Does this wire look fried?

[rollinstylee]

Decided to pull the spark plugs today to check them out and the #1 cylinder boot was really hard to get off. When it finally popped I saw why. Does this look like a bad wire, i.e. reason enough for a new wire set and plugs?

One on the left is the one in question, the rest look like the one on the right:

and what the tops of the respective plugs look like:

BTW, the car is running perfectly fine so I had no reason to think anything was bad, I was just bored so I decided to check things out.

 

[Big Jim]

I don't see a problem. The photo quality is not very sharp, is there something you are trying to capture in the photo that did not come through?

 

[rollinstylee]

Sorry, I know the pics aren't that sharp, it's hard to get up close shots. In the first pic you can see the inside of the clip is a little rusty (the brown coloration) and also has crusty white residue around it and the whole inside of the rubber boot. The other wires have clean metal clips and clean rubber inside. The end of the number 1 spark plug has roughed-up edges that you can kind of see in the third picture, and the rest of the plugs look fine. Hope this description helps.

 

[Big Jim]

They are probably fine, but if in doubt, replace. You wanted a set of red ones anyway didn't you?

 

[Tony2005]

....You wanted a set of red ones anyway didn't you?

:laugh: .......

 

[rollinstylee]

Huh?

Wasn't me who said that...unless that was a joke, in which case YEAH, RED WIRES!!!

 

[Big Jim]

Doesn't everyone want a set of red plug wires? Red ones look great under my hood.

 

[Tony2005]

Doesn't everyone want a set of red plug wires? Red ones look great under my hood.

Complements your Little Red Riding Hood. :laugh:

 

[rollinstylee]

So maintenance guru Tony, what do you think about the wire? Is it ok or not?

 

[Big Jim]

Complements your Little Red Riding Hood. :laugh:

I never got around to naming my SVT. Little Red Riding Hood is as fitting as anything else I guess. After all it is red.

My wife called my 72 Ranchero (460 powered with ported heads, Cobra Jet cam, and intake, Motorcraft 4300D carb, etc) the Atomic Carrot. It was bright orange with a silver stripe. She got the idea from one of my friends that said the acceleration was as explosive as a bomb.

 

[Big Jim]

So maintenance guru Tony, what do you think about the wire? Is it ok or not?

I'm not Tony, but those wires look fine. If it were me, I would clean up what you can of the corrosion inside the metal connector on the one wire. I have a small wire brush designed for such use. It also cleaned distributor caps. In the absence of such a tool, I would suggest scraping as much as you can with a small screwdriver. Perhaps a small bit of sandpaper wrapped around a screwdriver tip would also be helpful. It doesn't need to be perfect. Be very careful not to damage the boot. Use some dielectric grease in that area on all the plug wires when you re-install them.

 

[Tony2005]

So maintenance guru Tony, what do you think about the wire? Is it ok or not?

If I were you, I'd change the Spark Plugs first (most of us change them every 60k miles).

SP wires are easy to unplug and replace and cost a whole lot more than SPs. Incidentally, my SP wires are at 123K and still runnning fine. I know one of these days, I will have to get new ones. Do you have an old set to sell to me (as a backup)?:laugh:

 

[rollinstylee]

Ok, thanks guys. I guess I'll just try to clean up the one wire and put everything back. The plugs all look healthy.

Tony: these are the only wires I have, and I have no idea how old they are...they're Motorcraft and the car has 123K (bought with 115K) so it's possible they're original.

 

[Big Jim]

They look original. I changed mine at 150,000. They were still perfect. I only changed them because I wanted red ones. I still have the originals as back up.