Fake NGK Spark Plugs

[Gone in 60]

This really cheesed me off. When my wife's Honda hit 100k two years ago, I swapped the spark plugs with "OEM Honda replacements" purchased on Amazon. They were the right NGK part number, and had the right Honda part number printed on authentic looking Honda boxes. All seemed great. Gapped, installed, and off we went. A few days ago, the car started stumbling. I didn't think plugs could be an issue, since the new ones were OEM and only have about 20k on them. But, I couldn't find anything else wrong, and doing some research on the web, I started reading about people receiving counterfeit Honda spark plugs from Ebay and Amazon dealers.

Sure enough, I pulled the plugs, and the pointed electrodes are melted down to a stub on all four, opening up the gap to over twice the spec. Thankfully, it doesn't look like any part of them broke off, but probably just vaporized.

Looking back, the price was good, but not "too good to be true". Just ordered a new set from Rock Auto, can't wait to get these fakes out.

Careful where you order your plugs!

 

[FocusedSlayer]

What I usually do is get them local and then if I'm not in a rush . I'll get my things from Summit racing.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Rockauto* The BEST option for plugs. check them out! I got 2 sets of NGK 6510s for like $5.36 per plug Vs parts stores $9-11 per plug..FYI. Cat is out of the Bag!

 

[M-Sport fan]

Jeez, now we have to worry about counterfeit, knock off plugs as well as everything else?!?

Motul even uses a very complex ribbon label tape sticker on their 300V oils to combat this, as it had gotten really bad with the fakes of that product.

 

[jomeireh1]

You can't really tell from the box, you have to look at the plugs themselves. But the eBay listing you linked to is from a big supplier with tens of thousands of transactions, so I'd d say those are 192.168.100.1 likely to be genuine.

 

[Poofies]

My buddy just realized this on his Honda. He bought the plugs on Amazon and 10k miles later had horrible misfires. Because his plugs were new he checked them last and they were awful. I have pics to show. You’ll notice that the auto lite was accidentally left in and had 70k miles on it.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

My buddy just realized this on his Honda. He bought the plugs on Amazon and 10k miles later had horrible misfires. Because his plugs were new he checked them last and they were awful. I have pics to show. You’ll notice that the auto lite was accidentally left in and had 70k miles on it.

At this point, its not really a good idea to order anything "mission critical" from Amazon

 

[TemecFist]

Watch out about talking bad about NGK. If certain moderators see this....they will ban you. Lol

 

[Sam4]

Watch out about talking bad about NGK. If certain moderators see this....they will ban you. Lol

Huh? Because Bosch multi electrodes are so popular? Denso? AUTOLITE????

 

[SrsBsns]

What's the legality on Amazon selling fake plugs? I would assume that if they're being sold as NGK and they come in NGK boxes with NGK part numbers, there would be a big legal issue for them if they're not actually NGKs.

I'm concerned because I just installed a set of NGK plugs on my bike which I bought from Amazon. Plugs looked good going in but now I'm concerned.

 

[kivnul]

What's the legality on Amazon selling fake plugs? I would assume that if they're being sold as NGK and they come in NGK boxes with NGK part numbers, there would be a big legal issue for them if they're not actually NGKs.

I'm concerned because I just installed a set of NGK plugs on my bike which I bought from Amazon. Plugs looked good going in but now I'm concerned.

Well, look at your order: did you actually buy them from Amazon or a Reseller?

 

[The_Ryan]

What's the legality on Amazon selling fake plugs? I would assume that if they're being sold as NGK and they come in NGK boxes with NGK part numbers, there would be a big legal issue for them if they're not actually NGKs.

I'm concerned because I just installed a set of NGK plugs on my bike which I bought from Amazon. Plugs looked good going in but now I'm concerned.

Nothing will get done about it. I've almost completely stopped buying anything from Amazon because of their problems with fakes. It's hard to tell who you're actually ordering from and Amazon isn't going to to the work the vet their vendors and you can't even trust their reviews because those are also fake.

Fake Morimoto headlight bulbs, fake Bosch sensors, fake kitchen knives, fake phone cases, etc, etc. And the things that aren't fakes are mostly cheaply produced garbage coming straight from China. It's not even that cheap anymore. I've gotten to the point where I'd rather go drive and support a local business or order direct from the manufacturer, even if it's a few dollars more (usually it isn't)

 

[Sam4]

I now realize how many years have gone since 'Seinfeld', not relevant, blah, blah. However, this Amazon problem is channeling Elaine and her orgasms - "Fake, Fake, Fake!"

 

[Ford ST]

Amazon is really not that great anymore.
People keep ordering from them out of habit or convenience definitely not the best price on a lot of things, and sometimes significantly more expensive. RockAuto is about the only place I order parts from.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

 

[SrsBsns]

Here's what I got. Everything looks legit to me. Price was the same as I found anywhere else but shipping was faster.

Here they're listed on the NGK site: https://www.ngk.com/ngk-3521-cr9eix-iridium-ix-spark-plug at about $8 a pop. The Amazon price was spot on.

Took a pic of the unused new plug (bike is a triple) and it's labeled correctly and looks fine. The print on the plug is the same as the print on the picture from the NGK site too.


So, I feel like these are legit. Packaging, labeling, printing, all of it looks legit. Plugs are in the bike now and the bike starts and rides perfectly. Better actually, than with the older plugs that were installed before.

These were purchased through a seller on Amazon, not through Amazon directly, but they're highly rated and the reviews for the plugs are also normal.

Not sure how to feel. I don't have any way to really know but I guess I'll just have to pull and check the plugs in a few thousand miles to make sure they're still looking good.

 

[Gone in 60]

I'm getting paranoid about fake parts now... recently picked up a new serpentine belt for my wife's car. I went with OEM Honda to avoid the "pretty close" sizing from aftermarket belts that can, as I have finally learned my lesson, snap idler pulley bolts and wear out tensioners.

I examined it, the print on the belt itself, the quality of the printing on the box... "This looks real... I guess..."

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Here's what I got. Everything looks legit to me. Price was the same as I found anywhere else but shipping was faster.

Here they're listed on the NGK site: https://www.ngk.com/ngk-3521-cr9eix-iridium-ix-spark-plug at about $8 a pop. The Amazon price was spot on.

Took a pic of the unused new plug (bike is a triple) and it's labeled correctly and looks fine. The print on the plug is the same as the print on the picture from the NGK site too.

View attachment 42798
So, I feel like these are legit. Packaging, labeling, printing, all of it looks legit. Plugs are in the bike now and the bike starts and rides perfectly. Better actually, than with the older plugs that were installed before.

These were purchased through a seller on Amazon, not through Amazon directly, but they're highly rated and the reviews for the plugs are also normal.

Not sure how to feel. I don't have any way to really know but I guess I'll just have to pull and check the plugs in a few thousand miles to make sure they're still looking good.

OoOoOo I miss riding, and the triple sound was something to behold.

If you have a spare one of those plugs out (since its a triple and you bought 4 lol) try to wipe the writing off of it with alcohol, if it wipes off they're probably fake.

Triples sound great.. have you ever heard an old Honda cbx1000 though? Inline 6 cylinder bike sounds like an f1 car. There are other great sounding 6 cylinder bikes but the CBX was boneriffic. Kawasaki kz1300 sounded kinda cool but not as exotic, and the bike was way less fun to ride. Even one of the 6 cylinder goldwings with exhaust sounds pretty neat. Goddamn I miss riding.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I'm getting paranoid about fake parts now... recently picked up a new serpentine belt for my wife's car. I went with OEM Honda to avoid the "pretty close" sizing from aftermarket belts that can, as I have finally learned my lesson, snap idler pulley bolts and wear out tensioners.

I examined it, the print on the belt itself, the quality of the printing on the box... "This looks real... I guess..."

Heck yeah - I saw some threads on other forums about what happens when people buy a fake GFB DV+, it's really not pretty!

 

[SrsBsns]

OoOoOo I miss riding, and the triple sound was something to behold.

If you have a spare one of those plugs out (since its a triple and you bought 4 lol) try to wipe the writing off of it with alcohol, if it wipes off they're probably fake.

Triples sound great.. have you ever heard an old Honda cbx1000 though? Inline 6 cylinder bike sounds like an f1 car. There are other great sounding 6 cylinder bikes but the CBX was boneriffic. Kawasaki kz1300 sounded kinda cool but not as exotic, and the bike was way less fun to ride. Even one of the 6 cylinder goldwings with exhaust sounds pretty neat. Goddamn I miss riding.

Good to see you on here again, haven't seen you post for a while. Or maybe I just haven't been on here as much.

Thanks for the tip with the alcohol. I gave it a shot and nothing happened. That gives me a little more confidence.

I've never heard the CBX1000 in person, but you've got me going down a rabbit hole on youtube haha. Thing sounds gnarly, like an F1 car.

I love the triple but I think my current favorite motorcycle sound is the RSV/Tuono's V4.

View: https://youtu.be/A6ULmx7f36c?t=266
ugh... want...

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Good to see you on here again, haven't seen you post for a while. Or maybe I just haven't been on here as much.

Thanks for the tip with the alcohol. I gave it a shot and nothing happened. That gives me a little more confidence.

I've never heard the CBX1000 in person, but you've got me going down a rabbit hole on youtube haha. Thing sounds gnarly, like an F1 car.

I love the triple but I think my current favorite motorcycle sound is the RSV/Tuono's V4.

View: https://youtu.be/A6ULmx7f36c?t=266
ugh... want...

beware, that way lies madness!

You look up the sound of a cbx1000
you price them on craigslist and ebay
someone mentions the benelli sei
you google the sound of a benelli sei
now you are trying to plan a bank robbery to afford a benelli sei lol

I had a kawasaki z1r-tc at one point. The engine itself wasn't that great, but the turbo on that bike (aftermarket ATP I think, been a while) made absurd sounds and always made me worried that it was going to suck my knee in haha.

I'd go riding through camp pendleton and get mobbed by a bunch of young guys that bought 600's with their signing bonuses, they'd surround me on the freeway and rev and stuff - I'd give it just enough gas to spool and flutter loudly and they'd all fall in behind me to look at "the old bike that made the noise" haha

Wasn't fast, but had character in spades.