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Plugs and plug wires


navion

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Ben, I've been hanging around and participating on this and the old forum for what Bruce four-five years now, and although there may have been an opinion or two, I don't remember a consensus here ever approving any any ignition wires except OEM AC Delco. (Please everyone, correct me if I'm wrong..)

Bob, when I asked years ago on the old board, I got replies about Accel, MSD, Bosch and everyone said these were no good becasue of inadaquate shielding. A few replied that Magnecor was the best if you could afford them. Hand made in MI with larger diameter wire and accually more electronic shielding then OEM. Probably don't work any better than OEM on a stock motor, but are at least as good and no other aftermarket wire can say that around here.

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Bob, when I asked years ago on the old board, I got replies about Accel, MSD, Bosch and everyone said these were no good becasue of inadaquate shielding. A few replied that Magnecor was the best if you could afford them. Hand made in MI with larger diameter wire and accually more electronic shielding then OEM. Probably don't work any better than OEM on a stock motor, but are at least as good and no other aftermarket wire can say that around here.

Previous quote:

>"They are the only aftermarket wires approved by this forum to be as good or better than stock.<"

Fair enough, Ben. But understand where I'm coming from. When a newcomer appears on the forum it's important to be accurate about claims. It's just not quite right to (even when it's unintentional) to mislead this new person with the premise that a majority here agreed on some facts, when they're just not in evidence. ;)

'93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast.

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The motor runs as new, the fuel ecomomy is great, a lot of power, smooth idle... do I really need to look for trouble making changes? ;)

A wider air gap, as well as erosion of electrode edges, increases the voltage requirements; eventually, a weakness in the ignition system will turn up. Once you've created an alternate path to ground, the situation will only get worse. Replacing plugs that have electrodes that wear predictably is considered preventative maintenance.

Remove an 'easy' one and snap a picture! :)

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Well I had my plugs and wire changed my Cadi only 60000 miles on the 98 STS problem caused by an egine detail. Well cadi had me go down and get bosch wires they had run out of wire sets and told me it would be days b4 they get some. I questioned the tech about that he told me bosch have lifetime warr and they would prob last longer than the delco. Why you ask because delco went to a diff company to make their wires and they r not as good as orig. They did put in AC plugs I would not use anything else. :blink:

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A wider air gap, as well as erosion of electrode edges, increases the voltage requirements; eventually, a weakness in the ignition system will turn up. Once you've created an alternate path to ground, the situation will only get worse. Replacing plugs that have electrodes that wear predictably is considered preventative maintenance.

makes sense... could you please recommend any good plugs for 4.9?

The saddest thing in life is wasted talent

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A wider air gap, as well as erosion of electrode edges, increases the voltage requirements; eventually, a weakness in the ignition system will turn up. Once you've created an alternate path to ground, the situation will only get worse. Replacing plugs that have electrodes that wear predictably is considered preventative maintenance.

makes sense... could you please recommend any good plugs for 4.9?

OMG!!! :lol: AC! the ONLY way to go in a GM/Cadillac...

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So I drive over and let my mech have a look.  He noticed the new wires and says "ya know, they don't make those delco wires like they used to.... I bet your old wires are thicker."

Last weekend I decided to throw money and parts at the problem of a vibration at idle. Got a new set of Delco wires to go along with a new set of Delco plugs to replace a batch with missing platinum pads. I figured as long as I was going to sacrifice to the blood god to get to the back four I might as well replace the wires at the same time. I compared the new Delco wires to the Standards they replaced and to the original Delcos the Standards replaced. They are thinner.

FWIW

YMMV

So...despite the thinner wires did it cure the problem??

Have to admit that I haven't been monitoring the service parts for the 93-99 engines lately. Since spark plug wires disappeared in the Northstar engine plant in July of 1999 when the 2000 model engines started production there hasn't been much call for them around here......hard to believe that was 5 years ago....LOL.

Possibly the Delco replacement wire has been updated or upgraded with a thinner cable....???....not sure. Remember that the wires for the Northstar engine went out of production a long time ago so service stock may be being replaced with current generation spark plug cable technology.

Sorry for the late reply. I had a little stumble with the replacement delco (thinner) wires and when I switched to the thicker napa premiums the problem went away. Hey I'm all about original replacement parts first...... then i go looking elswhere for an answer. The napa premium worked in this situation but if i need new wires again i would still check the original replacements (delco) first. Kind of like a no-brainer. Thanks for the interest Bbobynski.

-kg

"Burns" rubber

" I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. "

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could you please recommend any good plugs for 4.9?

I installed a set of ACDelco 41-902s (listed for 1992-95 4.9s) in a 1991 STS. I don't plan on changing them again. :) 41-940s appear to be quite similar, and since they're available at the local Wal Mart at an attractive price, I'm using them in a Buick 3300 in place of the recommended 41-902s - no problems for the past two years. I suspect there's a slight heat range difference. If you're not planning on keeping the car, you could try a set of non-platinum Delcos.

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:D Wow, It looks like I got a little response to that question!

Anyway, the reason the question was asked, was that my 94 SLS would miss for 30 seconds or so on startup. This miss started getting worse and finally was showing up around 45 to 50 MPH. The previous owner had put Bosch Dual Platinum plugs in the car. I had pulled them out & inspected them when I got it. They looked fine. I cleaned the threads & reinstalled them. Torqued them to 144 in lbs. per the manual. When the miss appeared, I dismissed the plugs as a cause because I had inspected them less than a year and 16000 miles earlier.

After much head scratching, I decided to pull the plugs again. Lo and Behold, # 4's center electrode had broken off and was held from falling into the combustion chamber by the ground electrodes. (I lucked out there!!) :P Aparently this plug had been dropped at some time in it's life (not by me <_< ) and had been cracked. Needless to say, when I replaced them with Delco's, it made a world of difference it the way it ran.

The part that made me think that the miss was caused by something other than the plugs, was that it would seem to quit missing 30 seconds or so after start-up. I could see air in the fuel system causing this, then get better as the air was expelled. I was trying to figure out how it got air into the fuel rails after cooling down. Talk about barking up the wrong tree. :blink:

The fact that the electrode was not sooty black showed that the cylinder was firing at least some of the time.

My gut instinct was IGNITION when this problem appeared, but I talked myself out of it due to the fact that I had previously checked the plugs. I guess that I should pay more attention to that little voice of experience when it says something in the future. :huh:

Anyway, Thanks for all the input.

Britt (Navion)

Britt
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Britt, this is apparently the failure mode for Bosch plugs. The other forum I frequent (a Nissan-branded forum) contains lots of horror stories about Bosch plugs falling apart and galling cylinder walls on Infinity Q45 engines. No Bosch products in my vehicles EVER! :(

Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond)

"When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?"

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Britt, this is apparently the failure mode for Bosch plugs.  The other forum I frequent (a Nissan-branded forum) contains lots of horror stories about Bosch plugs falling apart and galling cylinder walls on Infinity Q45 engines.  No Bosch products in my vehicles EVER!  :(

Incredible story about the plug galling the cylinder walls! I can only say that I put Bosch in an 86 Corvette and it idled really poorly. Big waste of money

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