Fake spark plugs
 

Just to let you all know. This is very serious. DO NOT BUY cheap spark plugs from eBay that are from Greece. They are fake.

Mine lasted 7000km, destroyed my CAT and my engine. A friend had them go at 3000km and 2 guys have had the an electrode break. One of them fell into the engine destroying everything, the other guy was lucky enough to hear my advice and pulled his plugs today and discovered that the electrode was barely hanging on by the thread.

What brand of spark plugs are they? Any pics?

I'd say Mazmart probably has the best price for genuine spark plugs. Can't beat $65 a set.

The Spark plugs are NGK fakes. I do not have pics.
If you have bought them then my advice to you is to remove them now. Don't start the car, don't drive it.
I do not want to name names for legal reasons. I have notified NGK about the issue.
The fakes look identical to the real deal, they have no iridium on them obviously and the electrodes are welded on porely.

Greece seems like an odd place to source these things.

I have seen two eBay sellers from Greece so far. One of them sell a set of racing ones or whatever and a set with wrong part number.

Yes, they are all the same guy with different eBay names. The Cyprus one also.
If you are in the EU, then the prices are quite tempting as buying from Greece carries no taxes when shipped within the EU. So this guy takes advantage of that.

I buy mine from QE Auto Parts from the US. So I am in Greece and I actually get plugs from the US. This sais alot.

Interesting. Could be good advice for anyone living in EU.

I live in Canada and my current set is from the local Mazda dealer.

I don't doubt what you're saying, but a little perplexed someone would make fake rotary spark plugs. That sounds like making fake Discmans.. you could do it pretty easily, but how many could you possibly hope to sell?

Discman...good one Loki. I was always partial to the Betamax TV console:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...bf583b6dff.jpg

Well, if they make fake rotary ones, it's reasonable to assume that they make fake ones for a bunch of other cars as well.

Sounds like BS.

No it is not BS. I will try to get pictures for you guys. The topic of Fake spark plugs is quite well known here on the Greek forums. I have nothing to gain from sharing this, I just hope that what I and many others have gone through is not the fate of others.

https://www.facebook.com/RebuildingEngineAllMazdarx/photos/pcb.2013050752311898/2013050538978586/?type=3&theater[/URL]
Here is one example of a motor where the electrode fell inside the housing. If you can read Greek, there's alot about the fake spark plugs on that facebook page. Aparently they look identical to the originals and one way to tell is by the color of the metals.

Lot's of fake stuff (dyno results for one) coming out of Greece lately so you can understand my skepticism.

But like Loki said, faking RX8 parts seems like a huge waste of time.

Aparently to some it is not a waste of time. Anyway, hope you guys heed my advice and know that like fake coils there are now fake plugs on the market, and the least that could happen is that they will destroy your coils whether genuine Mazda or D585's or watever your running. I find fake plugs to be of a more serious issue especially if they can break inside the engine. These can cause accidents, I just read of another guy to whom they lasted only 800 metres.

So why does that broken electrode prove it's a fake plug?

It doesn't directly, and no I cannot prove that the plug is fake.
My experience was about a year ago. I replaced my plugs as part of my regular maintenace, every 10-15000km. After about 6-7000km the car started acting up. I had blown coils. Changed them a little later I was having problems again. I didn't for 1 second suspect the plugs, they had less than 7k on them, and I had bought them from Greece for 50 Euro. So I order d585's and wires and still the car ran like shit. I took out the plugs, you see that center thing that is supossed to be iridium plated or whatever, well there was none of that center thing to be found on the plugs. There was barely anything there. This whole endeavor cost me the CAT as when I finally changed the plugs for known good ones, the car of course came back to life but still wasn't running 100%, it would randomly buck at various speeds. Then my throughout bearing failed and I had to take down the exhaust and then I discovered the CAT was clogged and melted. All too late of course as I was driving with the clogged CAT for at least 6 months and that in effect destroyed the water jackets etc etc.

I got mine from ebay greece, 1000 km on them and i heard about the fakes so i replaced immediately and thank god i did because 1 of the trailling electrode broke of and thankfully it was sitting on the threads of the hole, theres definatly a difference in the weld of the electrode from the original and the electrode on the fake were bent making the gap smallersmall the compression of the rotary

You guys should step your game up and actually post some useful information.

Example:

https://www.driven2automotive.com/bl...m-august-2017/

Buy from ebay greece and just find out

Nah, I'm not a cheap ass, I don't buy spark plugs on Ebay.

I agree with you, but I don't have them anymore so I can't compare them. All I can do is warn others. I am certainly not going to buy another set just to do a comparison. My starting this thread has absolutely no gain for me, If at least 1 person can be spared the heartache then that is good enough for me. I am not looking for revenge even though I am 2000+ Euro out of pocket to have my engine replaced. I would like to see these off the market and simply make people aware that yes there are even fake plugs out there. Hopefully they won't spread out to the US and to other parts of the world.

There are legit sellers on eBay. You are lucky as in the US you can buy originals cheap. Would you pay almost $180 for a set of spark plugs? That is how much the originals cost here.

Anyway, all the best

If OP knows people who have unused fake ones, they could post them up.

I don't think anyone here would just purchase fake ones to prove a point.

What's the normal price on these spark plugs anyway? In Canada, the local dealer, NAPA and clubplug.ca all quote about CAN$40~50 for each spark plug. Best price I have seen is from Mazmart, US$65 for the entire set(shipping or duty not included).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-OEM-NGK-R...1W2JIc&vxp=mtr

I have bought twice from here and have not had any problems with them. 15000km and still plenty of meat on them.

It's weird how RX-8 plugs are outrageously expensive outside of the US...

I remember me shopping for some spark plugs for my old Accord V6 and when the shop clerk checked the price for me, they screamed "$20 each?! What do they do, turn your car into a rocket?"

Poor guy would probably have a heart attack if he checks the price on the RX-8 plugs.