I went to pep boys and they were out of stock on oems, so i got bosch platinum +2s. He said they were one of the better plugs to get. Is it ok to use these? I dont want or expect to gain anything from aftermarket plugs, just something oem or equal.
I threw away the receipt cause im dumb, so I cant return them :facepalm:
The +4 and +2 crap is just a gimmick to get you to spend more for nothing. The prongs also have a nasty habit of busting off. Basically, the electricity chooses the path of least resistance, so if one side is fouled up more than the other, it will use the other side. Normal, single pronged spark plugs are just as good.
Yeah, that's the entire point of multiple "prongs". So that the spark has more options for where it travels to. So once one prong wears out the spark can jump to another one, increasing the useable life of the plug as well as decreasing rate at which they lose performance. It's not a gimmick. This is why BMW has a such a long service interval for spark plugs, because OEM pieces, the Bosch and NGK both have 4 prongs.
And I've never heard of the prongs "busting off" in a BMW.
Formula 1 engines use plugs that have a continuous circle around them, so the spark as an infinite places it can jump to and performance will take a very long time to lessen.
They are new, your old spark plugs were old and worn. You also cannot bring them back so why would you not put them in? You aren't going to blow your engine with them.
i've used the bosch platinum +2 plugs in my e36 for around 60k miles and they've always served me well. i just put them in my e46 a few thousand miles ago and i've had no spark related issues. you'll be fine, just throw em in and enjoy the rest of your life
i switched to Denso IK20 Iridium plugs gapped at .035". i found these had a more steady RPM compared to my 50K mile OEM NGK BKR6EQUP 4 prong. I tried to torque them down but it slipped before it torqued which caused my block threads to become slightly stripped... i would finger tighten them and use a wrench and turn another 10* to tighten. I'm not a big fan of multi-prong plugs... and Iridium has a hotter spark. www.denso.com
This thread prompted me to look into spark plugs. I have to conclude that random spark plugs buying and installing is a fail. Not all spark plugs are created equal. They have different gaps, voltage requirements, temperature ranges, and durabilities. Using plugs that are not specifically stated to work in a particular engine would cause non-optimal operation of the engine resulting in poorer fuel economy and power. Basically, wrong plugs will work, but not very well.
Looking at plugs suitable for the 330, I come across Deson Iridium VK20. Its stated characteristic is low voltage requirement. I think this would make the plugs excellent for rapid fire applications such as in hard accelerations. Anyone has experience of this plug ? Even though it's more expensive and lower durability than the OEM, I find it interesting. It has only one prong.
ok well i went to pepboys and got them exchanged for bosch platinum +4s
no problem. Thanks to everyone that helped. But my input is is that there is no noticeable difference between 4 prong and 2 prong or iridium or whatever. Some might be hotter or less voltage, but if they make a spark and combust the air/fuel then they are doing their job. There is no spark that will cause a "better" combustion
Not true at all. Certain engines, compression ratios, rpm ranges, all need specific types of plugs. You can get plugs that put out a colder spark, or you can get plugs that put out a hotter spark. If I'm not mistaken, you want to run colder plugs in forced inductions, and hotter in NA. There is absolutely a difference if you get the wrong plug, enough to the point you can actually see it on a dyno.
Here are the basics: big gaps create big sparks. Big sparks increase chance of ignitions. The goal is not to create spark, but to create ignition. Anything that increases the chance of ignition is good. By using the non-optimum plug, you create ineffective sparks that doesn't ignite, or produce no sparks at all, resulting in wasted fuel and lose power.
The drawback of a big gap is high voltage requirement. This diminishes the chance of rapid succession of sparks. So the ideal spark plug has a huge gape that needs minimal voltage. Such a plug would guarantee ignition and can deliver this ignition in rapid succession as the engine demands it during acceleration. The harder the acceleration, the more rapid the sparks/ignitions need to be. If the ignitions can be guaranteed, the maximum efficiency and power of the engine is also guaranteed.
So, if you want to believe all plugs are great for your car's consumption and performance, go right ahead. The reality doesn't necessarily agree with you.
Agh! I wasnt trying to say that ANY plug would work, I was trying to say that all the gimicks and cons are a load of bs.
I should have said that any plug that was designed for your car and is the right spec will work.
Now we are getting somewhere. The NGK has a gap of approximately 0.8mm. On the other hand, the denso VK20 has a gap of 1.1mm. Basically the denso gap is big as a ho compared to the NGK. If denso's claim of low voltage is true and comparable or lower than NGK, this would make the VK20 a very interesting plug for rapid acceleration use given the 37% greater probability of ignition.
well im glad that we are discussing spark plugs, but im pretty sure i just killed my car for good.
how you ask? I was replacing my spark plugs outside because i have no garage. it was a great day. all of a sudden the clouds turn grey and a minute later, it starts raining. Well i was in the middle of replacing plug #4 (2nd from the firewall which is right below the hole in the hood for the microfilter) So I close my hood, thinking that it will only sprinkle a bit and nothing will fall through the air filter hole. To my luck it starts pouring, so I run out side with a big trash bag hoping to cover the exposed ignition coils and 1 completely open spark plug hole (the spark plug was removed so you could see inside the cylinder) It had been pouring for a literally minute and when i open the hood I see a very large puddle on top of the engine and spark plugs. I panic and just throw the trash bag on top and close the hood. then i run out with another trash bag and put it on top of the air filter hole and 2 cereal bowls as weights. The rain has just now stopped, so all together it rained for 5 min. Im gonna go check the damage and hope for the best.
As stated earlier the F1 plugs use a full circle for significantly more options for sparking, that is why I only use F1 plugs from the BMW F1 cars. You should too. Just ask your local dealer to get you some.
They are about a third the size of a "normal" spark plug to reduce weight and would probably drop right through an E46's spark plug hole into the combustion chamber. :rofl:
okay... i don't know who has Denso IK20 Iridium plugs except me in their E46's... the Denso's came pre-gapped at .044" and on their website it says that you don't need to re-gap the plugs because it's perfect and blah blah... they do say that if you wanted to, you can gap the plugs at the OEM setting to remain on the safe side... so i gapped them at .035". the OEM NGK multi-prong cannot be gapped... according to www.sparkplugs.com the OEM gap for Denso is .035" and the OEM gap for NGK (that can be gapped) is .032". i was getting a misfire at pre-set gap from Denso at .044" so i reduced it to .035" and it's running fine... All my cars are using Iridium.. whether it's NGK or Denso... and that's including my 08 Prius. now if they(Denso or NGK) made a multi-prong Iridium plug, I'd be all over it...
I used the Bosch plugs in my car a few years back and I believe I got the same performance out of them as I did with the NGK plugs. I didn't notice any difference.
The only thing I might say in Bosch plugs defence is that as they are commercially available plugs, so the better they perform, the more they will sell and a lot of R&D goes in developing them. As opposed to NGK ones which are standard in BMWs, they don't really care how fast or how better performance you get from your car, as long as when you buy the car from the show room it meets your requirements and also their fuel consumption and engine performance ratings...end off!
It is a bit like comparing K&N air filters to standard BMW air filters...there is a huge difference in performance, only because K&N actually spend some money in trying to improve their product (I know K&N are contraversal, but that is a different story).
But a little side story:
However after 15k miles on my Bosch splugs, on my way back driving from south Spain back to London, I lost an ignition coil and drove back 2000 miles in that state. When I got to my mechanic he said I had lost 2 ignition coils and the 3rd was also on the blink and said as a rule of thumb when the all the coils are changed the plugs should be too.
What he told me was that he found bits of burnt stuff inside and said who ever changed the plugs last must have left something in it, but I was the last one to change them and know there was nothing in it, in fact I cleaned out the chambers with an air blower. Now I am not blaming the Bosch plugs for this, but may be related or could it have been the ignition coils? I know I should have checked at the time, but I didn't realise. :banghead:
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