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Date:         Sat, 24 May 1997 11:11:39 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Harry Yates" <hyates@bcit.bc.ca>
Subject:      Bosch Platinums IMHO (LONG)

Hi Everyone. I've been running the following vehicles on these plugs for over two years now;

1992 Golf 1.8 L (mom-in-law's) 1991 Miata 1.6 L 1990 Syncro Westy 2.1 L

All of these vehicles have improved performance due to these plugs as noted:

1. cold start. Much improved cold starting. The Vanagon improved the most dramatically here. The van would always turn over 3 or 4 times before it would fire on Bosch Supers. With the Platinums, it fires on the first turn over! The other cars in the fleet also fire on the first or second turn over.

2. plug wear. Again, the Vanagon was the clear benifitter here. I couldn't keep plugs in the van before... they would wear out in 15000 km with a plug gap of over 40 thou! Our van is used exclusively for highway travel in mountainous BC, so the engine works hard. The Platinums after 2 years haven't required regapping. This was the main reason for me to go to Platinums in the first place. I just put new Platinums in a few weeks ago as the porcelain was starting to "pit" near the electrode. Plug wear on the other vehicles is also nil.

3. performance. The other cars have adequate power anyway, I couldn't feel any extra punch with the Platinums, but with the Vanagon, it was another clear winner. There are hills that I used to be able to climb in second gear only at a leisurely pace of 45 km/h or so. After the Platinums.. a major improvement... I can climb that same hill in third gear at 68 km/h!! This is a loaded Westy for weekend camping. Why such an improvement? Couldn't say. All I can say is that the first 5 years of climbing that hill was painful compared to the last 2 years that I've been running on Platinums.

4. Fuel mileage. Didn't notice any improvement on any of our fleet.

5. Emissions. The Platinums are more flexible over a wider heat range. This translates to better tailpipe emissions at cold operating temperatures (ie. while the engine is warming up).

6. Price. Some FLAPS can charge $20 CDN EACH! I can buy a set of 4 at Canadian Tire for around $16 CDN!!! This works out to be cheaper than a set of 4 Bosch Supers at some dealers.

7. Carbon fouling. My mom-in-law's Golf was the test case here. This is a "worst-case" car. It is driven 2 km and turned off. Another 3 km and turned off. The engine never gets hot enough to burn off any carbon. The car came stock with Bosch Silvers that were completely shot after a year and 7000 km. They were carbon fouled, and had to be regapped. I check the plugs annually. Two years ago, after I had liked the results of the Vanagon, I put them in her car. The same plugs are still in there. Very little carbon deposits, and the plug gap was unchanged. The engine runs smooth as well, and this car goes through emissions testing with better results. I use Chevron fuel and dump in a jug of Techron 2 tanks before an oil change to keep injectors/valves, etc clean. Good preventative maintenance, especially on my mom-in-law's Golf.

Notes:

1. The Platinum plug demands a strong engine. This was told to me by the mechanic that works on our van. Since the electrode is so small (smaller than a pinhead) if the engine is weak on compression it will easily foul the plug and cause misfiring. This hasn't happened to me on any of our cars.

2. I am also running the van on original plug wires with 135000 km (84000 miles). The Platinums for the 2.1 L Vanagon is the WR7CP number. This is a resistor plug. Your ignition wires, coil, distrib cap and rotor have to be good to work with these plugs. I generally change the cap/rotor every year. If your wires are not within specs outlined in Bentley, get them changed. Also, there is a 1000 ohm resistor in the rotor, so if you haven't changed the rotor in a while, might as well go for a cap/rotor set to get up to snuff.

I don't work for Bosch, or anything like that. I've had tremendous success with the Platinum plug that I just wanted to share this information with the list.

Hope this helps, Harry.

--------------------------------------------------------- Harry Yates, Langley, BC, Canada '90 Syncro Westfalia www: http://syncro.cr.bcit.bc.ca/hyates '87 Golf Diesel email: hyates@bcit.bc.ca '91 Miata (Millie)


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