New Autolite (Champion) 1 piece spark plugs.
03-09-2012, 03:59 AM
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New Autolite (Champion) 1 piece spark plugs.
I have been in discussions with Champion tech and engineering departments regarding their 7989 plugs since I had one fail after only 1500 miles. In a follow up phone call 2 days ago to me they told me that Ford Motor Company will begin selling their rebadged 7989 plugs as a problem solver design for 3 valve engines. Seems many people are replacing their plugs and Ford is getting a bit of bad PR regarding the plug fiasco. This news may be common knowledge, just passing it on.
03-09-2012, 07:25 AM
#3
I have been in discussions with Champion tech and engineering departments regarding their 7989 plugs since I had one fail after only 1500 miles. In a follow up phone call 2 days ago to me they told me that Ford Motor Company will begin selling their rebadged 7989 plugs as a problem solver design for 3 valve engines. Seems many people are replacing their plugs and Ford is getting a bit of bad PR regarding the plug fiasco. This news may be common knowledge, just passing it on.
03-10-2012, 10:29 AM
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Otto457:
I don't know why Ford decided to venture into the one piece spark plug arena (via champion) at this point but if I were to guess, I would say it is legal related and they are receiving heat from unwanted PR and maybe a class action lawsuit or two and want to offer their customers a once and for all fix for their spark plug separation woes and is guaranteed to not be a issue no matter if the Ford TSB is followed or not.
Skc72:
I returned my failed plug to the local Advance Auto parts for warranty replacement per initial phone call with Federal Mogul. After returning the plug, only then did I start getting phone calls from their tech and engineering areas wanting to know more about the conditions and symptoms and then asking for me to send the plugs directly to the factory if it happens again. Their thinking is the ceramic and center electrode are having dissimilar cooling cycles that may cause the center electrode to break internally. Whatever the reason, they seem to very motivated to research issues because of this Ford contract. Thats my impression.
I don't know why Ford decided to venture into the one piece spark plug arena (via champion) at this point but if I were to guess, I would say it is legal related and they are receiving heat from unwanted PR and maybe a class action lawsuit or two and want to offer their customers a once and for all fix for their spark plug separation woes and is guaranteed to not be a issue no matter if the Ford TSB is followed or not.
Skc72:
I returned my failed plug to the local Advance Auto parts for warranty replacement per initial phone call with Federal Mogul. After returning the plug, only then did I start getting phone calls from their tech and engineering areas wanting to know more about the conditions and symptoms and then asking for me to send the plugs directly to the factory if it happens again. Their thinking is the ceramic and center electrode are having dissimilar cooling cycles that may cause the center electrode to break internally. Whatever the reason, they seem to very motivated to research issues because of this Ford contract. Thats my impression.
03-10-2012, 11:20 AM
#5
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+1. replaced mine with the redesigned MotorCraft and all has been good (for the last 8k miles anyway). Already bought a second set of the same MotorCraft plugs from AAP with some online coupons.