E3 Spark Plugs - Deal or Dud?

[Liv]

So I'm wondering if anyone has used E3 Spark Plugs? I know we've debunked a lot of fuel mileage saving devices in the past, and most do nothing at all to improve gas mileage. There is, however, with the E3, several dyno results showing improved HP and emissions with these plugs, including one famous US television show.

It's also the closest thing I've seen to an open tipped plug, which is consistent with the traditional side-gapping technique which has also been dyno'd at a 5-7 HP increase.

Now I couldn't care about horsepower, but at $5 a plug, it seems reasonable to try in the Metro.

Has anyone tried them?

[A Person]

They're spark plugs, that's all. Replacing worn, fouled or misgapped splugs with new ones will increase HP and improve economy, but I can't see why these would be better than any other new plug. Modern electronic ignition systems use techniques like multiple spark and long duration spark systems to improve combustion making differences between plugs far less important

One significant drawback to the design is that you can't change the gap on the E3 plugs, so depending on your engine they could make things worse.

I would go with a quality platinum or iridium tipped plug like Bosch or NGK

[Liv]

That's something I wondered, if they're testing against old plugs or new.

I might try a pack for the heck of it, I have only 3 cylinders, see what happens.

I used to use triple v plugs, and did see a change in performance. It does not appear they make those any more. The trick with those was getting them properly indexed though.

[A Person]

This site did a comparison between 7 plugs (not including E3)

http://www.sparkplugs.com/sparkplug411. ... lts&mfid=0

The results were hardly conclusive. There was more variation between runs (5%) than between plugs (1%), so it's a noisy data set and it's unlikely this would translate to anything over a normal driving cycle

It would also be instructive to see how this changed over the life of the plug - was the 'best' plug still the best after 5000 miles?

In other words, I'm sceptical that plugs really makes any noticable difference.

[Liv]

I thought this was interesting....

The Honda Insight has indexed spark plugs from factory, with four different part numbers available corresponding to the different degrees of indexing to achieve most efficient combustion and maximum fuel efficiency.

Well I ordered a set of indexing washers, and I did find my old Splitfires. ($2.13 each on Rock Auto) Did some research too. Apparently Split Fires (V) are no longer sold in the US because they got sued. I did find rumor that E3 is what became of the Splitfire V, after they split off from the parent corp.

I'll report back my mpg gain/loss once I get them in.

[davestt]

I have tried these plugs in my Audi TT and they created a misfire condition.I would not suggest using them for a turbo engine.

[stln8iv]

Hi, I installed a set of E3 spark plugs in my 2010 Harley-Davidson Sofftail. At first, I noticed nearly instantaneous starting. I barely hit the starter button and the bike came to life. It did seem to perform better with the plugs. I went from 38-39 mpg to around 41 mpg. As time went on, my mileage stayed around 41 mpg. I did notice occasional hard starting. I particularly noticed it after I road the bike on the highway and go off and shut the bike down. The bike would crank and crank for nearly 10 seconds before it would fire. The first time it did this, I was in the middle of nowhere. The plugs were in the bike for less than 500 miles. The next day, I came out to the bike and it fired right up. No problems, no hard cranking. It did this to me twice more. I sent an email to E3 and they say they have never heard of such a problem, but they would investigate it. I never heard back from them.
When my bike was due for its 10,000 mile checkup, Harley took the E3's out and installed official Harley-Davidson spark plugs. My mileage varies from 36 mpg to 38 mpg depending on highway speeds. The spark plug change was part of Harley's 10k maintenance. I'll probably put the E3's back in. I didn't notice any increase in the bike's pep with or without the E3's, but 3 mpg is 3 mpg.
Some people would probably scoff at 3 mpg increase, but it's more than I was getting with the Harley plugs.
I hope this helps.

[A Person]

Scoff, scoff

[boss82gt]

I purchased E3 plugs for my 2003 Mercury Mountaineer. It has the 4.0 V-6. It ran well, but nothing amazing. My fuel mileage didn't change at all. Now, within the last 8,500 miles, I have had two seperate mis-fire issues. In two seperate cylinders. I replaced one plug at 7,500 miles to remedy the issue. Now at 8,500 I am going to replace all the plugs to Motorcarft platinums. In order to fix the second mis-fire issue. I figure they worked for the first 100,000 miles. Why not try them again. I am not sold on the E3's. Use with caution. Hopefully my situation is isolated to my vehicle type.

[Liv]

My gut reaction to any of these spark plugs (and from experience) that the type of plug, and its performance is tied to the output of the ignition coil.

[A Person]

A misfire is far more likely to be plug leads than plugs. Replacing the plugs might fix it temporarily since everything gets cleaned, but I'd be looking at a set of silicone ht plug leads