swarthyfellow

Its definitely time for plug wires. It seems like it has only been about 25K miles since i did them last, doesn't that seem a bit short? Anybody have know a better set or is that about typical?

a_penquin

Mine are still factory with 160k on them. Why are you having to change so soon?

swarthyfellow

Really 160K? I have a hard time believing yours are still good. I haven't actually checked my current set, but the set i replaced at 138K miles were not factory and they had resistance values of anywhere from 150Kohm to 3Mohm. When i measure the new ones i put on they were reading 5-9Kohm.

a_penquin

I havent read the ohms resistance, but I dont have a miss or any roughness. MSD advertises 40-50ohm per foot in they're 8.5mm. Hell I'll measure mine just to see.

swarthyfellow

Yeah, i'm curious too. When i replaced my old set there was so much resistance in the wire , i got shocked through the wires insulation when i was diagnosing my misfire. After that it was pretty definitive i need wires but i measured just out of curiosity.

cliffyk

The resistance of plug wires means little to nothing unless they are cheap carbon core wires, in which over time the carbon filled conductor burns out and the overall resistance rises--even then it is only a very crude estimate of the wire's condition. At one time--before CDI, EDIS and COPs--it was a useful quick and dirty measurement; but that time is long gone.

Here's a good whitepaper from Magnecor presenting everything you need to know about plug wires. In it you will find also leran about skin-effect (the physical manner in which high-frequency electrical pulses flow though conductors) and that so-called "low-resistance" wires are a crock too.

Also, the reason you got a jolt through the plug wire was much more an issue of insulation breakdown than the conductor's resistance...

Fink

I had my factory wires on until 238K. Not a single misfire or arcing.

swarthyfellow

Yes, I am aware of the skin affect and the fact that the inline resistance doesn't mean much but i still think that it is a good way of determining if your wire is just bad. The question still stands as to why mine are giving me so many problems.