Found my lost power

[mcreyaufmiller]

I finially found my lost power. About 4 months ago, I was getting 19 MPG. Since then, my milage has gone straight down the toilet. I got a Jesse tune which geve me more mileage, but it still sucked. I had a conversation last night with a parts manager (thanks for your help) that suggested I replace my Bosch P2's with the ACDelco Rapid fires. At the same time I replaces the PCV valve (150k on that one), the Dist. cap and button, then installed the Rapid Fires. The idle smoothed right out, the power was back, and I am hoping that I get my milage back.

 

Now that that part is out of the way, the P2's I took out were black. Not oit deposits, but looked like carbon, and a lot of it. Any ideas on what caused this? The other reason I say it was not oild was because all 8 were black, not just a few.

[gotitbad]

I can give you one fully technical, absolutely mechanical reason the bosch plugs "fouled" out like that....answer? They SUCK. They are by far the WORST plug any of you could ever put in a GM engine. What they do is take a plug that screws in the hole, and is "close" to the same heat range, and make a bunch of false claims that the 27 yr old guy who is still in high school down at "dumb ass" zone will tell you all about, and in the afternoon he goes home in a 72 Pinto. Bottom line....we have GM vehicles, and sometimes there are just NO substitutes for Genuine GM parts....and i DID say sometimes....this is one of those places...buy crappy wires if you want....cheap pcv valves...whatever...but a 5.0, 5.7, 4.8..5.3..6.0...8.1 will NOT run to its proper level without a good set of acdelco plugs...Period...

TONY

[OUMike]

I can give you one fully technical, absolutely mechanical reason the bosch plugs "fouled" out like that....answer?  They SUCK.  They are by far the WORST plug any of you could ever put in a GM engine.  What they do is take a plug that screws in the hole, and is "close" to the same heat range, and make a bunch of false claims that the 27 yr old guy who is still in high school down at "dumb ass" zone will tell you all about, and in the afternoon he goes home in a 72 Pinto.  Bottom line....we have GM vehicles, and sometimes there are just NO substitutes for Genuine GM parts....and i DID say sometimes....this is one of those places...buy crappy wires if you want....cheap pcv valves...whatever...but a 5.0, 5.7, 4.8..5.3..6.0...8.1 will NOT run to its proper level without a good set of acdelco plugs...Period...

TONY

 

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Amen. I actually ran Champion plugs for the longest time. They were cheap. I ran them with my Borg Warner wires (also cheap). I recently had some engine work done and they did plugs and wires. Went Delco all the way and definatly noticed an improvment.

 

Although I disagree about being able to buy crappy wires. I'd say get good wires too.

[DEV1ST8R]

How do NGK's compare to ACdelco plugs? And I thought Borg Warner were good wires. . .that's not true?

[3500in nc]

wow this makes me think i was checking my truck at about 30k and i pulled a sparkplug and i was shocked that it wasnt a delco but it was a DENSO plug now i know denso from the race sceen but never heard of gm putting these things in to a motor

 

went to the dealer and well lets just say i had to prove that i had a set in my truck an after he saw he was dumfounded so maybe did a nice lil upgrade ??

 

 

 

 

bought the truck new from this same dealer so kinda makes you think whats really in our trucks

[Bish]

How do NGK's compare to ACdelco plugs?  And I thought Borg Warner were good wires. . .that's not true?

 

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The AC Delco Iridium plugs are made by NGK but they're cheaper from Delco. Presumably they make other plugs for them as well.

 

I have had pretty good luck with B-W parts on GMs, but NOT with Bosch!

 

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I prefer the NGK TR-55 over the oem's. I run straight copper and change them every 30k. Idle is more smooth and I've been running them for 140K now. Not one set though

[mcreyaufmiller]

I normally like the bosch stuff, I have the O2 sensors and they have done well. I have had good luck in the past with their plugs, but not latley. My mileage has jumped big time with the rapid fires, I like them.

[Nick99Chevy]

I prefer the NGK TR-55 over the oem's.  I run straight copper and change them every 30k.  Idle is more smooth and I've been running them for 140K now.  Not one set though 

 

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Same here, TR55's every 30K.

[DEV1ST8R]

TR55's are what I just got. . .haven't put them in yet. You change them every 30k?? That's seems pretty frequent to me - they don't wear out that fast do they?

[DEV1ST8R]

TR55's are what I just got. . .they don't wear out that fast do they?

 

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Yes they do. That's the downside to straight copper.

 

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I got the TR55GP. . platinum plugs.

[allenmehrer]

do the tr-55 come pre gaped to 0.06? cause i just installed some and my gapper gauge had me open them up a fraction. now my truck runs worse.

[Matt99Z71]

I replaced my plugs with the GM Iridium plugs. They were already in there when I went to change them, and they looked ok but I changed them anyway. Truck continues to idle and run perfect. Now I've always heard awesome things about those Rapidfire plugs, especially in higher mileage vehicles, only thing was that they were expensive. I paid about $6 a plug for the Iridiums, I wonder how the plugs compare to each other. The Iridiums seem to last forever and be really resistent to wear, but if the Rapidfires increase performance and mileage, might be something to consider.

[DEV1ST8R]

do the tr-55 come pre gaped to 0.06? cause i just installed some and my gapper gauge had me open them up a fraction.  now my truck runs worse.

 

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I checked the TR55GP's that I bought, and they were all set correctly (that I could tell). So, I'm gonna give them a shot without messing with the gapping.