NGK Ruthenium HX - Higher Ignitability?

JT Si

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Has anyone seen any real world results of these new spark plugs? My other car is due for spark plugs, so I looked up the NGK plugs to find these. Outside of their own marketed testing, I can't find any real comparison of them vs. iridium, platinum, or conventional copper plugs.

They don't list a Ruthenium HX part for the L15, so I found a model that has identical specs to the OEM ILZKAR8J8SY Si plug except the gap is 0.031" instead of 0.030". I verified with NGK these are usable for our application. I may regap them but NGK suggested to use them as gapped due to the very small difference.

I ordered a set for the Si along with my other vehicle for kicks - there have been some interesting claims on other car forums that could absolutely be attributed to simply replacing an old plug with a new one. I've only got about 6,000 miles so the factory plugs should still be in excellent condition.

I don't have access to a dyno or any other objective comparison tools so I'll post a subjective comparison this weekend when I swap the plugs out.

I wonder how higher ignitability might affect the system as a whole?

Edit: forgot the marketing materials.
Honda Civic 10th gen NGK Ruthenium HX - Higher Ignitability? NGK68716-graphics-for-web-IGNITABILITY-768x491
Honda Civic 10th gen NGK Ruthenium HX - Higher Ignitability? NGK68716-graphics-for-web-ACCELERATION-768x384
Honda Civic 10th gen NGK Ruthenium HX - Higher Ignitability? NGK68716-graphics-for-web-COMBUSTION-TEST-768x382
 
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REBELXSi

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Lol no way in hell that difference in gap makes a difference. The margin of error is more than that.
 

kytos

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Hi,

How are the spark plugs doing?
 
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JT Si

JT Si

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Hi,

How are the spark plugs doing?
Here's my month old write-up from another forum.

JT Si said:
Based on the marketing material, I think the seat of the pants differences I have experienced line up with realistic expectations in an application that wasn't designed to take advantage of the quicker and potentially more complete ignition.

Essentially, at low RPM and high load the engine feels less "buzzy". Driving around a parking lot in first gear, going WOT at 2500 RPM, and going up an incline in top gear at a low RPM (highway and freeway) all feel smoother for the engine. The difference is very subtle but enough that other people have commented it feels smoother with no knowledge a change was made.

I assume this is a product of more rapid or more complete combustion. I do not feel like the car is any faster, and it's possible the engine's ECU optimizes out the quicker ignition by adjusting timing. So who knows, I have no way to objectively or quantitatively measure a difference.

If the improvement in technology can lead to power, efficiency, or emissions gains I assume it would require a platform to be designed to utilize the design from the ground up. Next generation engines that were built with Ruthenium plugs might see a small improvement in overall performance, and I'm convinced that OEMs will adopt the new technology to see these gains along with further improvements in spark plug longevity.

For now, I'm pleased with even a barely-perceptible-to-placebo level effect of smoothing out certain engine loads and I won't be reverting to the factory plugs. It's not like these plugs cost more than Iridiums, and I'm not sure there are any downsides to choosing them instead if you're replacing plugs on a vehicle. Otherwise, I don't see a reason to run to the store and buy them like I did.


TL;DR I switched to Ruthenium plugs and my car doesn't feel faster.
Over a month later, still seems less buzzy or or more smooth under certain conditions. I'm getting less soot on the tailpipe but that may be totally unrelated.

Edit: I had also regapped them to between 0.028 and 0.030 (I have a wire gauge that has both, so I just gapped it to fit the 0.028 and not fit the 0.030, so the gaps were somewhere between them.)
 
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EkSean

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Curious what part number you found to use? I found some that are exact same specs as the iridium ones. NGK91784
 


amirza786

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I never believe the marketing hype from the manufacturer, they bs and play around with the numbers and their numbers are probably not real world conditions. You would need to either do your own dyno or find a third party that did independent testing. I know, I work for a medical device startup, we are experts at playing with numbers the same way other manufactures do
 

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I never believe the marketing hype from the manufacturer, they bs and play around with the numbers and their numbers are probably not real world conditions. You would need to either do your own dyno or find a third party that did independent testing. I know, I work for a medical device startup, we are experts at playing with numbers the same way other manufactures do
You mean you don't run Splitfire plugs?!?!?
 

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JT Si

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From what I understand, it used to be an old racers trick to cut back the ground electrode a little bit to better expose the spark to the center of the cylinder. This is exactly what the PSPE version intended for GTDI engines accomplishes with the tiny projected electrode.

I think it's potentially a real improvement in spark plug design but whether or not existing engines can squeeze benefits out of the slightly quicker ignition is something else.

Reception has been cold and I have seen zero analysis or testing on these plugs, so until someone who has the tools and resources to do a quantitative analysis does it, there's not much to do except go back and forth between "I think I felt something" and "spark plugs are a gimmick, they can't do anything"
 


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My engine has only 27k km but I am thinking about switching put my spark plugs for new ones. After googling the stock spark plugs, I came across the NGK ruthenium which I never heard of before. Searched here and found this topic. Any more insight on these new plugs?

Also, I found this link. http://prlarmy.com/Blog/tech-talk-spark-plugs-2016-civic/

Its kind of confusing cause it says that for the Si, the plugs out of the box are gapped 0.032" which is within spec, but further down it says "factory recommended gap 0.70-0.75mm / 0.027-0.029". Which of the two is correct?

Plus, I was advised to close the gap by 0.1mm next time I install spark plugs. Anyone knows the actual factory recommended gap, so I'll know my starting point to close the gap by 0.1mm?

Is anyone paying attention to the spark plugs afterall?
 
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JT Si

JT Si

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My engine has only 27k km but I am thinking about switching put my spark plugs for new ones. After googling the stock spark plugs, I came across the NGK ruthenium which I never heard of before. Searched here and found this topic. Any more insight on these new plugs?

Also, I found this link. http://prlarmy.com/Blog/tech-talk-spark-plugs-2016-civic/

Its kind of confusing cause it says that for the Si, the plugs out of the box are gapped 0.032" which is within spec, but further down it says "factory recommended gap 0.70-0.75mm / 0.027-0.029". Which of the two is correct?

Plus, I was advised to close the gap by 0.1mm next time I install spark plugs. Anyone knows the actual factory recommended gap, so I'll know my starting point to close the gap by 0.1mm?

Is anyone paying attention to the spark plugs afterall?
0.027"-0.029" is the correct gap for the Si. I would gap down from there, so 0.6-0.65mm or 0.024"-0.026".

Additionally, PRL claims to have worked with NGK directly to test a few different Ruthenium plugs and that none of them physically fit the Honda 1.5L.

Clearly there is something wrong here as I didn't work directly with NGK but instead did my own research on the spark plug specification and picked a Ruthenium plug I believed should work and it was identical in dimension to the stock plug, fit perfectly, and has been working flawlessly for 5k miles now.

I attempted to talk to @PRL Motorsports in the thread they made about this because I believe they were sent inappropriate plugs by NGK however I was ignored.
 

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0.027"-0.029" is the correct gap for the Si. I would gap down from there, so 0.6-0.65mm or 0.024"-0.026".

Additionally, PRL claims to have worked with NGK directly to test a few different Ruthenium plugs and that none of them physically fit the Honda 1.5L.

Clearly there is something wrong here as I didn't work directly with NGK but instead did my own research on the spark plug specification and picked a Ruthenium plug I believed should work and it was identical in dimension to the stock plug, fit perfectly, and has been working flawlessly for 5k miles now.

I attempted to talk to @PRL Motorsports in the thread they made about this because I believe they were sent inappropriate plugs by NGK however I was ignored.
Thanks. Spark plugs are not that expensive and quite easy to swap so I ll go for the stock ones gapped down to 0.65mm. If there is more feedback on the Ruthenium ones from NGK, I ll test those too.
 

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0.027"-0.029" is the correct gap for the Si. I would gap down from there, so 0.6-0.65mm or 0.024"-0.026".

Additionally, PRL claims to have worked with NGK directly to test a few different Ruthenium plugs and that none of them physically fit the Honda 1.5L.

Clearly there is something wrong here as I didn't work directly with NGK but instead did my own research on the spark plug specification and picked a Ruthenium plug I believed should work and it was identical in dimension to the stock plug, fit perfectly, and has been working flawlessly for 5k miles now.

I attempted to talk to @PRL Motorsports in the thread they made about this because I believe they were sent inappropriate plugs by NGK however I was ignored.
We apologize about this, there are just too many notifications on here, this looks to have been lost in the sauce. :( Reaching out via email/phone will always get you an answer, though!

Unless something has changed (which apparently they have), we have a box of Rutheniums here that do not fit our 1.5T.
 
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JT Si

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We apologize about this, there are just too many notifications on here, this looks to have been lost in the sauce. :( Reaching out via email/phone will always get you an answer, though!

Unless something has changed (which apparently they have), we have a box of Rutheniums here that do not fit our 1.5T.
Yes but what part number are they? I have been using 91784 for 5k miles and they work and fit perfectly. I think you should try these out since you got ones that are inappropriate for the engine.
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