Quit using Bosch Platinums!

Dale Puumala

Registered User
[rant on]

For the love of Pete people, quit using Bosch Platinum plugs!!!

2 1/2 years ago I bought an '89 5-speed. It ran decent, but then one day I took it to the track and it was bucking and chugging all the way down the track if I was in boost. I figure plugs and wires. I find out it has Bosch Platinums in it (the ones with the center electrode hidden in the ceramic). Ugh. Runs great after I change them.

This past September I bought another '89 5-speed. Since I've owned it, any time I'm at about 4 PSI or higher of boost, it bucks and jerks. Again, I figure plugs and wires. Change them out today and what do I find? More of these Bosch Platinums! :mad: It runs great now that I have good 'ol Autolite double platinums in it.

Pleeeeeeease don't put those horrible horrible Bosch Platinums in your SC!!!!

[/rant off]

Dale
 
Switch to Iridiums. My 1995 is much smoother now. It had the origional garbage copper ones in when I got it and was very rough with any boost. The plugs cured it real quick! :D
 
Iridiums suck as well your best off with ford even so I had no luck this year with ones so I'm going to Autolite this time.
 
iridiums..

I disagree that iridiums suck. I have been using them in my car for over a year. They are able to perform under a lot of boost and timing. For most applications though, I would recommend the Autolite platnum plugs.
 
Gonna have to relearn Birds all over again-I use Bosch +4 in the v8 with no probs at all-have to switch that thinking when I pick up the 95 next month.

Think I'll stick with the Autolite Doubles for now. :cool:
 
On a boosted motor and especially the SC, the motor runs on borderline detonation a lot. The detonation is violent enough to "blow" the tips right out of the Bosch plugs. This applies to any SC stock or otherwise. As for the Iridium plugs, there is nothing wrong with them and iridium does fire under greater pressure than copper or platinum will. Bill has his own "special problems." ;)

That being said, some of the fastest SC's in the world run on standard non-platinum Autolite plugs. I personally use the standard plugs in my car and change them about once a year maybe longer depending on how much I drive. I have never had a misfire and regardless of what plug you use, any motor will run better on a new set of plugs. Consequently I like to put new plugs in prior to a major race or event and I don't like to spend $40-50 to do it. $8 plug changes are sweet.

When we start getting into superchargers/turbos that are capable of more than 17psi boost without frying eggs on your intake plenum, it may be necessary for some people to switch to a platinum or iridium plug. For the rest of you, there is no need unless you are so into not working on your car that you want them to keep sparking happily for another 100K miles. :)
 
the Ford dealership here in sarasota didnt have any plugs they had to order them so i put the autolites in work great
 
Yup, Bosch plats suck in SC's.
Had them in my 95 for a week and it ran worse than the old ones they replaced. Went to Ford and although I didn't appreciate paying $40 for plugs, I didn't care when the car ran great again.
I probably won't buy those expensive plugs again because now I know better. As XR7 Dave said, a decent regular plug will work
 
SeafoodSC said:
Yup, Bosch plats suck in SC's.
Had them in my 95 for a week and it ran worse than the old ones they replaced. Went to Ford and although I didn't appreciate paying $40 for plugs, I didn't care when the car ran great again.
I probably won't buy those expensive plugs again because now I know better. As XR7 Dave said, a decent regular plug will work

As much trouble is it is to change plugs on this car, I'll stick with the PP's and ride them for a few years.
 
Hey what's deal.. Bosches are great

Ran a set a couple of years ago and got at least 20,000 out of them.. :p

Thats before I knew any better. I have the Autolite PPs now of course. :D

I give it WOT only about once every other day, conditions permitting, on my favorite on-ramp. The rest of my drives are at sedate highway speeds. So a wimpy plug will last for a while in that case.
 
Hey Woody, some of us have changed plugs 5 times in one day (Don't ask!). :D So we think that changing them every year or two is kids play. LOL
 
In my opinion ( and i have some experience to back this up ) Bosch Platinum plugs are a lot like Fram Filters...... Lots of advertising hype and nothing inside.......... The Autolite double platinums work fine, i've heard nothing but good about the NGK Iridiums but never tried them...
 
I have Bosch Platinums in my 90 SC and I don't drive it hard. They seem to do ok, but then again the car is mostly stock. Once I start to modify it, I'm going to use a better plug. The Bosch plugs have a tiny *** electrode that is hidden inside the porcelain. I don't see how they can make a good spark with that especially when we are cramming all that air in the cylinder. I thought it'd blow out the spark.

I am wanting to try the Champion Double Platinum plugs. They have a fat electrode and only cost like $3.00/ea. I'll try them soon since I need to tune up my 92. It has AWSF34pp's in it right now that I paid $11.95/ea. for from Ford when I was desperate for some plugs. They saw me coming a mile away. This is before I got into the parts business. Never again.
 
Scott, that's exactly the problem. It DOES blow the spark out. Consider yourself lucky.

Both of my '89's were/are 100% bone stock and those plugs didn't work worth a hoot.

Dale
 
Same here

I put Bosch plugs and wires on mine and it bucked bad!..Went back to ford parts smoothed right out!
 
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