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Whereas I used to be fearful of DIY projects (and sometimes still am), these days what often makes me more anxious is figuring out replacement equipment, dealing with the typical insanity that goes along with part numbers, inconsistencies with same from website to website, etc.
Conceivably a mistake, but I got my plugs at Advanced Auto. I decided I wanted Iridium—the guy looked it up for my vehicle and came up with NGK BRK6EIX 6418. So I got them. We (my son & I) are part way through installing them when we quit yesterday. In my typical ass-backward fashion, I later that evening happened to find myself at the Pelican Parts site.
It’s weird: If I search “BKR6EIX” (what I got at Adv Auto), I get 4 results. The first 3 of these also have additional identifiers (Like Part # 55-571-391-M220, Part # 55-571-391-M271, etc). But none, they say, will fit my Boxster (‘01S). There is ONE, the 4th, that does fit: BKR-6-EIX-INT Unlike the first 3, it does not have any additional identifiers. It’s simply BKR-6-EIX-INT. I was concerned in that the 3 plugs Pelican Parts says won’t fit all have “6418” appended in parentheses at the end of the BKR-6-EIX (ie not “-INT”). The ones I bought the other day, based on the guy’s computer readout, have “BKR6EIX 6418” stamped on the ends of the boxes. Out of curiosity I checked AutoZone on the matter, and it agreed with Advanced Auto: the 6418 version should work just fine for my car.
So the question naturally becomes: Does one trust the more generic AutoZone and Advanced Auto Parts recommendations (6418 will work in the Box) or does one trust the more German car-oriented Pelican Parts site that says 6418 will not work well for my vehicle? I was leaning ever-so-slightly towards Pelican, but then I looked around some more. Got onto the NDK page, found the BKR6EIX 6418 plug; then got onto the Bosch page, found the page on the plug that I had had in my vehicle for many years. Both indicated unequivocally that their respective plugs were suited for my car just fine; with the Bosch I had totally figured that out already! I then compared the specs for both and while there wasn’t absolute correlation, when it came to size/shape numbers and heat range, they were identical.
Soooo, I changed my mind, going with the NGK website data and fitment recommendations for the plugs I just bought. Could that be a “wrong” move? Don’t know, but (at this point!) I’m happy with my decision. As my son said, and I currently agree, Pelican is just wrong when it comes to the 6418 declaration that they’re inappropriate for my vehicle. Could we be wrong on that? Sure, totally possible. But do I risk hundreds of $$ and the need to drop the engine to fix it if we are wrong? Certainly not. Well under $100, and a couple hours labor. Onward! We’ll see what happens!
Thanks to everyone for their input!
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