Has anyone tried pulse plugs? The benefits sound too good to be true.
From an article in gizmag Pulse plugs boost horsepower, torque and fuel economy - gizmag Article
the claimed benefits are improved fuel economy, acceleration, and torque.


The plug website is Welcome To Pulstar Pulse Plugs and the spark plug needed for the Fit would be BE-1.

Other forums are quite sceptical.
I would like the benefits, but I sure don't want to be the first to try them.

 

Holy crap! $25.00 EACH!!!!!!! I don't want to be first either.

 

If you read their website carefully, you will see they also use this technology to manufacture DirectHits spark plugs. You may be more familiar with that brand. This link to the DirectHits website has more independent tests than the Pulstar site, including from the Sandia National Labarotories. The technology appears to use a capacitor to accumulate and then release a greater spark energy in a shorter period of time. This is the same basic principle as CDI (capacitance discharge ignitions) such as Jacobs, MSD, Accel, Mallory, etc. I think these have all been proven to be effective for many years now. I hope this helps.

 

I repeat-----

 

Soo.... These plugs should give an effect similar to upgrading to an MSD ignition system for $100 ($25 per cylinder). Got links to any more info?

 

Sorry, forgot to include the link in the first post.

DirectHits - More Muscle For All Your Vehicles!

Another link to a similar product.

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Nology hot wires do the same thing but put the capacitor in the plug wire rather than the plug itself.

 

now i'm confused,will i buy pulse plugs first or ignition booster?.

 

Twilight,

Thanks for your information. (Also thanks to cndfit for the intro. post in this thread). Your links are beginning to change my mind. I have used both MSD and Jacobs ignition systems in the past with good results with the MSD, and they were certainly more expensive than stock ignition components. The Jacobs system on my Ford Bronco II had a very unfortunate flaw though- the coil output was so high that it literally burned the Jacobs coil wire in HALF on a blind curve of a mountain road. MSD replaced the Jacobs.

Rather than buy the ignition booster/voltage stabilizer (which still sound like scams to me) in order to obtain the ultimate in fuel economy and power, I may risk the cost of the Direct Hits system. Their construction looks a little more promising in delivering their claims than the Pulse Plugs do.

Again, thanks for the info. I will probably try the Direct Hits (if they will fit underneath the engine cover that is). Their application chart only goes up to the year 2002, so owners of newer cars have to call them. I will do that today.

If I DO pursue this, of course I will post a detailed review.

Boyet-
For what it's worth to you, this looks like a better investment than the voltage/ignition capacitor boxes, and the warranty here is very strong.

 

OK, fitfreaks-

More information to add to Twilight's post.

Direct Hits and Pulstar Plugs are the same company, located in New Mexico. The Direct Hits ignition system is for older engines without coil packs on each spark plug. Pulstar plugs were introduced early this year to provide almost the same function by incorporating the capacitor inside the plug, so that these can be used with modern coil-on-plug engines. Both systems are priced the same, and the BE-1 Pulstar plugs for the Fit are priced at $24.95 EACH with a complete, 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee.

The only difference between the two products is that the Direct Hits systems last the life of the engine, where the Pulstar plugs last as long as a regular plug (around 50,000 miles depending upon engine condition and driving habits).

BECAUSE OF THE GUARANTEE and past good experience with CDI ignitions with other cars, I decided to be the first to order these. They are on their way. With $12.95 added for Ground shipping to CA from NM, my invoice total was $112.75.

I keep careful logs of my mileage, and will post a review of these plugs within the 30-day guarantee period. Will certainly post all results whether positive or negative.

 

dave,

thanks for the advise,every time there's a mod that will help to increase fuel economy,i'm IN ,like you i'm willing to take a chance,this is like a hot chick taking off her underwear, a TEASER,but i will give you the honor to be the FIRST ONE AGAIN, i just hope you WILL post a DIY on this so that FIT FREAK members like me can follow the step by step procedure,by the way i never believe you when you said you dont want to be the FIRST.

 

You beat me to it. I was about to go to their site and buy the plugs. I am still going to do so and I think I will dyno the car just before I install them.

 

Good thought on the dyno! It's nice to have a little company in seeing a little sense in the scientific explanation from the manufacturer. I don't faint at a high price for improvements, as long as they pay for themselves eventually.

 

I agree, but 12 months is a bit much for turnaround on "spark" plugs with no technical evidence on our Fits.

 

I'm still happy with "eventually", and even more happy if I can feel any power gains at all. If these things work, the benefits should be easy to see in our tiny engines. I would rather have tried the separate wires and capacitors of the Direct Hits version, but they obviously won't fit. So the plugs seem worth a try. The two of us will certainly have an influence, either positive or negative, on this manufacturer's business, with the interest of other fitfreaks in our experience.

 

I had the direct hits on my 02 Avalanche. Butt dyno and idling were improved. That vehicle was a pig so I never got any mpg benefits. I actually sold it to buy my Fit, got tired of $90 fill ups.
(Back on Topic)
I had some strange stuff happening after I installed them though. I was on an avalanche forum back then and got together with another member to figure out the trouble we were both having. It seems the company used a low resistence plug wire that caused intermittent interference with my trucks climate control module. This only happend with a certain version of the climate controls. We contacted the company and they stood by their product. They sent out a few different plug wires (no cost) for us to try and it eliminated the problem.

 

Raimondas,

Thanks for the back-up info. on your history with these people. It sounds like not all of the advertised results will be seen with all models of vehicles, but the guarantee still stands. The only thing that Osborne and I risk is the cost of shipping (to us and back again if they don't work). Also, the Pulse plugs are different from the Direct Hit system, and I suspect are somewhat less effective on big V-8 SUV's. I hope that they will be noticeably effective on tiny 4 cyl. engines.

With 18000 members, fitfreaks can really help or really hurt their business no matter what, after we get a few tanks burned up in our tests. I will immediately drive to the top of a mountain that overlooks San Jose, CA, for the "butt dyno" part of my test, and will use paddle-shift hard driving to test the "increased fuel economy", and will shoot photos of the area for a possible NorCal Fit Meet in the future.

Again, thanks for your input. From your experience, do you think that we are wasting our time??? Would you try these plugs on your Fit?

 

With a no questions asked 30 day money back guarantee, I'd give em a shot. I've spent 100 bucks on more frivolous things

 

I'm sure that that's true for any and all of us technical posters. But having used this company's products in the past, I'm wondering why you have not added the plugs to your own Fit.

 

I am going to wait on these untill I read a members review of them but I do not expect a big incress in fule millage because people tend to use more gas when they feel they have more power and would be interesting to see how they would work with the ingnition boster.

 

With an Ignition Booster It should have ONE BILLION mega watts of power!