Introducing Bosch's Platinum +4
I must admit, the claims and the marking spin on their product is colossal. And since the company has been around since the dawn of time (in terms of spark plugs) way way back in the 1910's I guess almost a hundred years in the business does give you the benefit of the doubt. But the question is, is their product the Platinum +4 valid science and smart design/technology or market spin and witchcraft....

Later one in the Second review(part two) we will be using real time data monitoring internal sensors and 6 two stage Dyno Runs. 3 with the bosch plugs and 3 using the NGK mentioned in the previous post.

As for right now this will be a look at the installation, the first runs, the feel and visual performance to the driver in compared to the Standard NGK MAZDA replacement plugs The NGK V-Power plug


What they say/(The Company's Marketing spin)

If all this sounds like its right off the box and right off their massive TV/Web Advertising it is... but bottom line, these are the claims made by bosch...
Straight from the horses mouth...
~~
"Surrounding the center electrode, which contains 75% more platinum than previous Bosch platinum plugs, are four "surface air gap" ground electrodes made of a special wear-resistant nickel yttrium alloy. The angle and position of the four electrodes creates multiple spark paths that cause the spark to jump sideways. This has a self-cleaning effect on the center electrode and results in a longer, more powerful spark that reduces misfires for improved engine performance, better fuel economy, lower emissions and faster acceleration.

Four ground electrodes provide multiple spark paths which allow the spark to travel the most efficient path and deliver a longer and more powerful spark than conventional single electrode spark plugs. This offers superior burn characteristics for ultimate engine performance."

And finally ”Roush Industries, an independent test lab, measured the fuel consumption for the four-electrode platinum plug, as well as, that for original equipment and other premium single ground electrode plugs. Fuel savings up to 4.8% were found in the four electrodes, platinum core plugs. Tests were conducted in accordance with Federal Test Procedure 75FTP and HFE."

What the #*($# does that mean?

After reading that.. some things just make you wonder.. sparks flowing side to side? Claims of 5% fuel performance gain over other single ground electrode plugs? makes you think that they are ready to spin in to space and allow you to fly next...


Round One Date: Aug. 2th 2004 / Time: 21:51 Zulu

The moment of true.... the act of ripping out the mainstay standard replacement plug of Mazda Protege's and replacing them with the +4 plugs.

The Car (configuration before the new plugs)
Mazda Protege 2001 ES 2.0L Auto

Cold Air intake removed

K&N airfilter upgrade installed

Mileage: 101,023km (87 octane lifetime)

Average Distance / Fuel Economy: Running on standard 87 Ocatane fuel average summer time distance was 535-575km

ECU reset by disconnecting the battery and pumping like hell on the brakes and turning on those pretty PIAA FX headlights...

The she breaths again (the first start)

WIth the install complete we hoped in the car knocked 3 times on the dash for luck and gave her a turn.

And oh my god can you beleive it.............. it start. WOW Well, to be honest, the start was like any other plug would. Bottom line a spark plug is only designed to do two main things 1. To ignite the air/fuel mixture. 2. To remove heat from the combustion chamber. That’s it, to expect anything else will lead to crazy. But the fact that it started was a good thing.

Idling

After letting the car idle for 10 minutes we decided to take her out on the road for a test drive. First regular City driving and then Hwy driving. As I was pulling out and putting the car in drive… an interesting thing happened worth noting. While making the shift to drive we noticed that that the RPM dropped to about 200 RPM for a brief second. The car didn’t seem like it was about to stall but still for this car it was the first time I really ever saw that… At first it wasn’t a good sign but we did take in to consideration that the ECU was reset so its true that it still has to learn the range all over again.

***NOTE*** The brief 200RPM has not happend again at all, after performing the same procedure on a duplicate Mazda Pro with the NGK plugs we noticed the exact same rev change.

Idling More in depth: After 1240 km and 2 fuel refills later

Test with city and hwy driving went well nothing negetive happend. Response of the vechical was slightly better. not much but enough to not that it was responsive. One thing that was amazingly surpising was the car idling RPM level, after doing a Spark plug swap twice in a 3 day period we noticed that the Bosch plugs had a suprisingly lower RPM rev... lower then what the Standard and Premium NGK plugs produced. This was observed under 2 identical vechicles NGK vs. Bosch. And also with the bosch plug vehicle by switching back to brand new Mazda NGK replacement plugs. So we are sure its not just an odd fluke... But to be honest with you I can't explain it.... in theory I don't understand why the bosch would produce a lower dead idle. Both with the car engaged in Drive gear and in park.

****the new normal idle range is now 350 - 500 RPM. * next week we will be using the Autotap to monitor these values in depth.... so this is definatly a sticky
In therory, if this is the case, then a lower rev may equal to better fuel econ point


Fuel Economy

One last thing to bring up is that the fuel economy claim may actually hold water, but will take a few more driving km cycles to prove, (3000km more) with two full fuel fill ups fuel economy has increased by 45km to over 620km with 80% mostly hwy driving as the norm. And I wasted 60 dollars of gas to drive to London and drive back to Toronto twice hahah. But of course we most take into consideration that
A) these are brand new plugs over the somewhat moderatly warn NGKs replacements that we normal would use in our cars.
B) these are theoritcally a better designed plug (advantage)



But I must say if you guys ever wanna see something funny, and we noticed this on the cars when we fuelled up on the bosch protege when we were running some other tests. first reset your ECU, then start it up again, make sure your gas tank is near empty with 94 or 91 octane fuel in it. then fill her up with a 3 point lower grade, hahah then hit the race track.
see what happends for the next 10 km, you will be surpised But if you get Knocking cut it out right away, you crazy, but don't get to crazy.
If all works well, you will notice a short lived performance boost, I have no frigging clue why.... sorry I can't confirm this on manual transmission cars usually the ECU will make adjustments acordingly but no sure why it ignores the octane change, with the ignitablity/compression changes and all.. hell I need a mechanic here to tell me what the F is up lol

I will continue this post later, its friggin late and I wanna sleep.

Rock on guys... let me know what you think, I am just as suprised about these first looks as you are... still rubbing my eyes

 

thank God for somone with good grammar who is intelligent enough to make an educated post about something everyone is always asking about.

You sir are an asset to this forum.

 

Just a quick note...if you are turbo..DO NOT USE PLATINUM PLUGS!!

 

Could the ~200 rpm idle dip after installation be due to the ECU 're-learning' all the parameters?

The short-lived performance 'boost' after running 94 octane and then switching to 87 is again, the time it takes the ECU to realize - 'hey! i am knocking (knock sensor) and retarding the timing - because there is no 'octane sensor' - the car (should) run the best/most advanced timnming the fuel allows...

Just my $.02 worth here...

And i agree - a very well-thought out post and well represented!

So much better than teh otr post u now whut i meen?! (LOL)

 

Thanks for the kind words guys..

but in regards to the Octane boost, I have been asking around, and some think that the ECU learning stage will does not incorporate immediate adjustments and intervention for the first few km. So I think it will let the compression change slide somewhat until serious knocking occurs or the learning phase is complete.

but to be honest, if I wanted to race someone, hahah I think I would run really fast and go do that and then come back... lol hahha joking

after one or two drag runs, the effect wears off as the the knocking and pre ignition take place...

what do you guys think?