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View Full Version : Knock off sparkplug?



El Camexican
05-30-2017, 10:27 PM
I bought this champion spark plug on eBay a few weeks ago. The first thing that struck me as odd when I pulled it out of the box was that the finish on it seemed to be very low quality, as the zinc was blotchy like it had been exposed to humidity for a long time. Then when I installed it it there was no spark.

I looked closer at the plug and it seems that some of the metal stamping is less then uniform and the ink, or whatever is used to write the word champion on the porcelain appears to be inconsistent as well.

So I very politely contacted the seller and asked if there was a possibility that this may not be a genuine Champion spark plug. He responded asking if I was accusing him of selling a falsely label product and said that I should return it to him for refund. I think instead I am going to try to contact champion USA tomorrow and see if they would be interested in taking a look at it. Have any of you guys ever heard of something like this? Or is it possible the champion gone the el cheapo route and started buying the absolute lowest cost product they can find and putting their name on it?

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6bt
05-31-2017, 01:09 AM
Looks ok to me unless you post a few more pics

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Shep1970
05-31-2017, 06:09 AM
I found this story, its from 2005 though. Maybe the 600,000 fake sparkplugs went to auction?
http://www.daily-jeff.com/local%20news/2005/01/20/counterfeit-champion-spark-plugs-from-china-federal-mogul-takes-lead-in-parts-counterfeiting-fight

Shep

El Camexican
05-31-2017, 07:45 AM
I found this story, its from 2005 though. Maybe the 600,000 fake sparkplugs went to auction?
http://www.daily-jeff.com/local%20news/2005/01/20/counterfeit-champion-spark-plugs-from-china-federal-mogul-takes-lead-in-parts-counterfeiting-fight

Shep

Interesting! I was looking for something like this , but only NGK came up.

6bt; I figured the photos might not show enough, but I can say without a doubt that the word Champion on the original plug is much sharper than it is on this one. Look closely at the "N" in the photo and you should be able to see that the vertical line on the right side is thicker than the other two lines that make up the N. The letters on my original plug are crisp and uniform. I belief there is usually an hour glass figure in a box on every Champion plug I've ever recall seeing and this plug doesn't have one.

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atc007
05-31-2017, 08:30 AM
Looks Champion to me. The only 2 things I will put them in. A mower or a tractor. They just do not work right in Japanese ignitions...IMHO... I would def call Champion. You know what you're looking at .

El Camexican
05-31-2017, 08:49 AM
Looks Champion to me. The only 2 things I will put them in. A mower or a tractor. They just do not work right in Japanese ignitions...IMHO... I would def call Champion. You know what you're looking at .

Amen to that! Maybe that's part of why this thing looks so cheap to me, I'm comparing it to the NGK plugs I normally use.

ironchop
05-31-2017, 10:04 AM
I've noticed the last case of NGK plugs I got looked like poor quality and weren't living up to their service life.

The plug you posted does look off to me as well

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wonderboy
05-31-2017, 11:09 AM
PM sent regarding contact with Champion.

sledcrazyinCT
05-31-2017, 10:48 PM
I do remember some NGK counterfeits being peddled for some older sled models a while back.

Dirtcrasher
06-01-2017, 04:07 PM
What a dick seller for not helping you much.

He could have sent you another one or thought to himself, hmmm. "This is why I got a hundred of these for 32$"...