Testing FAKE NGK Spark plugs from Amazon

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[@fredsalter1915]

Super sorry for your loss, Oz. I lost my mom 9 months ago and it is still fresh and painful in my mind. Keep strong, sir!!!

[@OzMechanics]

It still feels surreal. But my dad gave it all he could.

[@hit8iron]

Sorry for your loss brother. My theory is Ohms law. The lower resistance causing higher amps that maybe the coil can't produce. As you add heat to the plug the resistance goes up (maybe lol). Maybe use a heat gun on a plug and test that theory. Master Tech from Rosenberg, TX here, and I'm a huge fan of your channel. Thanks for the content brother.

[@stuzman52]

Sorry for your loss and wishing you and your family best wishes. When you’re dealing with electrical parts, as you mentioned, best to stay away from Amazon and EBay.

[@williammcmillan7502]

There is a trick I tried on some Ebay Nissan plugs (Ngk) recently. A "magnet test". Put a (strong) magnet to the porcelain and if it sticks, it's fake (mine are fake). Reason being is there is supposed to be copper in there. If it sticks, it's cheaper steel. Magnets don't stick to copper.

[@danielguerra626]

I'm really sorry for your loss.

[@DuaneDonaldson]

Your test is valid but when checking resistance, do not touch the probe tips with your hands, this also includes the metal parts of the item being measured, or at least do not touch both leads at the same time, you are also measuring your body resistance in parallel with the spark plugs, cheers. Thanks for the case study. Many youtubers have the same problem, you might show a problem on the scope, sorry it did not work out this time but the problem is I THINK, you did not show what a good 3 wire coil looks like on the scope, did I miss it? I also think that whatever is happening ASAP with the bad plugs backfeeding the ECM it is killing IMMO and no spark action, hence setting your code. Do you have another 3 wire scope pattern on another video, thanks.

[@OzMechanics]

A hood 3 wire coil only shows 12v, ground and a signal output. Which can be 5v or 12v square wave. Thanks for watching

[@keltecshooter]

First, my deepest condolences , my you find peace thru the lord. Second, The PCM is not happy with the resistance and will not allow the coil to fire , so no control signal. I would also expect the injectors to be shut down as well. Perhaps extended cranking/ cyl pressure causes enough heat to raise the plugs resistance enough so when the key cycles it resets itself enough to attempt coil and fuel control again. I would be curious to see on the scan tool any fuel or IGN pids as to what the pcm may be thinking. Of course this is only my theory.

[@simonrawle7885]

I'm thinking that the spike is a spark inside the resistor as it brakes down

[@waqasazmat81]

Hey thanks for sharing the information, and sorry about your loss :(. Stay strong man life goes on.

[@miceinoz1181]

Amazon has a great number of Chinesium, look at the supplier of the product. Amazon are only the middleman, selling supplier stuff for a cut. Even the stuff listed as sold by Amazon may be from China. Research the item and make an informed decision, after all, most other stores sell the same chinesium anyway.

[@markmartinez7998]

Honda are very sensitive for the right spark plugs still I take from this video

[@samemardini]

Nice job buddy!

[@OzMechanics]

Thanks for watching samemardini

[@1970chevelle396]

Amazon parts are the worst. I've had customers buy parts from them before.

[@kidsavage86]

That means no voltage at all

[@rosss11]

Sorry, a Sorry your loss, bro

[@granprixgtp23]

I’ve gotten fake spark plugs from rock auto 😮

[@joehyundaitech7961]

yes I have been told by a very reliable source not to buy motorcraft spark plugs from them

[@OzMechanics]

Fakes are just coming out from everywhere

[@juntakmotorsimanjuntak3851]

Seperti nya problem nya di sitem immobilizer nya

[@OzMechanics]

kode itu untuk masalah ecu internal. hey disebabkan oleh masalah eksternal

[@wyattoneable]

You have done the community a great service by following this as far as possible. Mike is a great guy. Now a lot of us have an idea of where not to buy spark plugs. Thanks.

[@OzMechanics]

For sure. This one just got me stumped for for

[@riblets1968]

My hypothesis is that the relatively low resistance of the ripoff spark plugs causes them to draw more current than the drivers are capable of delivering. Repeated cranks perhaps warm them up to the point where I presume their resistance increases sufficiently to stay within the drivers' bounds. Or perhaps the coil packs themselves may not be able to deliver enough current at the lower resistance level.

[@OzMechanics]

I wanted to check for curren BUT when I did the first initial test there was no command coming from the ecm to turn on the coils

[@madmike214]

Driver is in the coil not pcm on this design,

[@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259]

Low resistance of a spark plug will produce lower voltage. The voltage doesn't build as high due to more leakage, which higher resistance prevents.

[@watuzi]

Sorry for your loss, brother. Prayers for you and your family. I recently bought NGK spark plugs from Amazon for my Tahoe. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones cause my Tahoe runs great.

[@OzMechanics]

Yea Edmund this one was a crazy one for sure. And amazon does sell real ones as well

[@jamessmith-ot4ot]

Hey Ozzie, I am so very sorry to hear this sad news. I know your pain and want you to know me and my family are here for you. God bless you friend and I will say from experience losing my dad in 2021 that time eases the pain . My dad was one heck of a mechanic like you and taught me so much. We must be strong and be the dad's we are to be to our children. I will stop by the shop in the next few days.bYoubare a blessing and in my prayers like so many of these good people on YT.

[@robkaiser7462]

So sorry for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[@nickayivor8432]

Carryout Voltage Drop from fuse assembly or the battery assembly Check All mounts assembly on the vehicle, worn Mount broken wire Jason Gabrenas Snap-on Training Solutions said Wrenches don't Fix Cars, Information Fixes Cars 👍 My Mentor Oz Mechanics QUICK-WITTED Oz Mechanics Take care and have a great evening with all your family around you QUICK-WITTED Oz Mechanics From Nick Ayivor from London England UK 🇬🇧 ⏰️ 19:27pm

[@80SWoods]

Has anyone experienced counterfeit parts from Rock Auto? The prices almost seem too good to be true at times compared to my local parts shops.

[@OzMechanics]

These counterfeit parts are looking more and more like the real parts

[@2kostasd]

Great video. I just bought a set of NGK Iridium off eBay, and upon receiving them the machining just looked off. I had one original plug on hand, and comparing them, I could tell they were fakes. Will find my multi-meter to check resistance. Never buying plugs online again - just from local auto parts store. Filing a claim on eBay, and have let NGK know as well.

[@advancedleveldiagnostics]

Great Video, Thanks! I had a Toyota Sienna with a P0303 after customer replaced all coils with eBay "Genuine" Toyota. He then replaced cylinder 3 again. I scoped the IGF circuit and the cylinder 4 coil was bringing the whole signal down! Since I saw that I only buy from reputable sources.

[@OzMechanics]

Oem is the way to go for sure

[@RajVeer87156]

@@OzMechanics any reputable sources which you can suggest please?

[@felm3283]

Great job…master thanks for share your knowledge, don’t buy fake spark plugs. I got same issue with Volkswagen car won’t start.

[@mitchlopina]

More than likely, it's radio noise causing interference with the RFID signal of the key/antenna. good plugs have radio supression built into the design. I had a neighbor complain about my car with race wires, and MSD ignition box messing up his TV reception. If I started that car, he would know immediately if he was watching TV. Used to be able to hear a bad wire on the radio in my old Cadillac. It would crackle at exactly the same time you would feel the miss. Had a Nissan Maxima that would die every time the cooling fan came on, and turned out the fan caused radio noise that would shut down the ignition. Could hold that fan near some cars, and hook to battery charger and make them stall. it was a good prank, until someone threw it away. Radio interference can cause all kinds of problems. I hate that fake parts are now making mechanics/technicians lives even harder.

[@russs250]

I don’t buy engine components or engines lubricant or fluids or for that matter any consumable items off-line.

[@EdygxtubgijgdyufhGdyesydhifvkc]

Smith Matthew Young David Jones Paul

[@stefanBEAR98]

Sent hear by SuperMario vid. Thanks for sharing. Interesting finding. Is this perhaps similar to plug insulation failure. I wonder what Klein insulation tester would report if the two plugs were compared. Just a thought. Not a expert.

[@OzMechanics]

You mean the porcelain ? Causing the issue

[@OzMechanics]

Btw if you want to watch a crazy video check this one out. This one blew my mind. It’s the second part of a 2 part series. This car ran with out fuel pressure for 10 min straight. Let’s see if you can figure out the problem. 1999 Camaro crank and runs with out fuel kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWGthGB8drJmmKc

[@borgsimpson935]

My condolences Oz... Wonder what is under the Amazon ceramic ??? As to a actual known good plug. Curious to if thats the difference in Ohms reading.. RIP. To your Pops...

[@davidh6831]

Watch the resistance part again, the difference between MOhms and KOhms is 1000x.

[@gfccbgjxvhd874]

Bonsoir, Mes sincères condoléances pour ton père. Merci pour tes belles vidéos en ses circonstances de deuil. Courage à toi et ta famille.

[@krzysztoflupa259]

MegaOms are not the half of the value of KiloOms... Fake ones have Megaoms which is exponentialy more

[@vee985]

The lower resistance would be like slightly changing the gap on the spark plug itself. Halving the resistance would double the current. Maybe slightly increasing the gap could have fixed the starting issue. Could it be that the plugs were firing slightly early?

[@OzMechanics]

The thing is the first time I hooked up to the scope I was hooked in to all the coils on the command side and didn’t have any activity from the ecm to command then on

[@spelunkerd]

The last box of NGK iridium plugs I bought from a NAPA store had a gap that was way too small for the Honda motor I was putting them in. 0.8 vs 1.1mm. There was no indication they were counterfeit, and they worked fine but I was a little surprised. They were expensive. I would not expect resistance to change much with the gap, but I've never tested that notion. The voltage spike will be much higher when the gap is increased, it's a normal thing for coils to put out only what is required to jump the gap. Maybe the coil spike was too low for the computer to recognize it?

[@honestmechanic1668]

Awesome content Oz! This is something I'm going to look for in my diagnostic routine if I have a similar problem. I wonder if the resistance in the plug is too low and is causing radio frequency interference with the immo antenna when trying to start? If you had a way of adding a 3K ohm resistor inline with all the spark plugs and start it up, that may tell you if the problem is purely a resistive one. Also it would be neat to try to block the RFA ring from outside interference with foil and then try to start the vehicle again. Keep up the awesome vids my dude!!

[@hardrockreviews8537]

I have same issue exactly and changed the spark plugs and same issue is there any recommendations

[@jgeorges3061]

OZZ, great video as always and sorry about ur father loss I lost my father 20 years ago and still think about him all the time including my mother cheeeeeers brother.

[@OzMechanics]

Thanks for watching j. I just know he’s always watching over me.

[@markahad6583]

Yep, be careful with those Amazon parts😮, I had a recent experience with the IAC valve on a civic. It was D.O.A! (Dead on arrival). After carefully cleaning out the old one with a cotton swab/carb cleaner, success! It worked.

[@OzMechanics]

I’ve had my luck like that as well with oem parts. I actually put out a video on a crank sensor right out the box. Thought I made the wrong call but tested it with the scope and found out it was just a bad new sensor

[@danman9017]

stange less resistance on amazon plug that create no start.mabee the pcm monitor current draw of coil

[@OzMechanics]

That’s what I was thinking but when I first checked it out, it didn’t send a control signal from the ecm to turn on the coils

[@danman9017]

@@OzMechanics ok then the spark plug are sending more radio interference to the security

[@danman9017]

i remember in 1970 i have tried spark plug wire direct wire with coper wire inside they were available in those days not like the one of today a cord with carbone .and wow that got into the radio musique .

[@4aautodiagnosticsandrepair199]

Thanks for the great video Oz. God bless you and your family. I’m sorry for your loss.

[@OzMechanics]

Thanks for watching. Hope this video was a bit informative

[@joeluisramirez]

that poop store AMAZON is only good for buying bulk paper Towles. my hommie freddy bought a mutitoyo digital caliper and it was clone.

[@OzMechanics]

See a lot of clones on Amazon

[@themechanic6117]

I've never seen this. Thanks for the video and info

[@OzMechanics]

This was a first for me. Still scratching my head

[@KRTube75]

I made this mistake. Bought ACDelco iridium plugs. Did a bunch of research and couldn't find any mention of counterfeit ACDelco. The iridium tips were just nubs after 7K miles so clearly counterfeit. The crazy thing was after installing real ACDelco plugs, the car ran exactly the same. Ended up being a bad torque converter.

[@OzMechanics]

Was it a torque converter shudder ?

[@goodtimejohnny8972]

I always order the oe part number. I won't cross reference the number unless absolutely necessary. Are all 8 the same part #? I don't mean those letters on the porcelain you showed, I'm talking about the number on the box. After watching a Holley video about plugs I realized that everything matters. The resistance you showed, the materials used in the plug, their heat rating, and gap. I believe they have specs the plugs have to meet for the application. For what it's worth I bought 8 brand new hemi coils for 80 dollars and 16 OE exact part number for my RAM from Amazon with no problems over a few years now.

[@OzMechanics]

Amazon does sell oem. But they do tend to sell counterfeit ones for sure. And on this video this was evident

[@zaraahmad5618]

RIP

[@OzMechanics]

🙏 Zara

[@labrat6910]

Sorry for your loss homie..Deepest condolences.Be strong bro

[@OzMechanics]

Appreciate it Labrat

[@d1bergman]

Would have been interesting to try to put a 3K resistor in series at the connector end of the Amazon plug to see it that allows it to work. I also wonder if they are in fact NGK plugs but with a special part number for a different engine. I would check with NGK to see if this is the case. If it is then the vendor should be more careful about compatibility even if the part number is similar to the correct plug.

[@OzMechanics]

Yea NGK actually is aware of this and they actually have received other fake ones. This is a problem that has been going on for a while. Counterfeit parts are at a rise

[@and_rew9768]

Well done 👏💪👋

[@markmartinez7998]

I had worked for Honda in the 90s we would have cars towed in for the same thing after thy been to a Pershing

[@OzMechanics]

This was a first for me. Crazy to think the spark plug can do that

[@danoakes8680]

The higher resistance would require a greater coil saturation. Before discharge for a higher firing voltage. Thanks The old school guy.

[@OzMechanics]

The only that got me confused is on the first capture using the scope there was no command from the ecm to command the coils to turn on

[@kidsavage86]

Thanks for info I have multi misfire after plugs and coils from Amazon 😮 and now a circuit is open on a fuel injector from misfire to open circuit in injector 3😅

[@OzMechanics]

Hope this video helps out. Let’s see if you can put some oem parts to see what happens

[@_only1yugi88]

Do you think the some of the interior components of the spark plug could be damaged or just poor quality?

[@OzMechanics]

Did you watch to the end. The resistance was different

[@rayp.454]

Very sorry to hear about the loss of your Dad Oz.

[@pl5882]

Sorry about your pops…. Sucks. Good vid as usual though.

[@OzMechanics]

Thanks P L.

[@db3467]

Just bought some ngk irdum plugs on ebay. I thought they were fake it was 60 dollars for 4. The retail store wanted 28 dollars for one. I contacted ngk .I sent them 3 photos and the date code stamped on the side. I received an email directly from ngk they were real.

[@scottdavis4411]

a talented man !

[@gerardoesparza8650]

It happened to me, 02 Silverado, I bought the knock sensors and they were AC Delco, came in very nice package. Looked original oem. Well they weren’t, had to buy everything all over again, take off the intake manifold and all the headaches that go with that job. Never again I’m buying any sensors or electrical stuff from Amazon. Contacted the seller and nothing… my 2 cents on this issue.

[@Hybriddiag]

OZ! Bro i cant even count how many times you emphasised to use oem parts always 😒 still people go to save couple of bux and go down the rabbit hole. Great info and super diag.cheers😊

[@OzMechanics]

Eric or oz lol

[@Hybriddiag]

@@OzMechanics yes sorry oz just messed up🤷‍♂️

[@billmonroe8826]

I have never bought amazon plugs because in the research I did, I read about the fake plugs the people were buying. I did however, buy a set from O'Reilly's and I kept having a miss. I put the old plugs back in and the problem was gone. So I got a replacement set from O'Reillys and the new set was just fine after that. Sorry for your loss, Oz! Been through that loss already and it's not fun!!

[@63grandsport11]

🏆

[@garysgarage3669]

I think I bought some counterfeit NGJ plugs from Amazon too. Car ran fine for a couple weeks and then started really bad. I bought some AC delco but haven't got time to change them yet. I think mine said Japan on the bottom too.

[@woody95124]

Very interesting..& Sorry to hear on your Dad....

[@OzMechanics]

This for sure was a crazy one

[@frankp.2831]

My theory is that the reduced resistance of the spark plug caused the magnetic field of the primary winding of the coil to collapse to a greater extent and more rapidly than normal causing an abnormally high back emf spike, inducing current in adjacent wires resulting in them acting as antennas propagating a radio frequency spike that interfered with the rf signal between key and its antenna. The electrical discharge through the spark plugs during the initial cranking cycle might have increased the temperature of the spark plugs enough to increase their internal resistance avoiding the initial cascade of events during subsequent start attempts. It would be interesting to measure the internal resistance of the spark plugs cold and compare that reading with that of warm plugs. I would be curious as to whether the injectors fire during the initial failed start sequence to determine whether the problem is isolated within the ignition circuit or whether the DME is preventing the engine from starting altogether due to possible interference with the security rf communication between the key and the antenna.

[@jessev2197]

There's already videos on side by side comparison for motorcraft plugs. Boxes and plugs are close but not the same. This is why professional mechanics don't use amazon parts. The same resistance issue are true for cheap injectors on amazon & ebay.

[@aymenmohamed1134]

👍👍

[@bartscave]

Thanks for the info and video. Sorry about your dad. I have been buying from Amazon and eBay if the seller is an actual dealer but I’m not even sure if that’s good now.

[@richardmitchell7836]

Loved it, I would never buy crucial parts from amazon! imo

[@markmartinez7998]

Precision tune thy used bosh spark plugs the cars would stop running we would change them in the parking lot blow out the cylinders of gas

[@oldschool9746]

Sorry for your loss .

[@javierorozco3304]

Oz siento mucho la perdida de tu papa mis oraciones para ti y tu familia que Dios lo tengo en la Gloria D. p

[@OneLegged-honda-mechanic]

So sorry for your loss, bud.

[@gonzgarr1592]

sorry to hear hear about your dad my dad was my hero too and i miss him a lot

[@robertmedina6875]

Sorry for you loss Botha❤

[@OzMechanics]

Thanks Robert

[@petergarofolo9385]

Sorry for your loss. 🙏

[@OzMechanics]

Thanks Peter

[@itzraheemmahir1361]

Really appreciated your efforts

[@kbaisley4947]

Sorry for your loss. I will add your Dad to my prayers.

[@firstalawal]

yellow key sign in dashboard was blinking first attempt but in second attempt didn`t, I think the problem related to the key or its security system. check 5:55 minute

[@OzMechanics]

If you look both as well have the ambient temp off. It wasn’t a security issue

[@victorhoover4803]

Sorry for your loss man 🙏

[@OzMechanics]

Thanks Victor

[@danman9017]

sorry for your lost; it not easy to louse a parent

[@JoeEpifane]

Great Videos so sorry for your loss

[@josemusicltp]

Sorry for your loss

[@overload3996]

NAPA

[@kidsavage86]

Sorry for your loss

[@robertmedina6875]

I would se if your in the connector right?

[@OzMechanics]

What connector ?

[@HouseCallAutoRepair]

Would the lit KEY icon have anything to do with it? It was blinking when it wouldn't start and NOT blinking when it did start...

[@OzMechanics]

I explained that. But my issue is when the plugs were replaced the issue stopped