Factory Defect spark Plug
Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 1:06 am[code][/code]
While doing my annual condition inspection, I pulled the spark plug wire off a bottom plug and the electrode came with it. I have never seen anything like it before and I have been removing spark plug wires for over 50 years. Obviously it is a manufacturing defect which is a quality control issue for Autolite. I took an adjoining plug out and put vise grips on the end and twisted and pulled as hard as I could. Even with the plug in a vise and vise grips on the end, tapping the vise grips with a small hammer, I could not get the plug apart like the one in the picture. The only thing holding the plug together was the rubber cover on the plug wire. This is after 10 hours or run time on a new AeroVee engine-ten hours is all I have managed to run after getting my airworthy certificate May 10, 2014 because it has been one problem after another with the engine. This was on the electronic ignition so sometimes when I was doing a runup, the electronic worked fine and once in a while it would miss a little. Never noticed any missing in flight when I checked ignitions but it was bound to burn a coil sooner rather than later because of reduced continuity in the plug. The porcelain was also loose so the plug gap was not fixed. Replaced the Autolite with NGK's with same heat range.
While doing my annual condition inspection, I pulled the spark plug wire off a bottom plug and the electrode came with it. I have never seen anything like it before and I have been removing spark plug wires for over 50 years. Obviously it is a manufacturing defect which is a quality control issue for Autolite. I took an adjoining plug out and put vise grips on the end and twisted and pulled as hard as I could. Even with the plug in a vise and vise grips on the end, tapping the vise grips with a small hammer, I could not get the plug apart like the one in the picture. The only thing holding the plug together was the rubber cover on the plug wire. This is after 10 hours or run time on a new AeroVee engine-ten hours is all I have managed to run after getting my airworthy certificate May 10, 2014 because it has been one problem after another with the engine. This was on the electronic ignition so sometimes when I was doing a runup, the electronic worked fine and once in a while it would miss a little. Never noticed any missing in flight when I checked ignitions but it was bound to burn a coil sooner rather than later because of reduced continuity in the plug. The porcelain was also loose so the plug gap was not fixed. Replaced the Autolite with NGK's with same heat range.