I find it really amusing when the US federal government gets the blame for
advances in technology that originated from Germany and Japan!

What has driven the development of multi-electrode plugs is strong
**consumer** pressure for longer service intervals and lower service costs.
This pressure is very strong here in Europe and longer service intervals are
therefore a great selling point.

All car manufacturers are under pressure from consumers to minimise the
number of visits to the workshop, the time spent on each visit and the
overall cost.  This is done by developing consumables such as spark plugs,
engine oil and filters that have longer service intervals and engine
managament systems that are self-correcting and don't need regular tuning.

I welcome these changes.  I use multi-electrode plugs in all my vehicles (85
1.9 Vanagon, 95 2.6i South African Vanagon and an Audi A6) and use synthetic
oil in the SA Vanagon and the Audi - the SA Vanagon has an Audi-derived
5-cylinder engine.  This way, I get longer service intervals and the costs
stay low.

There's no conspiracy here, just consumer pressure - and the results are
worth it.

The fact that multi-electrode plugs weren't around when the Vanagon WBX
engines were designed is irrelevant.  All you need is a good spark and a
plug with the right physical size and heat rating.

The multi-electrode plugs go for a much longer mileage than single electrode
plugs.  They cost a little more, but last much longer then the price
difference, so they are cheaper overall.  The environment gets a bonus in
that exhaust emissions stay constant for longer.

I know that some people have problems with anything new, and it is right to
be cautious about using (for example) 100% synthetic oil in an engine that
wasn't designed for it.  But there is nothing to fear from multi-electrode
plugs - they are a Win/Win/Win.

Tony

>Date:    Fri, 11 Jun 2004 14:44:27 -0500
>From:    Bruce Nadig <motorbruce@HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: vanagon single electrode plugs
>
>I think that the whole multiple electrode craze is actually driven by the
>federal government. They are having tighter and tighter emissions
>standards,
>and ANY component that may potentially affect emissions must have a longer
>service life. Right now I think that the feds want parts to last 100,000
>miles.