I took my car to the mechanic because I have some engine issues. Anyway, he looked at the plugs I was using (Bosch Platinum 4) and he said that any Bosch plug is designed specifically for German cars, nothing else. This surprised me and now I am really pi$$ed! The mechanic put AC Delco's in instead for me. I don't know if this was a good move or not, but it's time to get my money back from Bosch.

 

Are your problems gone? If so, good luck getting your money back unless you just bought them. Consider it a lesson learned.

 

Not to be a jerk like I usually am; but let me paraphrase this phone call as I imagine it:

"Hello Bosch? This is xxxxxxxxxxx I live in yyyyyyyyy Ohio and I put your plugs in my car. My engine has issues. My mechanic told me {what you just said} and because he told me that, you owe me my money back."

"{click}"

I doubt it will go very far.

If you had looked around on this forum, you would have found that most people here don't get good results with the +4s, or at least certainly not good enough to pay 6 or 8 times as much as the OEM plugs, and find them to be alot of money for little or no gain. The most satisfactory plug in most cases is the ACs, and people who want a precious-metal electrode usually use the AC RapidFires.

However, to say that Bosch plugs are "engineered" ONLY for German cars, is patently ridiculous. Electrons are notoriously non-patriotic. Their rules of behavior do not change when they cross borders. They don't look at the engineer's nationality or even the car mfr's headquarters city and decide accordingly whether they are willing to jump that gap. That idea is as absurd as saying that AC or Champion plugs will only work in American cars, or that Nippondenso (Accel) or NGK plugs will only work in Japanese ones.

I seriously doubt that changing the plugs made any material difference in the way your car ran, unless they were fouled (which would not be Bosch's fault in any case). Don't expect to get your money back.

I'd recommend sticking with the ACs though; not because the Bosch ones won't work, but because they cost alot more and don't make the engine run any better.

 

Don't ever let someone that ignorant touch your car again.

If anything, +4's may be good for centrally located plugs such as in import 4 bangers and hemisperical heads. Reguler platinums are good for extended replacements and regular ol Bosch plugs are a good all around plug.

If you have an MSD and are running platinum plugs, you're gonna have problems.

Hey RB, I thought electrons held sway to the country of Nucleus, no?

 

Oh yea, I'm still a little confused as to how Bosch lied.

 

I have been told by the guy at my local parts store that Platinum Plugs are not recommended for use in these cars...not only did i hear him say it, i was reading the different options for plugs that i had on his monitor and it even said it on there that Platinums are not recommended. I am only going to run AC Delco Rapidfire plugs in my car. I will probably stick mostly to Delco stuff...ie, oil filter, plugs, and some other stuff.

 

And it only stands to logical reason. One cannot really fault the electrons, either. Having comingled with so many other staunchly nationalistic, even jingoistic atomic particles in lower valence bands, such myopic particles would only be expected to bear right and rigidly follow their patriotic paths, shunning all those that may differ from them, lest they become inferior, bastardized particles to be chastized by their more righteous peers, banished in their impurities from the one, true microcrystalline order of their origins. No electron would wish such a fate on even its worst enemy.

 

Kind of like a Borg... or a republican, lol.

*edit* I better add the You know how Borg can be.

 

Dammit Vader!! Haven't I told you before, I need </i>some</i> sort of warnig! It's gonna take me all morning to get the damn coffee out of my keyboard!!!

 

The main reason I say Bosch lied is because in their advertisements they claim to make the car run better, but d@mit, they made my car run crappy. The plugs have turned green already and I just installed them 2 weeks ago. They have a guarentee not to make your car have problems or any problems with the plugs period, so I think I should get my money back. Either that, or their policy is just talk.
By the way, when the mechanic said that the plugs were just for German cars, I laughed and said no their not, I have the plugs in my other car, no problems. Its not my regular mechanic so I am taking what he says with a grain of salt.
Lets just say, a lesson well learned on my behalf!

 

 

Well any plug thats clean and new will allow the engine to run better and gain fuel economy and power. So they dident lie outright. Ive found that dual ground plugs do work better then single ground but that was an experiment with a 3.4L Toyota that was designed for a dual ground plug.

 

Have you tried Splitfire sparkplugs?
now this has little to do with an SBC, but I raced kart for about 10 years, was a state champ, blah, blah, etc. but we used to run 1/4 mile hi-banked tracks. I tried the S/F plugs and it improved the speed EVERY TIME I tried it. It was a Yamah KT100s 2 cycle engine, ran about 14,500rpms on top.
Just thought I'd mention it.

 

Spark plugs are like pants. Try them until you find a set you like.

 

If you really want to confuse your mechanic, remind him that Louis Chevrolet was Swiss.

 

Funny thing.... TPIS highly recommends Bosch+4 in their book. I was thinking I might have to try a set someday.... Guess I won't.

 

Stekman, you are exactly right. I just wish that finding plugs was not such a hassle.

 

100% agreed, as long as they're AC's....

In my experience, AC's typically run better in a GM, Autolites for Ford, Champion for Mopar, NGK for most imports.....But that is primarily on stock applications. From what I've seen, this is the case.

Now, when it comes to an engine that has been modified, things change drastically. Autolite's specified plug might be just a tad cooler than the AC, and that may be what your engine wants/needs.... It does take experimentation.

Splitfires.....Autolites with a v-shaped negative electrode. I just pulled a set from a 90 Mustang GT that had been in there for 75,000+ miles. They were well worn, still did OK. The thing I found odd was where the majority of the wear on the center electrode was. They were all 8 worn at the center of the "V". Hmmm Makes ya wonder!

He had a set of bosch +4's to put in it, and since he's hed them for like 2 years and lost the receipt (can't take them back) he twisted my arm to put them in. Cleaned the throttle body out, started the car, and it ran better than it has in a long time. It was running well before, but the idle was smoother, and at the proper RPM (TB cleaning helped that), but the throttle response was much crisper. I'm sure it is partly due to the fact that the old plugs were about shot also.

My theory on the +4's and why they MAY work well...... Electrons like to flow to the path of least resistance. There will likely only be one electrode that the spark will hit. Spark will jump the gap in a cylinder that is slightly rich easier than in one that is slightly lean. I bet the electrode that the spark jumps to is the one that is more ideally located in the cylinder. Maybe an easy way out of indexing your plugs?

Any thoughts on this from others?

 

Sure, so long as the other three electrodes don't block the flame front.
The point of the indexing is to expose the flame front to the rest of the area w/o impeding it's flow by moving the strap to the back of the flame front generated by the spark. That's why the +4's would work in alot of imports. The heads centrally locate the plug at the top center so the flame front you want to propegate is generally below the electrodes.

 

I've run Bosch single prong platinums in my 305 since 2001.

Zero problems.

Probably use Bosch forever

 

I first heard the "Don't use Bosch Platinum in this type of car" over 10 years ago. It was a co-worker who had taken their 320i to the BMW dealer for service.

I had them in my Citation at the time. Didn't notice any improvement or reduction in performance or economy.

 

A spark plug is pretty much a spark plug as long as the extra electrodes don't slow or hamper the flame front. Simple physics will tell you that a spark will follow the path of least resistance. Those +4s probably only fire on one electrode anyway. Sure it may drift from electrode to electrode but it will usually fire on one only. How do I know? I had the 2 prong ones on a 1980 350. While doing a compression test the coil wire didn't get disconnected and the engine started. Spark would jump between the two electrodes but never hit 2 at the same time.

I use AC delco rapidfire in every chevy I drive.

 

a point brought up was that electricity flows the path of least resistance. one thing that has picked at my brain about the +4's (to their benefit) is that if one of the tips wears away, there's 3 more that are less resistant. so the spark will always be decently strong over a long lifetime. just food for thought, or something to be thrown in my face....

 

Oh my, and I was just coming out of my laughing spell!!! But that's too good. I just wish I'd thought of it first.

The plug with the lifetime guarantee. It doesn't get much better than that.

 

Hey Transamman87, if you've only had the plugs in for a couple of weeks, then they should still be very returnable for a refund. Have you tried yet?

 

I am going to try this weekend. I hope they take them back, I looked at them and they look like the old ones I replaced them with. I'll let everyone know what happens, first I am going to the parts store where I got them and if they say no, then I am calling Bosch directly.

 

Just my findings, but I have run Delco's. Rapid fires, and +4's and Ive found that the +4 have consistantly out performed the Delco's. The regular delco's just don't take the high RPM spark quite as well as the +4s and rapids. Also, I've found that with the Delco's I find myself replacing them every 1-2 years! Ive had the +4's in for more that 4 with ZERO problems. I think that if you found that you had problems with the +4s that was resolved when going back to the Delco's, I think you better take a close look at the fuel, distributor and or wires! It's VERY easy to miss wire the plugs. Exspecially since you had a mechanic that thinks that certian plugs are for forein cars only!

 

What do you mean 'outperformed'? Do you mean their durability?
That's what the platinum is for. Its conductivity is worse, but its durability is better.
It is also why you are not supposed to ever run a platinum plug with a multiple spark box. Too much resistance. It overtaxes the system and may produce a failure somewhere therein.