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It was time for new spark plugs, and as usual, I always try to upgrade a replacement part. I thought I would try the aforementioned plug as it is a highly regarded replacement.
Upon installation, my hope for an improvement was received in the intitial test drive but in retrospect, it was exagerated by my desire for sucess. After a half day of driving, i noticed a slight hesitation under 3K RPM. Inquiring about these to my local master tech mechanic, he related to me that the Bosch Platinum is not a good plug for the car. He sold me BMW plugs (Bosch dual electrode coppers) that i soon replaced the beloved Bosch Plat +4's with.
I went home and was eager to see if my overall analysis was correct. Upon installation of the new "old" plug, the hesitation disappeared and the overall power delivery was much more consistent.
Bottom line, DONT BUY PLATINUM +4 SparkPlugs. They were not designed for the e36 ignition system (much lower voltage, than most domestic vehicles), and your car will suffer as a result. I hope my wasting of $50 will prevent yours.
Obviously you went to Autozone to buy your copper plugs. I replaced mine with the twin ground electrode oem BMW plug ($11.00/piece), not the $2.00 universal lawn mower plug at autozone.
These are much more suited for the BMW ignition system. There is a significant difference in the way the ignition in a BMW and a Chevy operate. Domestic ignition systems exhibit MUCH higher voltage that fire fewer times per second. This is where a Platinum plug helps.
Trust me, I've done the research, go buy the proper plugs, you will see.
i had the bosch platinum +4 in my honda and they gave me horrible gas mileage and performance. I switched back to NGK coppers and I'm getting better gas mileage and a wider torque band.
Unfortunately, I did not read this review before buying my +4 plugs. I am also getting that moments hesitation before the power kicks in ... I'm sold on the twin electrode BMW copper plugs but can I get them anywhere besides the local BMW dealer?
Maybe, but i had no luck. I bought the oem plug at my local BMW tech's shop. After he raped me for $68 and change, I took them to every parts place in town (PepBoys, AutoZone, AdvanceAutoparts, NAPA, etc.) and no one had them.
Bosch plugs work the best in my experience. Any motor that is pre-M50 should use copper core plugs. M50 and the V8's should use 2 pronged plugs, Bosch or NGK. The newer motors, M52 or M54, not sure the denotation, should all be 4 pronged NGK Laser plugs. Just my experience as a mechanic and seeing problems with wrong spark plugs.
So, Wil, might I infer from your post that, for M52's, you don't even recommend the above-praised OEM Bosch dual electrode coppers? Have you seen a lot of problems with them, or do they just die a natural death earlier than the 4-pronged NGK's do? Err, what I mean is: what's wrong with using Bosch 2-prongers?
__________________ DISCLAIMER: I don't yet actually drive a BMW. Currently, I proudly drive a '93 Volvo 940, the inspiration for my love of RWD cars.
Originally posted by clubin+Jun 26 2004, 12:30 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (clubin @ Jun 26 2004, 12:30 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-jllphan@May 20 2004, 10:35 PM After he raped me for $68 and change, ...
Damn, "jill", you're one cheap rape...
:P [/b][/quote]
Very funny clubin, very funny...
Wil, as a mechanic, you know that the way the BMW ignition system works is very unique. Not only does the system use a much lower voltage compared to most other cars (somewhere in the neighborhood of 8K volts, compared to 30-40K volts on many other cars), the number of sparks per second are much higher (24 v.s. 18 for most other 6cyl. cars).
Based on this, the BMW ignition system is quite finicky, and as stated above, I would highly recomend against anything not oem, in this area of the car. Not only is this my recomendation, but the same of the master tech of umpteen million years that I often times refer to for advice on BMW and Porsche cars.
I just installed bosh platnum 4+ on my 318i and they are amazing, the car accelerates much more smothly throughtout rpms. I was really satisfied with mine.
Clubin, use what is recommended by factory. I believe the M52 or M54 is the dual VANOS one, might have my numbers mixed up there. Putting 2 pronged plugs into an engine that had 4 pronged plugs will cause it to miss fire and flood, encountered that same problem many times. BTW, jllphan, I am a BMW mechanic.
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