I predict you will like the Tempest plugs. Me, I'll never purchase a Champion again.
0-320 starting to run rough over 2000rpm
- Thread starter hunt/trapak88
- Start date
When I went to OMC outboard motor school I remember the instructor telling us how to "test" spark plugs while performing troubleshooting or a tune up. It's very easy to do: First remove the plugs, carefully set each one on the surface of the water, if it floats re-install in the engine, if it sinks replace it. It's called the "float test" and it seemed to be a highly accurate test for spark plugs.
hotrod180
FRIEND
Port Townsend, WA
Good test for cheap car / motorcycle plugs, for $25 & up aviation plugs not so much.
Here's a troubleshooting guide from Aircraft Mag Service including how to resistance-test plugs.
http://www.aircraftmagnetoservice.net/magneto-troubleshooting-guide
From that webpage:
- Take an OHM Meter and measure the resistance value from the connection in the bottom of the barrel to the clean center electrode at the firing end, electrode must be bare metal.
- A new Champion plug will have a value of 800 to 1200 OHMS. New Tempest (formerly Unison-Autolite) will measure 1000 OHMS. Replace any plug above 5000 OHMS.
- A spark plug bomb tester can test a bad plug and lead you to conclude it is serviceable. The OHM Meter check is simple, readily available, and amazingly accurate in finding misfiring plugs.
hunt/trapak88
MEMBER
Thought about carb, but other than possibly re-jetting since I went 10:1(which I've been told by many I don't need to do), it ran fine before I tried flying my cub upside down....if mags/plugs don't fix it that's the next thing I'm gonna look into. The thing ran fine before the mishap, and like I said only thing that changed was pistons/new harness
hunt/trapak88
MEMBER
Aero carries tempest plugs?
hunt/trapak88
MEMBER
Appreciate ya
Holy cow. Not an A&P and never knew so many things could cause a rough running engine. That being said, just watched an 0-320 being worked on for a similar problem with a rough running engine starting at about 1800 rpm. The mechanic was going through the drill checking one thing at a time and before it was over with, he found (on a recent shop overhaul) that one cylinder had the rocker arms reversed (didn't even know that was possible) and in that same cylinder the valve springs were toast (collapsed) due to overheating. Cylinder was overhauled and waiting to be put back on. Have no idea if that will clear up the problem but just throwing that out there as an unqualified pilot that doesn't know much about anything. Sure wouldn't have been anything I would have known to check. Good luck!
hunt/trapak88
MEMBER
i pulled 3 valve covers off and checked, the exhaust side had the small hole in the bottoms of rocker are the intake had a small dimple lookin hole on the top. I believe that is correct
Yes sir. I believe that's correct. With my luck it would be under the fourth one. [emoji2]
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hunt/trapak88
MEMBER
Had mags looked at. He replaced the distributor block and capacitor, at same time I switched to tempest plugs. Problem solved. Now I gotta figured out if I wanna go to a EI elec tach. Tired of my mech jumping all over and replacing tach cables. Anybody have any idea how long it would last on a 12v spade connector batt? I have no elec and would like to have an idea how long it would last on a fully charged batt that I use for my radio, before I spend several hundred bucks. I think I could not wire in the small lights on the gauge to save some batt life
skywagon8a
MEMBER
SE Mass MA6
This is the installation manual. On page 12 the power consumption is 1/10 of an amp. So it would run for 10 hours and only consume 1 amp of power from your battery.
http://buy-ei.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/OI-II-R-1.pdf?x57196
hunt/trapak88
MEMBER
Damn. That's longer than I thought. I could double stack my lil batts or just get a lil larger one. Thanks
