CR10EK plugs - ends??

[DITCHBANGER]

on my doo 800 if you didnt locktite they would strip from the vibration...might be different on a smooth 3 or 4 cylinder

 

[RX1 Yooper]

Red sled,
What evidence do you have that loctight will cause these problems?

 

[Iceman57]

Red sled,
What evidence do you have that loctight will cause these problems?

The loctite can interfere with the connection between the threads on the plug and the plug cap and could restrict the amount of voltage getting to the plug end thus causing any of the problems posted about.

 

[schmeg]

Allen includes the caps. These are an R1 plug which don't require the cap so the pre-packaged plug comes without them.

 

[Srxspec]

It doesn't hurt in the off season to pull the plugs out and make sure the caps are still tight after a season of riding! Also blow the plug area in the head out and also the spark plug caps out with compressed air as well.

 

[ReX]

Red sled,
What evidence do you have that loctight will cause these problems?

The loctite can interfere with the connection between the threads on the plug and the plug cap and could restrict the amount of voltage getting to the plug end thus causing any of the problems posted about.

I've read many posts theorising this could cause problems, but in my experience with military electronics, experience with vehicle grounding, knowledge of high voltage, and experience actually loctiting spark plug tips on I would be totally amazed if there was any negative side effect due to applying locktite to the threads and then tightening the cap.

For starters, when you tighten the thread there will always be metal to metal contact somewhere as the loctite glue gets squeezed out in the small areas of high pressure contact contact (in the threads). The loctite will only fill the regions that would normally be filled with air. Next, we're talking about extremely high voltage, high enough to jump a true gap at the plug. Even if there was a fraction of a micron of glue between all of the closest metal contact points, the voltage would jump the gap without a measurable reduction in potential.

Try this as an experiment if you like. Take a small nut and bolt. Coat the bolt with tons of loctite and then tighten them together as tight as you would the plug tip. Now take an ohmmeter and measure the resistance between the two. You'll find it is zero or within the measurement accuracy of the ohmmeter and that is with 1.5V or less potential across. Then consider that the ignition voltage is something like 20,000V.

On the other hand if you take a plug where the tip has loosened off and then been run for 1000's of hours you'll find the tip is all covered with black soot. If you measure the resistance using an ohmmeter you can sometimes find lots of resistance between the two until you tighten them back up (or better yet, clean them up and then tighten).

The only way I could see loctite causing any issues is if the cap lost its metal to metal contact and then through arcing the loctite itself broke down into some sort of non-conductive "dust".

For certain, many years ago on my 1966 and 1970 Olympics I used to find the caps always loosened off. If you didn't tighten them soon enough you could get intermittent sparking problems. As soon as I started to loctite them in place I never had an issue with the caps ever again and I was able to ride "high mileage" days of "50+ miles" with far less misfires.

Have any of you actually seen a problem with a loctited spark plug cap?

 

[ROCKRTX]

I put green loctite on my CR10EK cap last season and never ad a problem.

ROCKRTX

 

[Shane]

Red sled,
What evidence do you have that loctight will cause these problems?

The loctite can interfere with the connection between the threads on the plug and the plug cap and could restrict the amount of voltage getting to the plug end thus causing any of the problems posted about.

I've read many posts theorising this could cause problems, but in my experience with military electronics, experience with vehicle grounding, knowledge of high voltage, and experience actually loctiting spark plug tips on I would be totally amazed if there was any negative side effect due to applying locktite to the threads and then tightening the cap.

For starters, when you tighten the thread there will always be metal to metal contact somewhere as the loctite glue gets squeezed out in the small areas of high pressure contact contact (in the threads). The loctite will only fill the regions that would normally be filled with air. Next, we're talking about extremely high voltage, high enough to jump a true gap at the plug. Even if there was a fraction of a micron of glue between all of the closest metal contact points, the voltage would jump the gap without a measurable reduction in potential.

Try this as an experiment if you like. Take a small nut and bolt. Coat the bolt with tons of loctite and then tighten them together as tight as you would the plug tip. Now take an ohmmeter and measure the resistance between the two. You'll find it is zero or within the measurement accuracy of the ohmmeter and that is with 1.5V or less potential across. Then consider that the ignition voltage is something like 20,000V.

On the other hand if you take a plug where the tip has loosened off and then been run for 1000's of hours you'll find the tip is all covered with black soot. If you measure the resistance using an ohmmeter you can sometimes find lots of resistance between the two until you tighten them back up (or better yet, clean them up and then tighten).

The only way I could see loctite causing any issues is if the cap lost its metal to metal contact and then through arcing the loctite itself broke down into some sort of non-conductive "dust".

For certain, many years ago on my 1966 and 1970 Olympics I used to find the caps always loosened off. If you didn't tighten them soon enough you could get intermittent sparking problems. As soon as I started to loctite them in place I never had an issue with the caps ever again and I was able to ride "high mileage" days of "50+ miles" with far less misfires.

Have any of you actually seen a problem with a loctited spark plug cap?

Hey ReX,

Now why do you have to go ruin such a diatribe with factual information? Your explanation above brings to mind a saying that if memory serves me correctly goes something like this: "Why do you have to ruin everything with the facts?" This "real world" experience you have with actual applications using the aforementioned, backed with actual statistical data clearly does not hold a candle to "3 beers and a work bench racing" theories. LOL