Tegger wrote:
> marco <marco@no.spam> wrote in news:13f78tabg77tj93@news.supernews.com:
>
>
>> Platinum plugs are meant to be used for like 3% or 4% of your car's
>> life. They are good for cleaning the carbon out of cylinders.
>>
>> If the engine is already clean of carbon, then the platinum will cause
>> pre-detonation.
>>
>> Platinum is a catalyst. In effect, it accelerates the burning of
>> hydrocarbons. Carbon deposits on pistons and valves in the cylinder
>> will be burned off by the platinum on Platinum plugs.
>>
>> When the engine is clean, the platinum becomes a demon.
>>
>> I learned this the hard way. Extra platinum leads to piston holes.
>>
>
>
>
> I have no idea where you got all this from, but it's all nonsense.
>
> Platinum is used on spark plug electrodes primarily because it resists
> erosion, thus leading to longer electrode life.
>
> It is NOT used on plugs for the purposes of combusting hydrocarbons.
>
> You are confusing the functions of platinum on spark plugs with the
> platinum used in catalytic converters. Same metal, different operating
> environment and different effects.
>
> If you put holes in your pistons at some point, you had /major/
> detonation problems that were due to excessively advanced ignition
> timing, or a very lean mixture. The plugs had zero to do with it.
>

I never got holes in the pistons, etc. I was just passing on what
you're telling me is bad information.

I got most of it from a mechanic who preached on about the hazards of
using platinum plugs, and the only reason I believed the guy is because
he solved my problem by replacing my platinum plugs with OEM plugs.

I had spent a couple hundred bucks replacing plug wires, distributor,
etc.. to no avail. I even replaced the platinum plugs with new platinum
plugs.

Same symptoms as the OP, but in my case, the engine would occasionally
stop so hard that I went through 2 timing belts, and the
timing(distributor and belt) were exactly where they were supposed to
be.. If the fuel mixture in the cylinder fires early, before the piston
reaches the top... you tell me?

So, I got fed up and took it to the mechanic..


At any rate.. Even if I guilty of passing an urban myth, I do know that
$4.50 worth of spark plugs (plus $25 labor) saved my engine and my
sanity. Apparently, I don't know *exactly* why that is.



marco