I have a Hyundai Accent, a little commuter car which strangely enough I use to commute, and recently it started misfiring. I found out it had 'coil over plug', one coil per spark plug rather than the old way of having a single coil with high voltage wires going to each plug. Good way to eliminate problems with the old spark plug wires.
So with that in mind, I was thinking the problem was either in the coil or the spark plugs. The coils turned out to cost over 80 bucks EACH so I started with the plugs.
I went to AutoZone and bought some platinum plugs and installed but no help.
So I went to the dealer and they hooked up the computer analyzer looking for codes, found misfire codes.
But they also found my car needed a software upgrade which they did and the problem mostly went away, but not completely.
They took out my brand new platinum plugs and installed the factory recommended ones and the problem totally went away.
Has anyone heard of this kind of problem before? When they told me you can only use certain plugs I scoffed and said, what, it is just a plug.
It seems I was wrong, the dealer dude said there was something called 'heat range' that effects the performance of these plugs.
Has anyone here heard of such a thing? Is that poppycock or real? He said Fords also have the same problem.
Originally posted by sonhouseI would take his word on it, if taking out the platinum ones and replacing them with the recommended ones actually works. Kind of proves his point doesn't it? Sounds like he's being straight up to me.
A spark plug could get interesting if powered up🙂 So nothing on the actual question?
Originally posted by Sicilian SausageYeah, proof is definitely in the pudding. I have an 80 one way trip to work and there was no chugging this time. I will figure out next week if the software upgrade made my gas mileage any better. I suppose fat chance of that though.
I would take his word on it, if taking out the platinum ones and replacing them with the recommended ones actually works. Kind of proves his point doesn't it? Sounds like he's being straight up to me.
Back when I rode a Japanese motorcycle and spark plug problems were common, I had to buy a specific type of plug (only one distributor in Australia and the cost was astronomical compared with the ones that worked in cars) because of a heat range thing. Normal car-type plugs would "whisker" and make the plug misfire frequently. The expensive ceramic plug was designed to operate at a much lower temperature and misfires didn't happen. People riding English bikes didn't have my problem, because they were long-stroke motors with much lower performance ratings. Your story sounded quite familiar and reasonable to me, given that the Hyundai probably has a similar type of short-stroke engine.
Originally posted by KewpieInteresting. When I was in the Air Force a couple of centuries ago🙂, I had a small Honda bike and found out about an annual event called the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Dirt road, hairpin turns up to the peak of the mountain, 14,000 feet high. It was an amazing race and afterwards I decided to ride my bike up that road. I had my 12 string Martin strapped to the back and off I went.
Back when I rode a Japanese motorcycle and spark plug problems were common, I had to buy a specific type of plug (only one distributor in Australia and the cost was astronomical compared with the ones that worked in cars) because of a heat range thing. Normal car-type plugs would "whisker" and make the plug misfire frequently. The expensive ceramic plug was ...[text shortened]... reasonable to me, given that the Hyundai probably has a similar type of short-stroke engine.
I quickly found out about air/gas mixture, the higher I went the lower the air part of the equation became, making the mix richer and richer. I must have changed plugs 10 times going up that mountain, the engine would die and when I took out the plugs I saw they were totally wet with gasoline. I had three or four sets with me and some tools so I just kept cleaning them, drying them out and eventually made my way all the way to the top. I was proud of my young self for being persistent! I didn't even wreck on the way up or down, so worried I was about breaking my prize Martin.
I wonder now, if I had known about this spark plug thing, if different plugs would have made a difference.
Obviously the Pikes Peak racers knew exactly how to deal with the changing ratio of gas to air but I was just a kid with a 305 CC Honda and no experience in such things.
Originally posted by sonhouseI drive a diesel truck, no spark plugs necessary.
I have a Hyundai Accent, a little commuter car which strangely enough I use to commute, and recently it started misfiring. I found out it had 'coil over plug', one coil per spark plug rather than the old way of having a single coil with high voltage wires going to each plug. Good way to eliminate problems with the old spark plug wires.
So with that in mi ...[text shortened]... heard of such a thing? Is that poppycock or real? He said Fords also have the same problem.
