Today i was changing my oil and fuel filters and topping off all the fluid levels and noticed on one of the plug wires there was some electrical tape wrapped around it (...bought the car in november, had it in storage until a week ago). I managed to get the tape off, and saw that the stupid moron who owned the car thought it'd be better to wrap it w/ tape than to buy a new wire when the thing came into contact w/ the exhaust manifold and melted part of the wire!! Now my question is this, is it worth it to go and buy a new wireset or just leave it? I pulled the car in the garage tonite (pitch black) to see if i could see any arching or anything, but didnt notice anything wrong. I dont mind spending a few bucks on a new set (even tho this one is only 2k miles old), but would like to save a few bucks if it wont harm anything. BTW, I really couldnt see how far the wire had melted, but it was only a small spot (half the size of a dime) and didnt appear to be too deep.

Thanks

 

iv had two of my old taylor wires lay on the exhaust manifold for a while, where it burned all the way throught the outer layer, and part of the inside, and it didn't arc to the block.. so as long as it isn't too deep i wouldn't worry about it until you can spend some good money on a good set of wires...

 

Your calling that guy a moron for not replacing the plug wires yet your asking if you should??!!! Brilliant. Don't be lazy. Replace the wires. It takes 20 bucks and 5 minutes.

 

You could just take the boot off cut the bad part of the wire out and recrimp it and stick it back on, if it not long enuff swap it with a longer wire.

 

mozaltov!!!

 

Talk about double standards huh!!!! LMAO REPLACE THE WIRES IF THEY'RE THAT BAD!

 

lol, got me on that one

I'm just trying to pinpoint the exact problem thats screwin my car up before i go spending money on something i might not need. There are times when the car will start shaking, and popping from the muffler while accelerating - figured it'd be misfiring or somethin. I pulled a few of the plugs (along w/ the one w/ the burned wire) and they all looked fine. I also tried misting water on the engine to see if the wire would arc....nothing happened. Tomorrow i'll be checking out the cap and rotor and anything else i can think of to figure out what the hell is making my car run like **** 50% of the time.

I have just one more question tho....was more of an idea really... when the engine is under load/accelerating is the voltage sent to the plugs bumped up a bit? I was thinking this because I couldnt see any arcing while at idle, but perhaps when accelerating if a bigger current is going thru the burned wire, the greater the chance of it arcing on something. Thanks again, and any other thoughts are appreciated..... and in the mean time i'll try to get off my lazy *** and buy a new set of wires

 

no4njunk, you got to that one before i did, haha i totally noticed that one , just go to your local speed shop and buy a set of plug wires for like 25 bucks or heck, even a 3 dollar replacement wire for the fubared one

 

why waste money on a cheap set of wires if there is nothing wrong with ur current ones when you can save up for some good wires?

 

My car ran like crud for a day when my wire melted .. it scared me.

Imagine a inexperienced kid, leaving work .. he starts his car and it idles and vibrates unlike anything and have small peak rpm .. like 2000. He drives all the way home and looks under the hood and sees nothing. Night falls, trys again and notices a nice blue light comming from the passenger side manifold .... geee ... i never noticed it to do that before ... lol. That was idiot me.

Replace them, and invest in zip ties and wirelooms ..
While your at it go for the dist, rotor and plugs. Word of advice if you dont already ... get the plugs from underneath the car. 90% faster that way.
~Tim

 

It can never hurt to replace your wires. Just buy a good set with a great warranty so you will never have to buy another set as long as you keep your proof of purchace. Start a folder of warranty paperwork its a life saver. Searching for it a year or two from now will be a peice of cake.

 

Lol.. yeah it was starting to sound like one of those "I have this friend..." posts.

If you really can't get a set, you can always buy an individual wire to run until you save up the $ for a set. Individual wires usually run about $4 for the cheapo 7 or 8mm at chain stores.