Pressure release spark plugs?

[DustenT]

http://www.prepsparkplugs.com/

These plugs are designed to release pressure to prevent: hydrolock, detonation and overheating. It's an interesting design. Discuss.

[L84THSKY]

Are they licensing the technology, or making the spark plugs themselves? I see no mention of specific plug types for each vehicle application.

http://www.prepsparkplugs.com/

These plugs are designed to release pressure to prevent: hydrolock, detonation and overheating. It's an interesting design. Discuss.

[aceyx]

Sounds like snake oil to me.

Hydrolock occurs from poor maintenance or stupid driving.
Detonation occurs from poor fuel / supply.
Overheating won't be solved by a spark plug.

If you are tuning the motor for more power, they may be a stop-gap preventative, but eventually you will have to narrow down the proper cause and solution.

[L84THSKY]

The website looks very suspicious, poorly made and no mention of where to buy them.

Sounds like snake oil to me.

Hydrolock occurs from poor maintenance or stupid driving.
Detonation occurs from poor fuel / supply.
Overheating won't be solved by a spark plug.

If you are tuning the motor for more power, they may be a stop-gap preventative, but eventually you will have to narrow down the proper cause and solution.

[zboot]

Sounds like snake oil to me.

Hydrolock occurs from poor maintenance or stupid driving.
Detonation occurs from poor fuel / supply.
Overheating won't be solved by a spark plug.

If you are tuning the motor for more power, they may be a stop-gap preventative, but eventually you will have to narrow down the proper cause and solution.

Hydrolock does not occur from poor maintenane or stupid driving. Hydrolock occurs when an incompressible fluid enters your engine cylinder. Poor maintenance or stupid driving could cause that to happen, but so can sabotage or some other unplanned occurrance. That being said, they are not claiming their spark plugs prevent the conditions that would lead to hydrolock, they are claiming that their spark plugs can help save your engine once it gets into that condition.

Are they licensing the technology, or making the spark plugs themselves? I see no mention of specific plug types for each vehicle application.

If you click into the website, they have a "detonation facts" page followed by a "detonation fix" and "hydrolock facts" followed by "hydrolock fix". So, it would seem they are engineering a single product to relieve two disparate situations (which they note). Their website says this about product availability: This technology will soon be available to prevent catastrophic engine damage to owners and operators of ... and they go on to list different vehicles / usage conditions.

The SAE paper is authentic (and from 1997). I'm not going to search right now to see what sort of patent process they may have gone through, but it is possible that the website is legit. There are many factors which would preclude a struggling startup from having a good web presence and name recognition. I'm not saying their legit yet. . but there isn't too much against them yet. Since they're here in FL, I'll try giving them a call when I get home today.

[aceyx]

Hydrolock does not occur from poor maintenane or stupid driving. Hydrolock occurs when an incompressible fluid enters your engine cylinder. Poor maintenance or stupid driving could cause that to happen, but so can sabotage or some other unplanned occurrance. That being said, they are not claiming their spark plugs prevent the conditions that would lead to hydrolock, they are claiming that their spark plugs can help save your engine once it gets into that condition.
Sabotage? If that's the case, you've got a lot more problems a spark plug can fix.

As far as unplanned occurrences--well, you can't prevent everything. There's a balance in engineering that must be met (a tolerance if you will) between redundancy (cost) and reliability. Thus far, my little M44 has been golden 3800 (or so) of the 3803 (or so) days and 165k+ miles I've owned it.

Hydrolock occurs if either a) you drive during a flood or b) you blow a head gasket. Smart driving and regular maintenance checks will prevent the majority of both conditions.

[zboot]

Sabotage? If that's the case, you've got a lot more problems a spark plug can fix.

As far as unplanned occurrences--well, you can't prevent everything. There's a balance in engineering that must be met (a tolerance if you will) between redundancy (cost) and reliability. Thus far, my little M44 has been golden 3800 (or so) of the 3803 (or so) days and 165k+ miles I've owned it.

Hydrolock occurs if either a) you drive during a flood or b) you blow a head gasket. Smart driving and regular maintenance checks will prevent the majority of both conditions.

I guess I have a problem with your terminology. Many people have driven through floods w/o experience hydrolock. It does not occur because you drove through a flood, it occurs because (water) somehow got into your engine cylinders. That can occur if you are driving through a flood, but it can also occur in other situations.

BTW, I got home later yesterday and didn't get an answer when I called. I remembered to bring my cell phone to work today so I'll call them in the afternoon.

[zboot]

Called today, no answer. The voicemail is addressed to Michael Shifflette, the same guy as the author of the SAE paper. It also states he works for the parent company, Analytical Edge Corp. On an alumni page of James Madison University, it lists him as operating Analytical Edge Corp based out of Ft Lauderdale FL. (http://www.jmu.edu/alumni/classnote/archive/Summer00.html) It also says he has three automotive patents (which i'm still too lazy to lookup). My take is that he has a patent on his idea and is still working out trying to get it into production. The website is probably to drum up interest and potential partners.