Bosch Platinum +4 Spark Plug Experienced..?
 

Has anyone used this..
Bosch Platinum 4 spark-plug..
Please share the experience (good/bad) with us
The reason I am asking, it that I am thinking to replace the spark plug on my car(since it is time to do so)and I have heard mix review about it.. :confused:
Any info would helpful

Regardz,

J Irwan

Those plugs are good for cars that use platinum plugs from the factory. ie 1998 & later MB's.

I say go with the mercedes factory used plugs, you can't go wrong using the factory approved plugs.

Alon

Had them. Went back to originals
 

On my 1988 2.6L 190E I switched to the Plats and did not like them. Went back to original (new) Bosch plugs. Are you in the Philadelphia area? I've got six plats for you to try, if you want.

I use the bosch platinum +4 on my 190 E 2.3-16 and they work fine. Platinum plugs will not work on my 190 SL.

here we go again
 

I think this question has been beat to death on the tech forum. Let me tell you this from first hand experience, I didn't know any better after recently purchasing my 300E, I put in platnum 4's. The performance after the first week was just fine, but then I noticed the car was back to it's old pre-tune up days. I pulled the plugs and they looked HORRIBLE! Even the gapping was off, and they came pre-gapped. The reason? The techies will attest, the pin in the platnum plug is very small and narrow. Look at the diagram at your local auto store. They recommended the Bosch Suppers - copper core plugs. The copper core is very wide, about a 1/4". Wider spark means better spark in these older engines. I put in some suppers, tourqed to the proper specs, and she runs like a dream. Dont wast your money on them. I have them in my BMW, and they work fine. But not for the older MZB's. Thats my dos centavos.

platin +4
 

:( put six of these from my local autozone into my 1990 300e. Car ran fine for about 3 days then starting missing like crazy.

pulled the plugs and they were completed fouled. tried cleaning them w/ carb cleaner but didn't get good results. seems I was just about due for tune up time and when I pulled distrib cap and rotor they were worn (some corrosion) and I think the plats just couldn't hang.

I like the gentlemen's advice about the old tried and true fat copper plugs, just like a lawnmower. I'll let you know.

here's some info. platinum plugs fire at a lower voltage. this helps out of tune cars with weak ignition systems to maintain firing. copper plugs are hotter plugs that don't fire until more voltage has built up. this produces a more powerful spark, if the ignition system is up to it.

i tried bosch platinum 4 plus plugs in my 190e 2.3L 16v and wasn't too impressed. when my engine started missing about 6k miles later i put in four new platinum 4 plus plugs which worked fine for a few days. i then added jacobs 8.5mm wires and bosch super copper plugs overgapped .05" and this improved throttle response and acceleration noticeably. of course it's not like i got 10 BHP from plugs are wires but there was a small difference. a week later i replaced my rotor and distrubutor cap. again, a noticeable improvement. so if you're thinking about igntion stuff, for under $100 you can replace your rotor, cap, wires, and plugs and get your ignition running like it just came off the showroom floor, or even a little better with the beefed up wires and increased gap.

The voice of experience
 

I have installed Bosch +4 plugs in 5 of our family cars, none of them a Mercedes; perhaps I should interject that I have 5 grown kids who still expect daddy to do almost all their car services and repairs for them, and they tend to buy high-mileage used "bargains" with a spirit of "Oh, Daddy can fix that," so I'm now maintaining a fleet of 8 vehicles for 7 drivers.

First, the bottom line: I recommend that +4 plugs only be used in cars for which the original equipment gap specification is over .036" and with all other ignition components in good condition. I first tried +4 plugs in our '86 Subaru wagon, with a specified gap of .042", with excellent results, in spite of a rather tired-looking cap and rotor. Then I tried them on #2 son's '83 Toyota Celica, for which I had just done an engine overhaul (22RE motor, with .032" recommended gap) and installed a high-lift 276 degree cam, etc., etc. Even though all the plug wires and the cap and rotor tested out right on spec. for resistance, they were not new, and I had missing problems until I put on new genuine Toyota wires -- some of this may be the result of my lack of expertise in adjusting the FI system to match the cam, of course. Then came #2 daughter's '90 SAAB 900S (.032" recommended gap): here we had missing problems right from the start, and new wires and cap and rotor didn't help, so I took the plugs back out, measured their factory gap as best I could with a drill rod (more than .070", I'd say), and then used a smaller drill rod carefully centered on the center electrode with magnification to narrow the gap down about 20% -- the car has run beautifully on them ever since (c. 20,000 miles) except that now it needs transmission work, but we can't blame Bosch for that. 4th in line was a '91 Nissan pickup I recently acquired to facilitate my wife's gardening habit (only 148,000 miles, and the plugs that were in it looked like they were originals). The +4 plugs have worked very well in this 4 cyl, 3 valve per cylinder motor (spec. = .035" gap) for several thousand miles since, but then, that ignition system had already proven its ability to fire, reasonably well, stock plugs with a gap larger than .075" between thoroughly rounded electrodes. Yesterday I installed another set in my wife's '95 Mercury Villager (Nissan Maxima drive train with .035" specified gap) and they seem to be working out beautifully in that one.

Next victim, in two weeks, will be #1 son's '91 BMW 318i (only 205,000 miles) -- the plugs have already been bought for several months. But I've got to do the clutch for him that weekend, too, so I may not get it all taken care of.

I'm just an old codger who likes to experiment with new things, but my M-B is exempt -- it's an '85 300TD.

This is my experiance with platinum plugs it has only cost me $1000 so far doing all of the work my self. I'm not sure I will ever use Bosch plugs anymore.

That looks like a plug of a radically incorrect heat range for the motor in which it
 

was installed. Is it correct to assume that the results were destructive pre-ignition? We used to see a lot of that sort back in around 1967-68 when people would put hotter plugs in early Porsche 911s for city driving and then not change them before they took off across the country at western Interstate speeds.

The platinum plugs that Porsche recommended in those days were very different from the present day type in one respect: they could only tolerate a gap of .012"-.014" but worked great at those settings -- it was weird to be setting plug gaps narrower than point gaps, but that's the way they worked.

Well you are 100% wrong it was the exact plug for the application. There was no preignition happening, the plug failed and this is not the only time I have seen this. I have been working on cars for over 20 years and have never seen this where a plug simply falls apart. But since this happend I have researched it and have found many reports of this happening. This is why I wont use Bosch plugs any more, if they can't build a plug that does not fall apart then I won't use them. Once again when I took the head off there was no sign of preignition the plug simply failed.

I used Plats +4 on my 86 325 w/ excellent resuts.
When I got my 190 2.6,thinking its German too,
I put in a set of +4s.Wrong!The car started coughing,
hesitating and feel like swearing at me.Went back to
coppers and everything is fine.

when i upgraded to jacob's 8.5mm silicone plug wires and kept my platinum 4+ plugs, in the first day, 2 of the 4 plugs on my 16v cracked, resulting in horrible misfire since the spark was just jumping over to the cylinder head. these were new plugs too. i put bosch copper plugs in and have had absolutely no problem since.

so guys

thanks for the input

SO decided to go with Beru Ultra X (4 electrode, with copper)

I hope this is not as hot as the Platinum +4 :D:D

Regardz,

J Irwan