fullboogie
New member
OK, I'm falling on the sword here because everyone who reads this is going to think "Well, yeah, dumbass - that's the first thing I'd have checked." But I'm making this thread to help future owners who, like me, can fall victim to over thinking a problem.
Symptoms - it began with an intermittent idle issue, with the idle dropping down to 500 rpm and running a tad rough, then coming back up to 650 rpm. Then it developed into an off-idle hesitation. As soon as I pressed the gas pedal, it would hesitate or stumble momentarily, then take off normal. As it got worse, the truck would barely get out of its own way, could barely get to 40 mph under WOT, and the tranny would hunt for a gear. Gas mileage fell off the cliff too. It really had become undriveable.
Torque app showed no codes, which really stumped me. I cleaned the MAF and the throttle body, and checked for vacuum leaks with starting fluid. I ignored spark plugs because I'd put new Bosch platinum plugs in right before Christmas, so they had maybe 4,000 miles on them. And for my frame of reference, I run 17 lbs of boost in my GT500, drive it to work several times a week, and beat the snot out of it at the track, and my el cheapo NGK TR6's will last forever. So it can't be the new plugs I put in the truck, right?
Anyway, long story short, I'm getting desperate because I have a long trip coming up with towing, and I need it fixed immediately. Out of desperation I threw in a new set of Champion platinum plugs and magically, it runs like a champ. The old plugs looked fine. No cracked porcelain, the electrodes looked great - they looked new. I can't explain or understand how or why a set of plugs can go "bad" so quickly, or why these engines are so damn finicky with the type of plug that's in there.
In any event, this is a reminder to check the simple stuff first regardless of what you think you know. It could save you a lot of frustration.
Symptoms - it began with an intermittent idle issue, with the idle dropping down to 500 rpm and running a tad rough, then coming back up to 650 rpm. Then it developed into an off-idle hesitation. As soon as I pressed the gas pedal, it would hesitate or stumble momentarily, then take off normal. As it got worse, the truck would barely get out of its own way, could barely get to 40 mph under WOT, and the tranny would hunt for a gear. Gas mileage fell off the cliff too. It really had become undriveable.
Torque app showed no codes, which really stumped me. I cleaned the MAF and the throttle body, and checked for vacuum leaks with starting fluid. I ignored spark plugs because I'd put new Bosch platinum plugs in right before Christmas, so they had maybe 4,000 miles on them. And for my frame of reference, I run 17 lbs of boost in my GT500, drive it to work several times a week, and beat the snot out of it at the track, and my el cheapo NGK TR6's will last forever. So it can't be the new plugs I put in the truck, right?
Anyway, long story short, I'm getting desperate because I have a long trip coming up with towing, and I need it fixed immediately. Out of desperation I threw in a new set of Champion platinum plugs and magically, it runs like a champ. The old plugs looked fine. No cracked porcelain, the electrodes looked great - they looked new. I can't explain or understand how or why a set of plugs can go "bad" so quickly, or why these engines are so damn finicky with the type of plug that's in there.
In any event, this is a reminder to check the simple stuff first regardless of what you think you know. It could save you a lot of frustration.
Bosch is German, NGK/Denso is Japanese. If one speaks German and the other can only understand Japanese, how would you expect them to work together? 
