinum.  Plugs with electrodes all over the place -- nobody recommends those either.  Good old copper plugs, 1 electrode per and that's it.  

On the other hand, people driving cars/trucks that are new/newer and have engines that are the same may see benefits from those plugs that a Jeep 4Banger just can't access.  The Titan truck guy is probably not putting anybody on and I've read a bunch of C5, C6 Corvette owners who seem to like them ok.

[Torch_Ind]

stick to the keep is simple stupid.  for a spark plug to make a difference wouldn't be the bolt on difference by using a certain type or brand. it's more keeping the proper heat range to get that optimal burn. everything else also plays a big factor.  air quality, density, heat, humidity, and what you have done to your engine. there is to much variants in it for a spark plug companies to say your going to get a mpg or power increase.  most time you can make that statement if your plugs are worn and are failing already. so ya any new plug would help in that situation.

your better off picking up what is easily available to you and just getting a few different heat ranges and do some testing vs temperature if you really want to tune.

[aw12345]

Well here is an interesting story on racer brown sparkplugs and yes it's true.
This happened to a guy at my work, his TJ would have a momentarily stumble or would stall intermittently, he checked everything he could think of, could not find a thing.
So since he had bought a extended warranty He took it to the dealer, where it resided for several months. The reason he took it to the dealer is that it would not pass California smog is due to the fact that when it stalled or stumbled it would clear all the OBD2 monitors in the ecm so it would not pass smog. In other words the ecm would reset and clear its memory while driving. Long story short the mechanic that worked on it replaced 2 ecm's and this did not fix it, the guy dubbed it his ex wife by that time. Finally they got some factory wizzards involved with it and after much experimentation they found out that the splitfire sparkplugs where worn and caused such a electronic spike at times that it reset the ecm, pretty unbelievable, but the patient lives, no more stumble or stalling and it passed smog, so go figure that one and the moral of the story buy normal plugs and replace them at recommended intervals

[TrailsLessTaken]

I was just sharing what a friend of mine found on one of his forums.  The guy that did it, took it to a dyno in his town and the company that paid for the dyno test was sparkplugs.com. The company that made the plugs wasnt involved in this, it was a guy just wanting to see if the plugs actually made a difference in his truck.  According to the dyno results, switching from his factory plugs to the pulstars he picked up 16hp and 10 tq.  Check out post #23.  He posted the dyno sheets on the site also.  I know some of you called bs but if thats the only thing he changed out between runs then where did the extra power come from 

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/2129087-post23.html

[dwtaylorpdx]

Splitfires used to actually do the same thing on the dyno, the only problem was they needed re-gapped about every 2000 miles otherwise they dropped right back to stock or worse performance, it was also show that you had to have about 2/3 liter of displacement per cylinder for them to help...

YMMV

Dave

[sharpxmen]

not saying it's not true but...

more HP with the same amount of air and fuel means a better BSFC (brake specific horse power)  and that is overall engine efficiency and that is b/c nothing else has changed (and the spark plugs obviously are not going to improve VE and increase air and fuel delivery into the cylinders) - unfortunately they have not provided those numbers in the dyno sheet  - what am i missing?

[Jeffy]

not saying it's not true but...

more HP with the same amount of air and fuel means a better BSFC (brake specific horse power)  and that is overall engine efficiency and that is b/c nothing else has changed (and the spark plugs obviously are not going to improve VE and increase air and fuel delivery into the cylinders) - unfortunately they have not provided those numbers in the dyno sheet  - what am i missing?

I agree, it sounds like it has more to do with the engine's efficiency then anything else.  I still doubt their lofty claims.

[aw12345]

I used to dyno tests on Motorhomes, we did a before and one after we did our exhaust work and what not, now if you honestly believe that most before tests are run flat out balls to the wall. That is generally saved for the after test

[Torch_Ind]

I'm not convinced that a expensive plug will help that much. for all you know they could have done something inside the cab to get a little extra out of it or run the engine with a little less off the floor for throttle angle.

Not to mention I have had friends run dyno's to and if the temp changes a few degrees "like between plug swaps"  you could gain a little more power there if the sun was going down. also who said the old plugs were in good condition? or gaped properly?