Pulstar Pulse Plugs

So, after trying these things out on my old car with poor results, I decided to go ahead and give them another go on the Mirage. They've made several changes to the design, so hopefully they'll work better now. On my Aspire, after running them for a while, they fouled up and began misfiring, but felt pretty nice when they worked. The Mirage runs about 10 degrees hotter, so maybe that'll keep the carbon at bay.

So, just what am I talking about? These "pulse plugs" are essentially spark plugs with an internal capacitor, and store what would be wasted energy to release it all at once, resulting in a much more consistent firing time, as well as the production of plasma, which quickens the fuel burn.

This article does a good job of explaining what they are and what they do: http://www.onallcylinders.com/2016/0...g-performance/

So, how does it work with the Mirage? Initial subjective review is that it does make it feel a tiny little more peppy. Not sure if there's really much of a power/economy gain, but I did get 56 mpg on my way home from work, but conditions were also ideal.

What I can quantify, though, is idle quality. The idle with the OEM spark plugs had a fuel usage of about .13 GPH when at full temperature. In my tinkering, I decided to experiment with side-gapping the OEM plugs, which did show an improvement, with the usage going down to .12 GPH, occasionally hitting .11 GPH. The Pulstars? They sit at a steady .11 GPH, and occasionally dip to .10 GPH.

So what does that mean? It means at minimum, they're making the idle much smoother, which can be quantified. As for power gains? The butt dyno likes them, but can't say for sure if they make more power, and I'd need consistent testing to determine MPG gains. My main concern is how long the plugs will last before they start to misfire like the last time I used them.

Part number is DG1H-10. https://pulstar.com/product/dg1h-10/

They used to sell spark plugs just like this a long time ago for use in oil fouled engines (worn rings, valve guides). They contain an internal spark gap that prevented spark energy from leaking across the carbon fouled spark plug center electrode until the coil built up enough voltage to spark across both the clean internal gap and the carbon fouled external gap. They were helpful in an engine that fouled plugs in one or two thousand miles but worked no different whatsoever from regular plugs in a good engine. The only problem is that they put additional stress on the spark coil because the spark has to jump across two gaps instead of one which requires a higher voltage. Pulstar calls their internal gap a capacitor but its really just a gap.

I never heard of these. Thanks for posting this.

How were you measuring your fuel usage?

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Originally Posted by Cani Lupine

... My main concern is how long the plugs will last before they start to misfire like the last time I used them.

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I'm glad somebody finally put the Pulstar into the real test.

It remains to be seen whether it is worth the high price.

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Originally Posted by daleWV

...They contain an internal spark gap that prevented spark energy from leaking across the carbon fouled spark plug center electrode until the coil built up enough voltage to spark across both the clean internal gap and the carbon fouled external gap. They were helpful in an engine that fouled plugs in one or two thousand miles but worked no different whatsoever from regular plugs in a good engine. The only problem is that they put additional stress on the spark coil because the spark has to jump across two gaps instead of one which requires a higher voltage. Pulstar calls their internal gap a capacitor but its really just a gap.

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It appears to me that the design is based on capacitor voltage-doubler principle.

hmmm something new! will keep an eye on this thread hehe. keep us posted with your updates

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Originally Posted by Mitz

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It appears to me that the design is based on capacitor voltage-doubler principle.

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I did not know this was possible without the use of diodes. Do you mind explaining a little more?

Any conversion of voltage, whether an increase or a decrease, involves a loss of energy.

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Originally Posted by MightyMirageMpg

How were you measuring your fuel usage?

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I have an UltraGauge installed. Even though Linear Logic is an awesome company and their customer service was amazing when I had an issue, I ended up liking the UltraGauge more than the ScanGauge.

I used Pulstar plugs in my 1997 Toyota Paseo for a year until one failed. Then I went back to Denso double grounded plugs (thats what the OEM calls for). In that time I noticed no fuel economy improvement, and I was meticulously tracking fuel economy as I pushed that car all the way up to 71 mpg on two tank fills.

They may indeed work, but in my experience it wasn't enough to notice in the noise of everyday fuel economy fluctuation.

I want to try this Pulstar but I dislike the nickel material. I ended up ordering the Brisk Evo+ instead as my stock spare. Just hoping this will be delivered soonest as I am using freight forwarding services for the purchase.

After just over 10k miles, the plugs failed. It started misfiring badly when I left work, with the CEL flashing for #1 cylinder misfire. Turns out, the ceramic insulator tips were broken on two of the three plugs, and one was bad enough to start misfiring. Had to have my roommates come out with my tools and OEM plugs so I could swap them to get home.

Emailed Pulstar, and the founder replied VERY quickly, so we'll see what they do. I might go ahead and mail them back to them for further examination.

The gaps had grown dramatically within the 10k mile period, all the way out to 0.050 on the undamaged plug. I'm actually shocked because they use a material they claim is super hard and lasts a long time. The center electrodes wore faster on the edge closest to the ground electrode.

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Thanks for the follow up!

I had doubts on the Inconel material which the electrode is made of. Is it better than Platinum?

I would never use those. NGK/Denso for me in any "foreign " "Asian" car I've ever owned.

Our cars have three ignition coils, and each is directly connected to its own spark plug, lacking all the losses from long cables with electrical resistance, distributor, etc. Since each cylinder has its own coil, each coil has the time of two engine revolutions before firing once.
An old fashioned V6 with six cylinders and one ignition coil plus high resistance cables and distributor used to have only one-sixth of the time before the coil had to fire again. The resulting spark was much weaker because the coil had to fire six times more often per engine revolution than in our cars, and each spark was additionally weakened from high distribution losses.
The coils of our cars have more than enough time to gather enough magnetic flux for creating a strong enough spark. Remember, time is the critical factor for magnetic flux development in any coil! Furthermore, the coils in our cars have ferrite cores, electrically much better than old fashioned iron core ignition coils 1930 style. This results in a much higher voltage than a "conventional" ignition system, and on top of that, results in much more energy for each spark.

Combine that with iridium plugs, those plugs with a thin centre electrode, and you get the best, most reliable and longest-lasting plugs together with the best style ignition system on the market that also has the strongest possible spark!

What could make anybody seriously think that plugs built for a 1960 style oil-burning, low compression, lambda-inconsistant carburated engine would bring about any improvement in our endlessly more technologically advanced cars?