I'm Through Using Bosch

[WSUcommuter]

After having THREE Bosch pre-cat oxygen sensors go bad on me, I've decided that they are entitled to my money

The average life of them comes to less than 10,000 miles each!

[Setec Astronomy]

I had a really bad experience with the Bosch platinum plugs (the $1.29 ones...miraculously, I guess you get what you pay for with platinum plugs). Kind of soured me on anything Bosch, as well.

[WSUcommuter]

Glad I'm not the only one. I did some digging on some S-series forums and others have shared experiences with Bosch.

[Quickstrike]

Family has been using Bosch for generations (German) . No problems with any of their products.

Some of the spark plugs they sell are aimed at different car markets. I am sure if you purchase another model in their line-up you will get satifactory results.

[hadboosttroy]

yeah my mechanic which speacializes in german cars uses bosch pretty much exclusively with stellar results.

[Knockwurst]

Perhaps it’s not the O2 sensor. My supercharged VR6 threw fits all the time . . . after much frustration I replaced the down pipe/cat – problem solved

[WSUcommuter]

Originally Posted by Knockwurst

Perhaps it’s not the O2 sensor. My supercharged VR6 threw fits all the time . . . after much frustration I replaced the down pipe/cat – problem solved

Exhaust is new from the engine block to the tailpipe.

[Setec Astronomy]

Originally Posted by Quickstrike

Some of the spark plugs they sell are aimed at different car markets. I am sure if you purchase another model in their line-up you will get satifactory results.

That may be, but once you take a plug out and the center electrode is missing, it's kind of hard to use that brand again. At the time I had the problem, I searched and found a picture of one of these Bosch platinum plugs out of a BMW bike where the owner considered himself lucky that when the center electrode had come out it had welded itself to the side electrode...I wasn't so lucky...I think three out of six a portion of the center electrode was missing.

This is a case of some MBA/marketing weinies capitalizing on what you point out is the Bosch good name, by taking a crappy plug, attaching the current (at the time) buzzword (platinum) to it, and making people think they are getting something more than they are. This was about 10 years ago, and I was aware that OEM's were starting to use platinum plugs to get extended change intervals (60-100K). So when it was time for a tuneup, I decided to try a set of the early Bosch Platinums, thinking I might never have to replace them again.

I should have known by the regular-sparkplug price, but put them in...then at about 45K on them (normal change would have been 30K), the car was running a little funny...I searched and found that pic from the BMW bike. After I picked myself up off the floor, I pulled the plugs, and found that the thin center (platinum) electrode was partially missing from several plugs, and they all had a big pit in the side (conventional) electrode opposite from the center electrode.

Later on I found that an OEM style platinum plug has a platinum pellet brazed to the side electrode, and that they go for $5+ each (NAPA, Champions, special order).

Moral of the story is I will shy away from Bosch because I don't want to have to worry about differentiating their good products from some marketing weinie's wet dream. I'm sure it wasn't a worry 20 years ago when Bosch was run by engineers...but now they are just another multinational giant run by MBA financial weinies who only care about the stock price, their bonus, and their golden parachute, not whether the products are any good.

Geeze, I don't sound bitter, do I?

[drewski59]

My friend had nothing but problems with Bosch platinums in his Volvo...enough hassle/repairs to make me stay away from them for good...

Now we're both NGK fans