Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance Here's what i decided on......

well, i didn't buy a new coil. i talked to a ford tech., and he told me basically that if my car still ran good, it was okay and that they rarely wear out.

i put in oem platinum motorcraft plugs. $4.85/pce.

i also used oem motorcraft wires which were pre-cut and identical to what came out. they wholeheartedly clicked onto the coil. $34.95/set

i can't imagine what the motorsport wires for $50 would have over oem wires (other than a flashy name and color). spark is spark in a little zetec.

the car runs noticeably smoother. the stock plugs and wires that came off it looked very good. plugs were a little burnt at spark contact, but would have gone probably 25K more miles. even so, the car said it could go 100K miles w/o a tune-up, and it did. ready for another 200K.

:rolleyes:

They're only $50 if you don't get them through Bill Jenkins.

From Europe, where we have far more Zetecs and have had them for longer. The Coil is indded bombproof and there is no need to replace it.

NGK and Fords own Motercraft plugs are both good, but anyone who leaves plugs in for 100K would see an improvement even with crappy Champions. Most of us change our plugs every couple of years and feel a difference

Mondeo's eat HT leads. Fords own andtheir motorsports are both good, but many aftermarket leads cant take the juice and fail very quickly. Splitfires are popular here and seem to last for ages (Lifetime guarantee)

On my web site I copmpile a list of component failures and replacement and here is the lowdown

NGK plugs, no failures
Ford Plugs, no failure
Champion, 7 Failures

Ford leads, MTBF 50k miles (25 failures)
Bosch, MTBF 5K (15 failures)
Halfords Own, MTBF 7K (3 Failures)
Chamion, 10K (2 Failures)
Splitfires, No failures
Magnacores, 15K (1 report)

Ford Coil, no reported failures

We often set the spak plug gap a little smaller (1.0 to 1.2mm as apposed to the 1.3mmFord state) to take a little load off the leads and coil. Often the failing HT leads take out Spark plug 1 at the same time

As for the Statement that all Zetecs shake at idle. Come and feel mine. Smooth as a babies bum. If your's idles roughly then fix it!!!

Make that 26 -- that's when mine failed. Maybe a little under 50K. (Unless maybe you counted me already.)


As for rough idle, mine was smoother before the CTA intake went on... now it occasionally surges up and down in a sine wave pattern at idle.

madmole, im talking about shaking while the car is in drive and sitting still. as ive read numerous times on this site, everyone who has a zetec, has a very shaky car when it is in drive and sitting still. if i put it in neutral, it is smooth as a baby bum too.