Samples sent for testing after suspiciously short life of spark plugs discovered

AMMAN —  A committee convened on Tuesday to send test samples of Octane 90 and spark plugs to CGS Labs as a result of complaints filed by Association of Automotive Agents. 

The committee convened at Al Manaseer Group in Amman, following a general meeting held last Saturday, whereby the committee was formed to investigate automotive agents’ claims that Octane 90 was the reason behind the short life of spark plugs in new cars bought from them.

The committee comprises of the General Association of Automotive Agents, oil distribution companies, the General Association of Petrol and Gas Distribution Stations Owners, the Jordan Institution for Standards and Metrology, as well as Jordanian car dealers. 

President of the General Association of Automotive Agents, Spare Parts and Accessories Traders, Tarek Tabbaa, gave further details by stating: “A couple of months ago complaints were filed at the association concerning unreasonable short lives of spark plugs of several brands of cars saying that the average life of a fireplug is 30,000–40,000km, and that it was apparent that their effectiveness was being reduced to 10,000 and then 5,000 with apparent fire spark locks.” 

“It is only normal for an old car to visit the garage, but when it comes to a brand new car coming right out of its agency; and a loan from the bank, it is then a totally different story.” Tabbaa added. 

“For the first couple of car agencies, we thought that it was a manufacturing issue and that it was better to recall the cars for an unexpected service of the fuel injection system,” Tabbaa said, adding that however, “at a certain point, we started getting calls from all car agencies complaining of high fuel consumption as well as poor performance of engines”.

The association then decided to conduct an investigation, Tabbaa told The Jordan Times. They then contacted Al Manaseer Group, Total and Jo Petrol, the three oil and gas distributors in the Kingdom, citing a lack of knowledge in the technical aspects of the field.

Engineer Nahar Saedat, president of The General Association of Petrol and Gas Distribution, told The Jordan Times that they were concerned after receiving the reports. 

“We made sure to bring along all credentials related to diesel test certificates and demonstrate to attendees at the meeting that those certificates comply to world standards in that regard,” Saedat said.  

At the end of the meeting, the group decided it was best to take samples of the spark plugs, as well as Octane 90 and send them to an international technical lab for testing. Saedat added that after they receive the results, the group will meet again to debate possible solutions.

“We do not want to rush to any conclusions or judgments, but we would rather wait until the report of the lab is issued in order to conduct a scientific and professional course of action,” Saedat said, adding: “We do not seek to find fault, on the contrary we want a professional scientific approach to identify the root of the matter in order to be better equipped to solve it.”

All oil distribution entities are under the umbrella of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources who attested that gasoline imported or produced for the local market is identical to all Jordanian standards.