Tempest Fine Wire failure

[exM20K]

I just lost my third Tempest fine-wire plug of the year this morning during the run-up mag test.  The first two dropped the center electrode, and this morning’s failure is just a failure in the engine and on the tester.

Has anyone here gotten any support from tempest for failed plugs, and if so, through whom?

thanks in advance

-dan

[LANCECASPER]

18 minutes ago, exM20K said:

I just lost my third Tempest fine-wire plug of the year this morning.  The first two dropped the center electrode, and this morning’s failure is just a failure in the engine and on the tester.

Has anyone here gotten any support from tempest for failed plugs, and if so, through whom?

thanks in advance

-dan

@Yetti was the first one on here that had in issue back in 2018 and got replacements from them

Tempest had farmed out some of their manufacturing and there were bad plugs for a few of those years, but I understand they have brought it back in-house.

 

 

[Ragsf15e]

My last set was at ~800hrs and doing fine.  Weird how there’s some random failures.

[DXB]

Seems unlikely both plugs failed simultaneously on #3?

 

[Yetti]

3 hours ago, exM20K said:

I just lost my third Tempest fine-wire plug of the year this morning.  The first two dropped the center electrode, and this morning’s failure is just a failure in the engine and on the tester.

Has anyone here gotten any support from tempest for failed plugs, and if so, through whom?

thanks in advance

-dan

When where the plugs purchased?    try   vincebechtel@tempestplus.com   or gehrlich@aeroaccessories.com

 

Since that time I have 3 of 4 Champion BY plugs with cracked insulators that are sitting on a table waiting on me to do something with.

[PT20J]

3 hours ago, exM20K said:

I just lost my third Tempest fine-wire plug of the year this morning.  The first two dropped the center electrode, and this morning’s failure is just a failure in the engine and on the tester.

Has anyone here gotten any support from tempest for failed plugs, and if so, through whom?

thanks in advance

-dan

Try contacting Josh Christopher at Tempest.

jchristopher@tempestaero.com

336-449-5054 ext 539

[PT20J]

24 minutes ago, Yetti said:

When where the plugs purchased?    try   vincebechtel@tempestplus.com   or gehrlich@aeroaccessories.com

 

Since that time I have 3 of 4 Champion BY plugs with cracked insulators that are sitting on a table waiting on me to do something with.

Champion plugs have random cracked nose insulators ever since it went to the molded-in resistors. Might be due to eliminating the cement between the insulator and center electrode.

[exM20K]

1 hour ago, DXB said:

Seems unlikely both plugs failed simultaneously on #3?

 

No. These traces are the run-up and mag check.  I shut down after #3 went cold. Turning the right mag back on can get noisy and expensive with the unburned fuel/air in the cylinder and exhaust.

[Yetti]

35 minutes ago, PT20J said:

Champion plugs have random cracked nose insulators ever since it went to the molded-in resistors. Might be due to eliminating the cement between the insulator and center electrode.

I should probably figure out how many hours are on them and start the questioning process.    It just does not seem that ceramic bouncing around in the cylinder seems like a good idea.

 

[philiplane]

Tempest is very good at replacing any defective plugs. They had a few isolated batches with center electrode problems. 

Josh is your contact at Tempest:

Josh Christopher

O: 336.449.5054 Ext. 539

M: 864.314.9462

E: jchristopher@tempestaero.com

www.tempestaero.com

[PT20J]

3 hours ago, Yetti said:

I should probably figure out how many hours are on them and start the questioning process.    It just does not seem that ceramic bouncing around in the cylinder seems like a good idea.

 

I’ve had two break (regular massives, not BY). On one, the piece blew out the exhaust. The other one got the broken piece caught behind the electrodes and caused preignition (which fortunately I caught before it damaged the cylinder). I switched to Tempest BY plugs and so far, so good.