warning; spark plugs sold on Amazon are counterfeits

[autox320]

I was bit by this recently so if not aware, here ya go. Majority of spark plugs on Amazon are fakes. Surprise. That's right even if seller says "NGK" or "Denso" they are completely counterfeit. Amazon doesn't seem to care about this and the revenue on parts like this are huge if think about it. Physically the plugs look ok, but couple MAJOR differences is poor quality made especially the porcelain bond to the hex; ie the seal to keep combustion pressure in. They will eventually break and leak cylinder pressure to the point of destroying wire ends or in my case coil packs etc. Another huge difference in spark itself out of these fakes, due to the fakes use cheap solid iron core. That;s right NOT copper at all anywhere in the plug. They look very close to the real thing but the manufacturers have info on their pages about Markings etc to try to educate fakes from real. Most can't tell a difference when looking, they look that close.

I bought some out of convenience when ordering some other items. Put them in a daily driver, they were NGK iridiums for a M42 car. I didn't even know any better about this was a thing these days having fakes. Well car seemed off and low on power. I thought it was a placebo, and went a couple months. Then always seemed to run off a bit and had misfire issues on occasion. Very hard to track down what was going on. Coils were getting older and plugs looked ok still. New coils, new boots etc no change. Looked at the plugs and put them back in. Finally had a miss fire bad enough to where within a day or so of a ticking sound went to full exhaust leak sound. Was down a cylinder and on a 4pot that's noticeable

Pulled everything out and one of the plugs had separated from the hex leaking. The combustion ate the spark tube and the under side of the new coil pack. Matter of fact only thing holding the plug in place was the coil pack. Checked the other plugs carefully and sure enough all of them the porcelain was coming loose from the hex. Grabbing the hex with one hand or a vise and trying to twist the porcelain you could slightly move it.

All went in the trash and put a new set in from a local supplier. Difference was night and day. Like a completely new car. Picked up a bunch of free horsepower, and fuel mileage greatly improved. All the issues I had before chasing unknown running hiccups completely vanished.

Food for thought. Stop ordering Amazon garbage.

[builtinbetter]

No pics of the fakes? I've never seen counterfeit plugs before. That blows. Glad you figured it out though.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[autox320]

No pics of the fakes? I've never seen counterfeit plugs before. That blows. Glad you figured it out though.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

I didn't even know this shit existed till last weekend. Once I saw the catastrophic failure of my daily cars plugs, I went in head first to see what I could learn. Changed the other DD car, then our SUV X3 BMW. All three sets counterfeits bought at different times and different vendors listings "NGK" as the source from Amazon. Lots of "good" reviews. Some even warn of fake plugs with a cheap link to how to see the difference. Of course it's all BS. The X3 plugs were the "OE" laser iridiums; yeah the most counterfeited plug on the market. . . why? cause there are so many cars that use them as OE today.

I was so pissed at the time that they all went straight in the trash without even thinking to post about it. Just something so stupid to me until realizing how much profit there was involved. I thought it was random but turns out this is a thing now.

Our SUV has been having strangest of issues and it all made sense once I caught it. Sucks being "the" mechanic and having to scratch your head over sparkplug issues that should never happen.

Luckily I bought the 320 plugs from sparkplugs.com as they've been around forever. A couple sets of NGK vpowers I bought from Advance auto here in town. Of course I opened the boxes on the counter to check them before buying. Was looked at strange by the guys there, but hey now I know and they had no idea wtf till I told them.

As a mechanic this is a new level of nightmare troubleshooting. Especially when it comes to finicky cars with gobs of electronics like our X3. I've serviced just about every sensor on that car lol hundreds worth. . . probably could of bought a $100 set of real spark plugs to start with.

[autox320]

NGK has photos online as well. Even the BMW community where need the laser iridium's there are photos of counterfeits even come in BMW dealer packaging. Just interesting. Here's some generic info from Denso's site. Apparently some fakes are getting harder to recognize as they improve on the scam. Mine weren't that easy to spot unless magnified.

[bflan2001]

FYI, Amazon is FULL of counterfeit products. Not just car parts, anything that can be counterfeited. As the OP said, even if Amazon is telling you it’s coming directly from the manufacturer, that’s a blatant lie. Clothing, tools, toys, household products, hygiene products, etc, etc. The list goes on. Amazon doesn’t do a thing to stop them. I canceled my Prime membership earlier this year after receiving several fake items.

[autox320]

FYI, Amazon is FULL of counterfeit products. Not just car parts, anything that can be counterfeited. As the OP said, even if Amazon is telling you it’s coming directly from the manufacturer, that’s a blatant lie. Clothing, tools, toys, household products, hygiene products, etc, etc. The list goes on. Amazon doesn’t do a thing to stop them. I canceled my Prime membership earlier this year after receiving several fake items.

So true and I just wanted to point out the plugs cause just rubs me the wrong way as a guy doing all his own fleet mechanic work. Eventually you'd think people would get tired of the junk. I still use them but it's always going to be in the back of my mind and compare to the actual manufacturers website. If it's a few bucks cheaper there's a reason why.

[pofo]

Ive bought real NGK and Bosh off amazon and received real ones. I guess you have to check the seller.

But I agree Amazon = Ebay quality 99.9999% of the time

[320iAman]

I have heard about knock offs in clothes and so forth, make sense knock offs in car parts exists also,, Caveat Emteur - Buyer Beware.


Randy

[okieflats]

Are you talking about "third party sellers" on Amazon?

[autox320]

Are you talking about "third party sellers" on Amazon?

no third party sellers when I bought. Here's another one for ya though. Amazon IS NOT an authorized retailer of NGK or ANY spark plug manufacturer for that matter. Yeah so thats how they wash their hands of car parts. They are just a medium to link seller(whoever) to a potential buyer. Maybe if enough junk is bought eventually people will rotate out like ebay.

[autox320]

Last post for me on this, and I'll drop ranting. Emailed www.sparkplugs.com since I've been ordering from them since early 2001.

message I sent
Comments: Is sparkplugs.com an authorized retailer/distributor of NGK and/or Denso products? I've never had an issue with anything ordered from sparkplugs.com, but counterfeit products have arrived on my doorstep from other suppliers. Has sparkplugs.com seen and /or dealing with issues of counterfeit spark plugs and 02 sensors?


reply:

Hello Jody,


Thank you for contacting us! We are a distributor for NGK, Denso and a few other automotive brands.
Sparkplugs.com, and its sister sites NGK.com, DensoProducst.com etc. are commited to selling 100% genuine products.
As we have pickups directly from the manufacturers, we can assure you we only carry genuine products.
However, the same cannot always be said of 3rd party retailers on bargain sites such as eBay and Amazon.

For more information, you may also reach NGK directly at:

Customer Service - 877-473-6767 x 1

Technical Assistance - 877-473-6767 x 2

Website - https://www.ngksparkplugs.com/contact-us





Best Regards,



Chris

Customer Service

888-800-9629

951-672-8501

951-672-0759 FAX





Customer Service
www.sparkplugs.com
A Subsidiary of Monarch Products, Inc.
Phone: 951.672.8501
Toll free: 888.800.9629
Fax: 951.672.0759
E-mail: cust@sparkplugs.com

Customer Service Department