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badmrb

Active Member
Champion REM38E

Is there a source for the internal resistor? Or are my plugs really ready for the trash?

Having sporadic hard starting. I have one electronic ign and one slick mag. Engine starts on mag only. Pulled plugs. Checked mag timing, spark etc.. Decided to measure plug resistance based on some other posts. Of the four plugs I got one to read at 60k and couldnt even get a reading on the other three!

Pulled the resistor out, nothing to see, similar measurements. Hate to throw a hundred dollars worth of good looking plugs away because a resistor the size of a tic tac has failed!
 
Champion will service the plugs if they are worthy of it, and they charge only a few bucks to do it, but they will not send you parts. I don't blame them either.

What is the electrode condition like?

Are the gaps accurate at 0.016 - 0.018" as this really matters when cold starting and when running LOP.

The other option is Tempest.
 
Plugs

Plugs should read less than 2K ohms. If they read over 5K ohms, replace. Champion is not living up to it's reputation lately. Check for cracked or broken porcelain at the tips.
 
I'm reaching here but before you blame the plugs, check to see if the impulse is working by pulling the prop through and listening for a loud snap or click as you go past top dead center on all 4 cylinders? Larry
 
Mag clicks. Set plugs on top of engine and get a visible spark. Timing right. Mag check is fine. Runs fine. Sporadic hard starting is only complaint.

My cheep meter thats in my airport tool box gives me 60kohms on one plug and wont even read on the other three on the max setting of 2000kohms.

Engine not missing, no visible cracks. With resistor out center electrode reads almost 0 ohms. The silicone carbide resistors have just failed.

Unless a source exists for the little tic-tac sized resistor im probably gonna order tempest replacements first of next week.

Just seems silly to throw perfectly good plugs away. Why even make the resistor removable/replaceable if not able to service it?
 
They're not perfectly good any more :) You're not the only one having this issue with Champion plugs..
 
Tempest

Running Tempest plugs in the whole fleet (12 A/C) very satisfied on all counts. Buying from AERO, good price, awsome customer service. Russ
 
Junk your Champions before they junk your engine.

There's overwhelming amounts of information now about their defective internal resistor design, and how cracking insulators are causing piston melt-downs. Look up Tornado Alley Turbo for some more information on what they have seen in HP engines. Very ugly.

BTW- the internal resistor comes out but you can't get new ones to replace it.
 
Just to be fair here, and I did have a pretty close study of this when the TAT SB was issued, the issue seems to be cracking fine wires on Turbo installs.

Others have had them on NA IO360 SR20's, so who knows. But the Turbo ones were far too often and not easily explained by a dropped plug.

The resistance issue and the cracking issue are unrelated.

For the best part of a few hundred hours the champions seem fine. The tempest perform better in this way. Other than that it is hard to tell any difference.

YMMV :)
 
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