Re: Bosch Plats in NA engines...

["Gary G. Erickson" <erickson@teleport.com>]

kauffman@IMAP2.ASU.EDU wrote:
> 
> Hi Scott / qlist,
> 
> I read your comments on the regular plats experiencing ceramic insulator
> breakdown, and I wondered, is this pretty much just a turbo app problem?
> What's your opinion on using them in a NA engine (like our '86 5kS)?
> I've been using 'em in my '79 Fox for many years with no probs.

Karl,

FWIW, I had tried the off the shelf Bosch platinums a while back (in my
'85 GT) because they were on sale for something like 79 cents each. 
IMO, what I saved in price didn't offset what I lost in reliability and
performance.

Cranking took 3-5 seconds longer to start, and there was a noticible
miss when I was pushing it hard at high rpms.  Since that platinum
electrode is so much smaller, it also fouled a _lot_ more quickly than I
would like to have seen.  And that was before I had done any engine
modifications; I'd hate to think about running those things now!

Since that episode I have gone to running the triple electrode Bosch
coppers (WR7DTC) and been very happy with them.  But please bear in
mind, they do have a price:  I pay $2.64 each and that's with a discount
for buying them in lots of 10 and 20 at a time.  There are days that I
wonder if they were developed specifically for the Audi/VW 5 cyl engines
since they come packed in boxes of 10, rather than the boxes of 8 that
most other companies package their plugs in.

HTH! and YMMV

Gary

-----------------------------------------------------------
Gary G. Erickson            Member #82 NW Audi Quattro Club
Business Solution Integrators, Inc.
503-702-5789                  e-mail: erickson@teleport.com