Need a new glow plug

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EvhCo

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RC Driving Style
  1. Racing
My glow plug seems to be failing (or maybe I'm just being paranoid, but either way) so I'm about to buy a new plug. Question is, do all glow plugs fit in all engines? What about turbo glow plugs? They look kinda appealing, too.
Visually, the plugs I've seen online are identical to my current one, just wanna make sure it fits.
 
They aren't all the same.What's the engine and what fuel are you running?

Turbo plugs are tapered at the tip and the head/head button is also tapered, it's how they seal. They are made that way to mate perfectly flush to the inside of the combustion chamber. It minimizes turbulence as the air/fuel mixture enters the engine. With a normal plug, they usually sit about flush, but the edges of the threaded hole and end of the plug cause a hair bit of turbulence in there. Turbo plugs are only really for cream of the crop racing needs. A typical basher probably wouldn't even notice a difference. The plugs are also more expensive.

Outside of "turbo" plugs, there are long, medium, short and a range of temps from hot-cold. So knowing what it is you need to put a plug in and the fuel you run is kind of necessary to get an idea as to what will work for you. Fuel nitro percentage usually dictates what temp you want to go with, or at least a range to work in. 20% on down, usually a hotter plug. 25% on up, a cooler plug. High compression/rpm racing engine, probably a cooler plug.
 
Thanks for the info! I run 16% nitro with all the shims removed. I'm going for an on-road 'muscle-car' build (no bashing), and trying to squeeze out as much compression as I can from it. So far it's going awesome, and a better plug is essentially the final step for this build.
 
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