How Often do you change your Plugs and Wires?

[Rain]

Just curious. Buddy of mine just did his on a 5 year old C5.
I am certain the factory ones are still inside my 1996 C4 and they are doing fine.

How often do you change yours?

[Rain]

You are allowed multiple votes -

Rain

[hAZcAT]

I change my plugs and wires basicly every two years.

[jnj]

Just replaced the Bosch's for new AC Delco Paltinums. Replaced all the wiring as well. Not planning on doing it again.

[Rain]

How many miles did you have on that set before the recent change? (or years)

Just replaced the Bosch's for new AC Delco Paltinums. Replaced all the wiring as well. Not planning on doing it again.

[jnj]

Rain,

Don't really know. Could not track down orig. owner. The plugs looked pretty worn, but no oil or carbon fouling going on. The wires were not run properly and were burned by exhaust tubes and arcing. Added a set of 8mm wires from Pep Boys, can't remember the brand name, but they fit perfectly. Also added plastic cable holders, then discovered they all but melted under the hood. Replaced them with metal and little rubber gaskets. The AC's and cables made a noticeable improvement. Just installed a custom chip from Jeff. WOW. Nice low end pull, improved shifting (auto) no bogging down in those mid RPMs. WOT now has that wonderful sound of POWER!!

[Rain]

Thanks for the info: So it sounds like yours were not the originals(and in reality were a buba'd tune up job with the wires not run properly)

Glad you are hittin on all cylinders now! :D

[OLDCHEV]

Whenever my hands and forearms have healed up enough to hold a wrench.

Have never been so tornup while changing plugs on a vehicle. Next time I think it will be less painless to move the A/C compressor that fight that # 2 plug!



90 Vert

[Vettefan87]

I am planning on doing mine probably every other year, but now that I have two cars I might not depending on how many miles I put on it.


Justin

[chevyaddict]

I have a strange, unique system. Don't ask me where or how I derived this formula. I change the oil in ALL my cars religiously every 3-4000 miles. Every second oil change I replace all the filters. Every fourth oil change I do a complete tune-up including cap, rotor, wires, plugs, pcv, filters, etc. etc. So, based on that I change my plugs and wires every 12-16,000 miles. I realize they probably don't need this, however with lifetime warranty wires might as well!

[KOPBET]

Do you have to go to ditech.com before each oil change rotation on all those cars?


Just wondering. :L

[chevyaddict]

Do you have to go to ditech.com before each oil change rotation on all those cars?


Just wondering. :L
You funny guy! ;)

[tlong]

Yeah with 18 cars that's a tanker or two. Are you related to an insurance agent?

I can hardly keep my small fleet 100% maintained. You must dearly love it, ma'am.

[chevyaddict]

Yeah with 18 cars that's a tanker or two. Are you related to an insurance agent?

I can hardly keep my small fleet 100% maintained. You must dearly love it, ma'am.
Well, now think about it though. If there is only me driving them then "essentially" there is not THAT many oil changes/ tune-ups. What is the most pain in the butt to keep up on for some reason (perhaps because I am in AZ) is the darn brake lines/calipers/wheel cylinders! I have to replace these alot because the cars sit so much......

[wannavette]

I just changed my plugs over the week end thought it was going to be easier but my hands look I was in major fight the way my knuckles are skinned up!I put in AC Delco rapid fires and it has made a tremendous diffrence!

[Grizzly]

I had my 92 in a while back to replace the water pump and I had them do wires and plugs at the same time (44,000 miles). Plugs were a mess, but the car didn't run bad. Mechanic mentioned he has noticed that cars that do a lot of slow running eat platnum plugs. Nobody knows why, he was just relating what he observed.

[vader86]

I had it tuned when I bought it 3 years ago, and changed them again this past December.

So, I'll probably try every 2 years or so.

[sherry_ridgeway]

hi :)
I change mine about once a year, "plugs" the wires i check often for dryrot,pinch points, burn marks etc...I normally pull a few plugs from time to time to check for residue/carbon..and to keep the threads from setting
Sherry:)

[vettered91]

I like to take a look every now and then at the spark plugs to see how well my fuel mixture is (I play a lot with the PCM time and fuel tables).

But anyway I don´t keep plugs and cables more than 2 years, even if they look Ok. Lately I have been changing cables (two sets in a the last year) and learning new curses ,more often than my wounds take to heal! (since I instaled the headers my life is not the same, neither my hands :L )

George :w

[vettered91]

I had my 92 in a while back to replace the water pump and I had them do wires and plugs at the same time (44,000 miles). Plugs were a mess, but the car didn't run bad. Mechanic mentioned he has noticed that cars that do a lot of slow running eat platnum plugs. Nobody knows why, he was just relating what he observed.
Well... I don´t know but my vette ate the bosh platinums in little more than a year (14,000 miles) Maybe the MSD ignition module? ;shrug

I just installed a new set of Beru Silverstone last weekend, those plugs gave me very good service before in the L98 and I hope they will perform the same in the LT1.

:w

[Rain]

Those of you who are changing every other year:
How many miles are you logging between changes?


Rain

[vettered91]

Rain,


In my case somewhere around 40,000-50,000 miles (last year I did not drive the LT1 all that much). I Usually put 20,000-25,000 miles by year in the odometer.

I change the oil and filter every 3,000-4,000.

About the cables I know the wise thing to do is to mesure the resistance at each cable, but I bet you the one to recomend these did not have an LT1 engine!!! Just to unplug each cable from the Opti can cost you a lot of skin from your hands :( , and things get worse when you try tu plug-back the cables! (you need to keep kids out sight to perform these tasks because all the ugly words they can learn)
These are the reasons that make me change cables more often than I should.

Cables can look Ok from the outside but time and/or use can take away their condut ability, so when I suspect they are not performing the way thy should:
I start buying band-aids!!! ;LOL

Greetings,

George. :w

[Edmond]

Every other year for me. I used Bosch +4's two years ago with Delco wires. I haven't had any problems with the +4's, though I've read of people having the electrodes break off. It's still running very smooth. I'll probably do it in the winter when I do rebuild the motor, depending on how they look.

[582Boat]

I have found that hardly anyone changes plug wires until something goes wrong, such as engine running ruff or some other ignition symptoms occur, mileage doesn't seem to come into play. But I would compliment those other threads that state changing plug wires every two years or 50,000 miles. Doc

[LT4BUD]

[QUOTE=Rain]just did his on a 5 year old C5.
I am certain the factory ones are still inside my 1996 C4 and they are doing fine.
QUOTE]

Not to be silly, but how do you know they are doing fine??? My money says that many have the hockey pucks missing....

1996 Corvettes came with platimum plugs rated for 100k miles, but they are notoriuos for the platinum "pucks" coming off.....leave a extra wide gap that still works but is wider thus stressing wires, opti, etc...

Just about everyone, including myself , who has pulled these OEM plugs has found many missing "pucks"....I pulled mine at 30k miles..

[LT4man]

I have had three new C4's. 92, 94, 96. On each one, I pulled the plugs after 20,000 miles and found that half the hockey pucks had dissappeared. I would use Bosch Platinum spark plugs. When Bosch would come out with a new platinum plug, I would use that one. On my 96, I put Platinum +4's in at 20,000 miles. At 75,000 miles I found a couple of ignition wires not working too well. The plugs looked very good with the 55,000 miles on them. I decided to replace all of the ignition wires with Magnecor Ignition Wires. What a difference!!! I investigated practically all of the wires available. I found out that some racers actually have documented HP gains on a dyno with Magnecor wires. Their website is the most amazing website that I have ever seen. They explain completely how ignition wires work. They give a lifetime warranty. The wires went on without any trouble. The difference that I feel in the car is unbelieveable. You can buy them from Lingenfelter and he sells them for less than if you would buy direct from Magnecor. With shipping I think I paid about $90.
I also put a new set of +4's in because I had everything out of the way for the wire install.

[1981corvette]

Th rule of thumb I have used for 30+ years is;
measure the resistance in the wires.
Normal is between 5000 to 11000 ohms per foot..
*** max. is 15000 ohms per foot. If the wire exceeds this there dead.
Hasn't failed me yet.
1963 Galaxy 500
1967 SS396 Chevelle
1973 Dodge Van
1982 Dodge truck
1969 SS396 Camero
1981 Corvette
2001 Dakota
1978 Harley Lowrider
2000 Harley Fatboy
as well as other foreign makes.
It work's for me..
Good luck..

[JJS]

I've had my car for two years now, and I've had it tuned-up each spring. I also have the oil (Mobil-1) and filter changed (new air filter as well) when they do the tune-up. The only people I let touch my car are people (Ron's) that restore Corvettes for a living. I know it's probably overkill, but I'll keep this routine up for as long as I own the car.

[caninelver]

I put a set of Bosch +4s in about a yr ago because they were supposed to be so good. I replaced the Bosch Supers that were in the car when I bought it. Today I pulled the plugs because I suddenly developed a miss that felt like a spark plug miss if you know what I mean. One of them has a broken center-the white interior-which was luckily held in place by the 4 tips. I have only put about 6,000 miles on the car with these plugs. They have a lifetime warranty which doesnt mean anything to me. I'm not not going to replace them and take a chance on busted plug pieces falling into the cylinder head. They go in the trash and I'll get set of the Supers or AC's tomorrow. I have been a little concerned with these plugs ever since I read a lot of negative stuff about them here on CAC and other forums. One other thing I won't use again. I put some of those plastic yellow covers on the plug wires to brighten things up when I put those +4s in. They are mostly melted to the plug wires where they are close to the motor. I'll be changing the plug wires too. Live and learn.

[Edmond]

I also ditched the Bosch +4's. I didn't have any problems with them but my motor was running rich and I decided to go back to Delco because of the price difference.

However, with all the negative things I've read about the +4's, I won't be using them in the future. I will stick with Delco in the future.

[6 Shooter]

Sell Older Mid Mileage Corvette & Buy Newer Low Mileage Corvette !!! :upthumbs




Later . . . . . .
6 Shooter