LX 176 Spark Plug

Fred Mertz

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Unable to locate an NGK BPR5ES spark plug for LX176. the engine is a Kawasaki FC420. Are there any brands that would work?
 

JoeM(GA)

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should be a very common plug at any mower dealer, fits a ton of Kaw engines, many Honda push mowers and Deeres.
Make the effort to find them, these engines just plain run better with them. Don't forget to buy a spare!
 

Pumper54

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A quick search on the internet shows that most autoparts stores and the big box stores all carry or can get that plug.
Tom
 

Teds

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Sometimes those cross reference chart suggestions are questionable at best, they may physically fit and run but they aren't a close equivalent in terms of heat range and other important considerations.
 

bertsmobile1

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Sometimes those cross reference chart suggestions are questionable at best, they may physically fit and run but they aren't a close equivalent in terms of heat range and other important considerations.

What people fail to understand is there is no "Standard" for individual spark plugs.
As such some plugs have a wide temperature range and some have a very narrow range.
The temperature ranges themselves are not linear.
So there is a lot of overlap and very few plugs are a direct & exact replacement for any other plug.
A lot of plugs are more or less obsolete.
Those for cast iron iron heads running post WW II pool petrol can mostly be replaced with a single plug.
Similarly all the tight range plugs required for the highly tuned 10:1 to 12:1 leaded engines of the 60's & 70's are fairly well obsolete as well.
Mower engines are very low tech and fairly modest compression so the only real thing to worry about is the resistance required for the electronic ignitions to work properly.
Most Champions cover a heat range of 3 to 4 NGK's
The closest direct replacement NGK for the original specified Champions in my iron headed side valve engine is a B 8 HS
It runs best on a BP 5 HS . The B 8's carbon up and foul when idleing for prolonged periods due to the nature of modern fuels which are nothing like petrol.
 

deckeda

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Yes, some of my BPR5ES plugs have come in red/white Honda boxes and some have come in green/yellow J-D boxes. Tickled pink I got lucky and only have to maintain one part # for my old riding mowers and newer push mowers!

FYI

NGK also refers to this as a 7734

https://www.ngk.com/product.aspx?zpid=9468

The BPR5ES SOLID is the same plug but the terminal tip can't be unscrewed (not that you'd want to anyway, which IMO makes this at least as good of a choice). NGK also refers to this one as the 4006.

https://www.ngk.com/product.aspx?zpid=9466

But do NOT buy a BPR5ES -11

My used '176 came with that plug and it worked, sorta, but contributed to some serious running issues I was having. The BPR5ES -11 is a BPR5ES with a wider gap, and the FC420V doesn't sport a monster coil sufficient enough to reliably spark it. ;)
 
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