today i bought some tune-up things for my truck. my ford dealer couldn't get a cap and rotor for my truck and the ford plug wires were $100 so i went and bought champion wires and a champion cap and rotor. i'm more of an NGK fan than champion so i bought NGK g-power platinum plugs. i was told not to put platinum plugs in it but they only had platinums in NGK, can platinum plugs hurt my engine?

 

Take them back. ONLY run Motorcraft or Autolite copper core plugs in these trucks. NGK plugs are good for small import motors, not american small blocks...

 

Those E3's are a better plug IMO

 

X2 with Evan and e3 is a waste of money imo

 

will any copper cores work?

 

Not promoting them but start up was quicker, and after I had installed them my wideband ratio improved but I had also installed my 6AL... So I can factor that in for probably helping

 

Any plug, copper or fancy platinum, will work. Time and again it has been proven the copper plugs work just fine and cost much less. There is no reason to spend big $$ on the fancy plugs for no real gain. More than once someone on this forum has installed the latest whiz-bang plugs on the market has had issues that were traced back to said plugs. Stick to what most us have experienced for ourselves, basic copper core plugs. Save the $$ for another project.

 

In my experience the platinum plugs caused a miss. The ignition system was not designed to run them. Platinum has a higher resistance than copper and will put more strain on the ignition system.

 

I ran Bosch platinum plugs for 140,00 miles (2 sets) in my 1994 F150 5.8L and I have 90,000 miles on the set in my 1995 F250 5.8L with no problems with either truck. I pretty much put Bosch platinum in all American engines I work on. The only place I have seen platinums cuase a problem was in forklift engines running on propane. I have been a professional mechanic for 25 years working in agriculture and industrial equipment.

 

Another vote for copper cores for your year Truck. The problem w/ double Platinum plugs is they create more heat from the extra resistance created by the platinum plate (how they self clean). It is less conductive than copper & once the heat is created in the cylinder, the platinum's insulative properties inhibits that heat from being drawn out through the plug. This lends itself to ping.

The knee jerk response is to add quench effect of higher octane to avoid ping. Not a good idea either. Octane is a control agent. It's purpose to delay the point of combustion to facilitate better use for higher compression engines. Your stock engine is actually designed for 87 octane. Higher octane use will offset ping, however at a cost of incomplete ignition (fuel left on the table/ combustion chamber build up/ deposits). This will also severely shorten you Cat life.

 

When I used to work part time slinging parts some of the literature sent to us by bosch was on the benefits of Platinum and Double Platinum. this was when they came out with their Double Platinum Plug thus the reason for the New literature.
If you want to run a platinum plug you should upgrade your coil to an aftermarket with higher voltage. With the higher voltage it will compensate for a slight increase in resistance across the gap and allow you to run a wider gap(A.k.A.6 liter tune up).
The entire electrode is not paltinum, just a small little dot on the tip so the heat range will be same same for a standard plug.
Puting Platinum in the combustion chamber also gives a small amount of catalyst effect to the fuel.
The primary reason for the platinum in the platinum plug is the increased resistance to gap erosion in the hotter HEI ignitions. This is how manufacturers magically went from 30K mile tune ups to 100K mile tuneups. The old coils ran at about 30Kvolts, the newer HEI ignitions run anywhere from 45Kvolts to 60K volts. The higher voltage allows for a wider gap. A wider gap means more flame in the cylinder. More flame in the cylinder means more complete combustion.

When I was slinging parts I could also get parts for a really good price, so I decided to try some of the E3 plugs in my 73 Nova. I did notice an improvement in startup and acceleration. How wever they are pricey. I do still use them in my Lawn mower and chainsaw.

My standards are NGK plugs go into Asian imports, Bosch Go in European imports and Autolites go in American cars

Matt

 

Copper plugs work, there is no need to TRY and reinvent the wheel

 

I do agree Brad. When I bought my F250 and did the tune up I stuck with the plain ole autolites in the orange box.

Matt

 

Motorcraft coppers.

 

If it means anything when my uncle ran a dragster all him and the other guys used was copper and all the dirt track guys I know run nothin but copper