Multi ground electrode - ford fiesta 2007

[Midge8290]

Hi all. I have a 2007 ford fiesta and was told a multi ground electrode spark plug with 3-4 electrodes would give my car better performance in power, fuel and economy. I don't just go out and buy whatever people recommends, I do tend to so my own research first but I'm having difficulty understanding the principal of the electrode on the spark plugs. I know what they do etc but what's the purpose of having more than one? Will it make a difference??

[voram]

I don't believe a word of it.

Modern ignition systems are so powerful they'll blast a good spark across almost any gap.

Arguably the more enclosed the spark is by multiple ground electrodes the less effectively your combustion will propagate. But this is detail at the edges.

[98elise]

If you could get measurably better economy and power, then that's what would be standard from the manufacturer.

They spend billions trying to achieve better performance, to the extent that some manufacturers try to cheat the official tests. I doubt they missed simply changing the spark plugs to achieve it.

[anonymous-user]

Each separate ignition discharge only occurs to one of the ground electrodes at a time. It's a way of increasing plug life more than anything.

[donkmeister]

Midge8290 said:

Hi all. I have a 2007 ford fiesta and was told a multi ground electrode spark plug with 3-4 electrodes would give my car better performance in power, fuel and economy.

Look up the Splitfire deceptive advertising controversy to see if it's worth it...

They might not be any worse, but they're not going to be any better either. Some manufacturers used to have 2 plugs per cylinder (Mercedes and Alfa-Romeo are the only ones I know of) to achieve a more thorough burn, but I've heard that it masks dodgy sparkplugs because the difference when one fails is imperceptible to the driver.