Champion D21 Sparkpulgs defective?

[SundaySailor]

Hey folks.

Finally had a little time to get out and get some help cleaning up after the ice storm a couple of weeks ago.

We finished up and I got ready to fire up the Cub. Up till this time it was running great. Remember - New rebuild, etc?

Tried to fire the Cub up that had been driven out to the spot to cut wood. Plenty of gas, ready to go, right?

Nope. She'd turn over, hit a bit, cough, etc., then die. Did this several times.

Finally gave up on it and left it in the field. Went to auto parts store to get more sparkplugs. This time they didn't have any D21 Champions, just Autolite 386's.

Installed new gapped plugs, and it fired right up. No skip, just the same old pleasurable Cub throaty sound.

I went back to my maintenance log, and I'd replaced all four D21 champions about 8 months ago, and have about 25 hours at most on the ones I just removed. WTH is going on here?

I've heard others are having problems with Champion sparkplugs and now it appears I've run into it too. That's two sets of four sparkplugs within 8 months, and both sets of sparkplugs were definitely bought at different parts houses.

I'm going to go with the Autolite for now and see what is happening here. No oil usage at all, no oil smoke. Everything looks great except the sparkplugs in this instance.

[56cub]

I've had problems with champion sparkplugs in my cub too. I'm not sure what causes them to suddenly go bad. After the champions went bad I too replaced them with Autolites and haven't had a problem since.

[Bezirk]

I have had the same experience with my 8 N Ford, it would require new plugs every spring , I switched to auto lite, no more problem, they run for several years.

Berlin

[Don McCombs]

I went back to my maintenance log, and I'd replaced all four D21 champions about 8 months ago, and have about 25 hours at most on the ones I just removed. WTH is going on here?

What did the D21's that you took out look like? Condition wise, that is.

[SundaySailor]

I went back to my maintenance log, and I'd replaced all four D21 champions about 8 months ago, and have about 25 hours at most on the ones I just removed. WTH is going on here?

What did the D21's that you took out look like? Condition wise, that is.

Don,

The plugs looked very nice and clean except for a tiny bit of carbon film. Nothing between the electrodes at all. The electrodes were as sharp looking as brand new plugs. I do have the copper core wires (new also) from TM tractor, good coil, etc. It's very clean under the hood considering the rebuild.

As I said, all I did was replace the Champions with gapped Autolite plugs, and it's back up and running with plenty of power. It makes no sense to me at all.

When I was growing up, we ran an auto mechanics garage. It was rare that sparkplugs in automobiles, trucks, tractors, boats, etc., would fail within several years. If they were defective at all, it was right out of the box. Beyond that, our customers usually would get years of use out of the sparkplugs. I'm baffled by it now.

[Smokeycub]

I went back to my maintenance log, and I'd replaced all four D21 champions about 8 months ago, and have about 25 hours at most on the ones I just removed. WTH is going on here?

The plugs looked very nice and clean except for a tiny bit of carbon film. Nothing between the electrodes at all. The electrodes were as sharp looking as brand new plugs. I do have the copper core wires (new also) from TM tractor, good coil, etc. It's very clean under the hood considering the rebuild. As I said, all I did was replace the Champions with gapped Autolite

Were these the same plugs that were in the tractor when you first fired it up after the rebuild? If so then often, in that circumstance, the plugs will foul from excessive oils and microscopic metal from things seating in after a fresh rebuild. FWIW I am a fan of Autolite plugs, but this can happen to any brand. I'm kind of surprised they lasted the 25 hours.

[ricky racer]

Myself, I won't buy Champion plugs and it's a shame, I think at one time they used to be a great plug. Years ago I raced motorcycles (still wish I could) and would only buy Champions if nothing else was available. If forced to buy Champions I'd buy several hoping that if I bought a few maybe one of them would be good.

Fast forward to my involvement in antique tractors. My first tractor was 1941 John Deere B. It required just a top end rebuild. Pretty simple stuff. Upon putting it back together I installed new Champion plugs only because they were what was available without more shopping. Once it was back together I attempted to start it up to no avail. It was a hand start to boot. I hate to guess how many hours I had trying to start the thing and I'd only get a backfire once in a while. I even had my wife pull me with the truck around the block but it still wouldn't start. One day while over at my folks place I was complaining about the B not starting and my dad went out into the barn and grabbed a pair of grubby AC plugs of the work bench. They had probably been laying there for 30-40 years and were really grubby. I hit them with a wire wheel to clean them up and installed them in the B. I turned the flywheel twice and it ran like a top. You can bet, I'm no fan of Champion plugs.....

[Tezell]

I too have had issues with the Champion plugs. Mine have not lasted. I now purchase Autolite 386's or 3116's and have zero problems with them.

[Don McCombs]

Interesting. I use nothing but Champion D-21's in all my tractors. Never had a problem. Go figure.
Use what works best for you.

[RaymondDurban]

I am in the same boat as Don. I use nothing but D-21's and have never had a problem. But as he said, use what works for you!

[tmays]

Don and Raymond, same here. I've always liked Champion plugs

[smallfarm]

No champions for me either. They went south years ago. First a bad run of Champion X plugs (Model T Ford); then they stopped making them. Price of the ones stored up by the retailers went north of $40.00 and many of them had bad threads. Then I got a Champion A25 that lost an electrode in a newly rebuilt engine (no damage ...but!) Slowly downhill from there. Buy mostly Autolite now for everything.
I think we are all influenced by a bad experience or two and tend to blast the whole brand, but it is our money to send a message to the manufacturer -- and protect our investment.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

I had the same problem a couple years ago. Cub wouldn't start or hard to start. Change plugs and ok for 2 or 3 weeks, then same thing all over again. Went through that about 3 tim3s before it quit starting completely. Finally in desperation I changed the coil in my magneto and all was well

[SONNY]

Dont worry guys!!!---I wont say ---I TOLD YA SO!!! LOL!!!---Use what works for you, BUT dont hand me any more champs!!! thanks; sonny

[Clark Thompson]

Been running D21 champs in all my cubs for years. Only time i had a problem is when the spark was weak. two cubs had new D21 champs in them since 2000.. never been out.