Plat Plus 4 stories(horrer stories)

Guys

I have heard all the talk of bad things about bosh plat Plus 4 plugs on here... i was wondering what everyones indivdual experience with them were...

My story: Back in college my father bought them for his car, they were a mess... he took it to the stealership they removed them... I took them to autozoo and exchanged htem for XJ plugs

I have ran them since 2000 and ready to pull them.. my engine runs rough at idle (not real rough)

At first they made about as much sense as snake oil because electricity is going to take the path of least resistancce. Then i got thinking about redundency and how aircraft spark plugs have multi spark thingies...

Anyways they are comming out and unless someone can tell me otherwise im getting the 80cent champion coppers

Heard the stories....many moons now.

Been running them for many years and miles, never had a problem.

Rev

i got some plus 2's in mine right now and they run fine.

got the 4+ in mine and love 'em

Not all engines run the same on every different type of plugs. I know it sounds silly but its true. Fords run best on Motorcraft and Autolite plugs. Chevy's run bets with AC Delco and NGK's. Most Japanese cars run best with NGK's. I had +4's in my 97 Cavalier Z-24 with the 2.4l in it and they were awesome. A co-worker of mine put the +4's in his Nissan Sentra GXE and it ran like crap. He put the NGK Iridiums in it and it ran sweet. Not all spark is created equally is the true moral of the story.

On to Jeeps...

It is the consensus that the older Jeeps run best on Champion plugs. I would not put Champions in anything else automotive since they just don't seem to perform. The Jeep 4.0's and 2.5's run great on Champions but when Chrysler did the HO head in 91 it seemed that the engines ran equally as well on either Champions or Autolites. I have heard that the +2's work well in the Jeep engines as well.

I'm sure many of you that read this will ponder as to how I know so much about spark plugs and such and what I use as a test bed. Here's the answer...I am a Manager at an auto parts store. I get feedback from hundreds of customers a year and about 20 different garages and over 100 professional mechanics. I'm not the monkey behind the counter selling you what you ask for no matter what. I am the guy asking the right questions to get you the best products for your car because for some twisted reason I love cars and actually care that my customers are using what is best for their cars. I pretend its my car I'm buying stuff for and that I'm actually the one that would get pissed off if I was sold junk or the wrong parts. After all...as the manager, when a customer gets mad I'm the one that has to deal with him and help him out again. I'm not gonna pretend even for a second that I know everything about cars or fool myself into thinking that I know more than you. But I have learned a lot and gathered a lot of infor over the past few years.

Did I mention that I run Champion Platinum Truck plugs in my 77 Cherokee 360, Champion coppers in my 86 MJ, and Autolite platinums in my wife's 96 XJ? If I didn't trust it I wouldn't use it. Also, for 97 and newer XJ's I'd run Autolite double platinums or Bosch platinum +2's. You pay more but you get more in that with the +2's you don't have to gap them ever and with the Dbl Plat's they hold a gap longer and take longer to wear.

One more thing...

Bosch Platinum +2's and +4's both come with a lifetime warranty. So don't toss em, trade em in for the Dbl Platinum's. A good auto parts store will stand behind the warranty on the plugs. A lot of other plugs have lifetime warranties on them too like most Dbl platinums.

Good luck.

PhilSine said:

I'm not the monkey behind the counter selling you what you ask for no matter what.

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pretty nice to say about your employees.

XgeekstarX said:

pretty nice to say about your employees.

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Hehe.

I was referring to the term commonly used by many do-it-yourselfers. Where I work there are no Counter Monkeys and we make sure of that. I had previously and still do call workers at other parts stores in our area Counter Monkeys because that's what a lot of them are. They are merely people looking up parts and handing them out with little knowledge of automobiles nor much inclination to learn about them. They are the ones that will sell you what you want without asking the right questions to actually get you what you need. If your parts guy is not asking a lot of questions...find another parts guy.

I ran NGK plats in my Isuzu trooper, 4 banger, ran terrible, drove to my sisters for a picnic and changed them there [10 minutes] then drove home, removed plugs the same day and put the old ones back in that had 60,000mi on them after regapping and cleaning them up.
I run dealer OEM Champions in my 98 4.0, same with both 2.5L wranglers we have. If the OEM plugs have been changed to NGK's like I'm hearing I guess I need to find another source for Champions, most of the parts stores around here only carry them as special order and don't keep them in stock so it might be a good time to try the truck plugs.

I have said this before and I'll say it again...I have run +4's in all of my vehicles since the day they came out with them. I have never had a problem with them orone that was traceable to them. I have always seen an improvement in performance and smoother running engines.

Vehicles:

89 Jeep XJ = 174K miles
86 BMW 325 =210K miles
89 Bronco II =135K miles
94 accord EX = 92K miles

PhilSine said:

Hehe.

I was referring to the term commonly used by many do-it-yourselfers. Where I work there are no Counter Monkeys and we make sure of that. I had previously and still do call workers at other parts stores in our area Counter Monkeys because that's what a lot of them are. They are merely people looking up parts and handing them out with little knowledge of automobiles nor much inclination to learn about them. They are the ones that will sell you what you want without asking the right questions to actually get you what you need. If your parts guy is not asking a lot of questions...find another parts guy.

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problem we have around here is half the idiots that come in for parts have no idea what they are even working on.

wilcharl said:

I have heard all the talk of bad things about bosh plat Plus 4 plugs on here... i was wondering what everyones indivdual experience with them were...

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Okay, here's my $0.02.

Bosch Platinum +4 plugs are the best ones I've ever run - in my 1989 Peugeot 405. Compared to the OEM Champions, they provide better combustion (plugs are cleaner on inspection) and, as a result, performance and economy are measurably improved. Bear in mind that this is an MPFI vehicle with a 9.5:1 compression ratio, four cylinders, dual overhead cams, a 7000rpm redline, and a 95 RON octane requirement.

Having said that, the same plugs in my now-deceased 2001 Sport were utter crap. Power and economy suffered, at least one fouled every six hundred miles (read: two tanks of gas), and as a result they provided zero advantage over the OEM Champions I replaced them with. Minus the fouling, the same goes for the Champion truck plugs I've had in its replacement (2000 Limited) for the past few months.

My best guess is that 4.0 ignition systems are baselined for items that are serviceable as opposed to clever. I know others will disagree with me on this, but my (admittedly limited) experience tends to bear this out.

XgeekstarX said:

problem we have around here is half the idiots that come in for parts have no idea what they are even working on.

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I can go with that - I wasted three and a half years behind the counter at Kragen...

CUSTOMER "I need a fan belt."
ME "What sort of car do you have?"
CUSTOMER "Blue."

As you can guess, the conversation went downhill from there. That's a sample of what I had to deal with pretty much every damn day there - dealing with customers. Don't even get me started on the employees...

5-90

5-90 said:

I can go with that - I wasted three and a half years behind the counter at Kragen...

CUSTOMER "I need a fan belt."
ME "What sort of car do you have?"
CUSTOMER "Blue."

As you can guess, the conversation went downhill from there. That's a sample of what I had to deal with pretty much every damn day there - dealing with customers. Don't even get me started on the employees...

5-90

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holy hell i know what you dealt with. the other day a guy came in for a head gasket kit for an isuzu pickup. i handed him the set, he opened the box and goes, "this looks pretty involved doesn't it". i was speechless.