motorcraft vs. autolite

[dagenham]

I bought new motorcraft plugs from 50 resto when I did a full tune up last summer to get the car running better, which it did. All along though I could not get a small intermittent miss out of it. Yesterday my brother in law came over to look at it. When we pulled the plug out of number 1 cyl. it was fouled. I put all of the old autolite plugs back in since I had kept them and it runs better now than it has since I got the car. The other three motorcraft plugs looked ok. I didnt drive the car but it didnt seem to develope the miss either,which seemed to happen very fast before. So here is the big question, do any of you guys use autolite plugs instead of motorcraft plugs??? And what about platinum plugs???

[svoman2300]

It's possible the one that fouled is cracked. Could have happened during shipping or installation. I've gotten cracked ones from the auto part stores.

[turbo2.3stang]

DO NOT use platinum plugs. I run Autolites and they are great. Aren't they under the same ownership? New parts can also be broken, it sucks when that happens.

[Laredo]

As long as the heat range and resistance are correct, a spark plug does nothing more than plug a hole and provide a gap for the spark to jump. No majic or big difference between brands IMHO. Like SVOman said, if the car runs better now than ever, there was probably something wrong (fouled, damaged, cracked etc) with one or more of the plugs - had nothing to do with the name painted on the insulator.

As for platinums, advantages are longer life due to less metal transfer from spark (wear) and they will fire easier (lower "arc-over" voltage) with a weak ignition. Keep the rest of your ignition in good shape and you won't need 'em.

[Discord]

As for platinums, advantages are longer life due to less metal transfer from spark (wear) and they will fire easier (lower "arc-over" voltage) with a weak ignition. Keep the rest of your ignition in good shape and you won't need 'em.

IIRC, the platnium plugs also create "hot spots" so to speak to promote self cleaning and can cause preignition with forced induciton. If that's incorrect, please someone set me straight.

[SVOeric]

Back to the original question.
While Ford does use autolite for to produce several of their motorcraft products, there is nothing that says Ford uses autolite for everything.
As a matter of fact, I found that 2.3 the spark-plug wires are sourced from Bosch.
I wouldn't worry about having one plug different brand, as long as they are the same type, and same heat-range, they should be fine. but on the other hand, is it worth $7 to worry about it. Buy a new set of plugs, and be done with it.

[Rob Hughes]

I've been thinking of trying out some of those Nology silver spark plugs $$$ but heck you only need 4. Platinum is such a poor conductor of electricity especially when you put it up against silver, I can't see even installing them over standard nickel composite plugs and just changing them on a regular basis. Platinum's only real benefit is corrosion resistance....and I bet silver even trumps that.

[NY eric]

The 2.3 plugs from motorcraft are autolites. But like Eric said that is not the case for all ignition stuff. FYI the 05 v6 wires are made by Taylor. I have had 5-6 bad plugs in the last 3 years (7-800 plugs sold aprox) so it is possible.

[svono50]

Been using Autolite 764's gapped at .030" since 1991, no issues with these plugs. For less than $1 each from Walmart you can't beat the value.

[Pat_in_L.A.]

I also can't think of any current OEM turbocharged engines that do not use platinum (or other precious metal) plugs.

Audi. Peugeot. Isuzu. Detroit. Navistar. Powerstroke. John Deere. Cummins. Caterpillar.

[lonewolf]

Quote:
I also can't think of any current OEM turbocharged engines that do not use platinum (or other precious metal) plugs.


Audi. Peugeot. Isuzu. Detroit. Navistar. Powerstroke. John Deere. Cummins. Caterpillar.

[under pressure]

& Briggs & Straton

[FoxXxSVO]

Isuzu. Detroit. Navistar. Powerstroke. John Deere. Cummins. Caterpillar.

i didnt know glow plugs came in platinum...