GTV6 Spark Plugs Golden Lodge

[Fylnn]

I noted an earlier post where people have been using BP7ES with a 0.8mm gap in the V6 engine.  I currenlty have Golden Lodges in the car.  It was dynoed a few months back and produced 132HP at the rear wheels with a Haltech on it.  The car is not road worthy yet and since then the engine running has been confined to stating it up once a week or soo to get the oil circulating and heating it right up, revving it up here and there and so on.  Hardly ideal I know, but has to do until it is road worthy shortly I hope.

The question is that now it seems to be developing a miss and reluctant to run at low revs and feels like only on 4 cylinders.  It could be lots of things I know but easiest thing to do first is change spark plugs.  What is peoples experience with the Golden Lodge.  I have heard they are a little prone to fouling so maybe this is my issue and maybe NGK would be better but would they necessarily be?

[dehne]

i had the same prob with my white 90 when i dont run it all the time it. it runs like crap for a bit then its ok, but now after what i read on here somewhere i pull the plugs out and clean the once a month have not had the prob since maybe it will work for you to

[MD]

dehne,

....i pull the plugs out and clean the once a month ...

for goodness sake, change plug brands. That's a ridiculous frequency for a road car.

[shane wescott]

I used to swear by Golden Lodge - and I still think they are the plugs that are linked by DNA to Alfa, but I run the NGK's in my GTV6.

I too have regular cleaning sprees with my car but my view is this is caused by a tired engine, and too much running in the city for such an Open Road car.

If I run my GTV6 to work for 3 or 4 days in a week, I know it is not far off needing a spark plug cleaning.

Just on another note, I currently don't have a plug tool that will let me remove the plug bacl of engine near the brake assembly (number 8 i think).

That plug I am sure is a Golden Lodge, and has been in that postion for 3 years, has never been cleaned and never misfires :-)

Just my experience.

To MD - I love cleaning my plugs, I love taking the car for a run after it's started running rough, i've cleaned the plugs, and it is roaring again - makes me feel close to The Beast :-)

Catch ya

Shane

[MD]

To MD - I love cleaning my plugs, I love taking the car for a run after it's started running rough, i've cleaned the plugs, and it is roaring again - makes me feel close to The Beast :-)

Hahaa. Ok, I get the romance but seriously Shane if you need to do that very frequently, the state of tune is suss. The engine is likely worn/on the way out and ignition high tension needs checking but then who am I to break up a good romance? 

On my road cars I gap my NGK plugs every 10k (but I dont clean them) and change them every 20k. I don't have any misfires or flat spots at any stage of the rpm range unless I hit the limiter !! 

[Simon Aarons]

It's a good idea to have the airflow meter checked. I had mine done last year and found that the car was running ridiculously rich!

It was pretty common for me to be cleaning plugs way to often, even got to the point where it wouldn't fire at all! Since i had the airflow meter tuned petrol consumption was down to anywhere from 11-13L per 100k around town and no where near as much spark plug changes....though i seemed to be finding lots of oil where oil shouldn't be so that was also contributing to the fortnightly spark plug change    

[dehne]

Just on another note, I currently don't have a plug tool that will let me remove the plug bacl of engine near the brake assembly (number 8 i think).

That plug I am sure is a Golden Lodge, and has been in that postion for 3 years, has never been cleaned and never misfires :-)

Just my experience.

Shane

hi shane ill be in melb near latrobe uni most of tomorrow and my spark plug tool is in the car i also have a broken tool just needs a bolt to fix ill bring it to just give me a call on 0418711643 and ill drop by

[colcol]

I used to run Golden Lodges in the 33 and they were ok, but i found no better or worse than Bosch or NGK, but the Golden Lodges were more expensive than the others, but when sand blasting them at work i could always show owners at work of lesser makes "look at the racing multi pronged Alfa Romeo plugs", BUT in the last few years all brands seem to misfire after about a month or so so after some advise from my brother, i tried a slightly hotter plug and that seems to have cured the misfiring problems, a hotter plug has less cooling ribs on it and it runs hotter burning all the contaminates off it, however nothing is for nothing, make sure the spark plug tip is not getting too hot and melting, Colin.

[Al Campbell]

Shane,
To get the spark plug stuck down next to the brake master [I think you meant No. 6, not 8, unless you’ve got a real special engine ], I fit a wobbly joint to the plug socket  feed it down the hole, fit a second wobbly joint then a long extension. Careful not to push the plastic brake reservoir to much as it’s bound to snap off one day ‘cause that’s life.

Pulled my plugs (hot NGK BP6ES) Monday night think they needed a clean ‘cause of a misfire that morning  only to find they were clean, but No 4 had a cracked insulator! Luckily couldn’t see any bits missing.

AL.

[shane wescott]

yes i did say number 8, didnt i tell you i had a Montreal engine implanted in the Beast ( i wish).

Thanks for the offers of the tools will try to hook up for the fix it one.

When you say "tuned" the afm, how is that done. Sounds like fun and something I should try :-) I'm assuming it's either to do with tension of the spring or an electrical adjustment.

Any info ?

[Al Campbell]

I'm guessing  Simon is talking about changing the spring tension.  Although you could also add external resistors as well.

I moved the AFM flap spring one tooth a month back to lean it out. I was having to pull the plugs for a clean every 4 to 6 weeks. I thought it was time to do it again when it started running on 4 or 5 cylinders and found the plugs weren't  fouled, just one cracked insulator. No sign of melting or anything like that. So I don't think It's too lean.

AL.

[Simon Aarons]

I had the car connected to a machine which took readings from a sensor put into the end of the exhaust.

I didn't understand all of the readings but i was told the car was running very rich and was also putting out more emissions than it should. After the re-tune it drove like a different car! Extremely smooth through the revs and 'felt' like it had a bit more pick up than it use to...also less spark plug changes!

The guys at Monza Motors organised it for me.. best to give them a call - 9729 9946 

[MD]

Shane,

As the discussion is moving into tuning ie altering afm settings, keep in mind that to get this right, the car should be on dyno so the air to fuel mixtures can be checked under idle, top end and under load. Otherwise shooting in the dark might make thing appear better in the short term but wind up costly in the end.eg. burnt valves.

[shane wescott]

cool defo sounds out of my league then :-)

I am more of a knitting needle and listening to the blunt end of a screwdriver type of tuner :-)

CAtch ya
Shane