Reading my plugs

My garage changed mine early (12k, one service, before schedule) and they were a lot more fouled than that too.

shitloads on

Nah, all standard other than the leads. The leads made an improvement though!

No, I think the leads will be good in the long run because they should outlive the engine and never need replacing. These Evolution plugs aren't actually performance ones any way. They're just what was on the net and were half price. They were just under =A313 delivered to my door, which I think is similar to a set of NGK's in Halfords.

difference

Nope I would!

"Nah, all standard other than the leads. The leads made an improvement though!"

Because they're new. Really. I've tried many different types of leads, and standard ones do just as well as any other on a standard little car. Your leads were probably breaking down, the new ones aren't, so they're an improvement. A set of cheap n cheerfuls would've had thesame end result though.

"No, I think the leads will be good in the long run because they should outlive the engine and never need replacing. These Evolution plugs aren't actually performance ones any way. They're just what was on the net and were half price. They were just under £13 delivered to my door, which I think is similar to a set of NGK's in Halfords."

Well, you do consider anything over 10 years old to be 2 years late for the scrap yard, so your leads might just go that long. My old copper cored original leads have outlived a 30 year old engine they were fitted to though, so really, why did you bother spending money on fancy ones that you really don't need?

As for the plugs, I pay around 6 quid a set for NGK BP6ES, 8 quid if I'm in a hurry and have to go somewhere pricier. Halfords are not the last word, or even the first word, in value for money.

To put it another way, there's other things you could do to improve the performance or mpg of your car, and spending it on overpriced ignition bits for a vanilla iginition system just doesn't seem to be the way. If you'd improved the spark strength I could see the point, but you haven't, you've just beefed up the parts *after* the bit that makes the difference (the coil, or modern equivalent of).

Fiver says you won't. Have you tried new OEM and new magnewotsits next to each other?

Yes, I have!

petermcmillan snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote on 16 May 2005 04:59:54 -0700:

I'll only beleive they make a difference IF:

You can tell which set of leads are fitted based on either the performance, or sound, of your engine.

Note: to avoid placebo effects, someone else must fit the leads without telling you which are fitted.

Obviously, it's a bit of hassle, so I'll be unsurprised if you don't try it, but otherwise you will not convince me the leads are anything other than a placebo effect...

Are you he same pillock that insisted his car was pinking, against all evidence that it wasn't. And now you reckon you can spot the difference in two sets of ignition leads? Don't be so bloody stupid.

improvement

leads, and

I've tried quite a few as well. I noticed no difference between Bosch. The Magnecor ones did make a very noticeable difference to the engine sound though. If it was having a placebo effect then I would've noticed a difference with Bosch or Fiat leads.

These are copper leads, and have a 10 year guarantee, but should last a lot longer than 10 years.

Not bad!

ignition bits

I didn't get them to improve the performance, and I haven't really noticed the car being any faster, it just sounds different.

I didn't 'insist' that it was pinking. There was a problem with it that sounded like pinking and I wanted to know what it was. It seemed to be cured when I changed the fuel filter, but lets not get back into that again.

ignition leads?

Yes

It is hard to believe, but I don't really care whether people believe me or not.

Can you get a bloody newsreader sorted out? Trying to both help and insult you is a right bastard when you're using that bloody online crap!

I thought it was your news reader. Our newsreaders obviously aren't compatible. Give me a few weeks, months... maybe years, and I should be able to get it sorted ;-). Finish uni in 2 weeks time so it should be fairly soon.

Double blind test or did you know which was fitted when you tried?

You are at Uni?

aren't

Yes, unfortunately... On the last couple of weeks, of my last year. Start a job next month.

Computer Science!

I knew. The differences I've experience wasn't what I was expecting at all.

When they first went on I just started the car to test them (check they're on the right cylinders etc). When the car started it sounded exactly the same as before. I thought that I'd obviously need to drive the car to look for any differences. Then I give it a bit of gas, and could hear the difference, which REALLY suprised me. It seemed to be a bit smoother/quieter. The higher it's revved the bigger the difference. In normal driving you don't really notice it, it's only after about 3,000rpm when you can hear a small difference. From about

I know there's a difference, and don't really care what other people think. These leads are very popular with Seicento/Cinquecento owners, and all of them seem to think that they make a difference. They usually say that it makes the engine 'rev freer', I suppose that could be what my engine's doing.

Oh dear.

A word from someone in the field - if someone tells you something is so, then please remember that experience counts for everything in computing - and people are seriously not going to be impressed with degrees etc - ability has to be demonstrated and respect earned - it's not granted with a piece of paper.

The message from Chris Street contains these words:

You mean a bit like people telling him his car ain't pinking and him still banging on about it months later.

Seriously, Peter, you're going to find work hard if you don't shut up and listen to what people with experience tell you.

computing -

Great, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that. I *think* employees value degrees, but I know that degrees don't really mean much. A degree is only the VERY basics. If you'd read my other posts you'd know that I think the degree's rubbish. I don't value degrees. Some of the stuff we've done has been a joke, such as basic GCSE maths in the 3rd year, we moved onto A-level stuff by the end of the module! Through the course I think there's been a lot of rubbish, and not enough of what will be done in the real world. I can't wait until I start working, I'll probably learn more in the first year at work than I did during the whole of my degree. Oh, and don't worry, I do listen to people, especially if they're experienced, and/or my boss.