A quick question about spark plug wires. I took my runner in to have the head gasket done and was wondering about some of the things the mechanic was recommending I had replaced. Number one was he said my spark plug wires were "bad". I just replaced them with aftermarket ones a month ago. I told him that and he explained to me that they have had problem with aftermarket plug wires on the 3.0 yotas. Is this true? Am I better to stick with factory plug wires on my rig (and the $75 price tag ) to avoid (according to the mechanic) crossfire and missing?

 

i've read from other posts that people do recommend sticking with stock plugs and wires, due to them experiencing problems with them.

 

well if it was driving fine before the wires I would keep them.

if you do find it running oddly then you can replace them with OEM wires. You dont need to be paying labor for something you can do....

unless you have the money to throw around...

 

Just the stealership tryin to take more money out of ya ive never heard of aftermarket plugs causing miss fire so i wouldn't worry about just another scam to try and take more money from you!

 

Based on my experiences, it is true. I blew through a set of after-market wires in less than a month. OEM is the way to go.

 

i agree. oem si the way to go. im experiencing missfiring before then after replacing my aftermarket spark plug wire ( which came with the 4runner when i bought it) then the car started to run smoothly again.

 

NGK plugs and Accel wires have yet to fail me on any Japanese car I've owned over the last 15 years. It depends on what aftermarket sutff you use since there's good stuff out there and plenty of crap.

 

I dont know what brand mine are but I spent a bit more and got a higher grade (spent about $40-$45) but everyone seems pretty split on this one...Is there a better brand that I should go with that are not $70?

 

Accels only ran me $40 and in 8 years of drag racing my Eclipse I only used two sets which is pretty good considering the underhood temps associated with a turbo. I replaced them since they would get kinda brittle but they still didn't misfire.

 

strangely enough, i'm having better luck running autolite plugs with my ignition system than NGK v-power plugs. the wide gap and hot coil i run beats up the NGKs really badly, while the autolites seem to hold up better. never had a complaint with NGK plugs when my ignition was stock though.

 

Same here I run a set of accells on all my veh's. Autolite for everything except for the truck I run denso Irid's. I wouldn't run the irid's though unless you have a after market ignition


EDIT: Except for the wifes 98 camry that you have to pay more for 4 wire than a set of 8 accells

 

I could go into great detail here but I have seen from past posts that it just brings arguments.

there are 3 common types of wire construction now days.
OE+most aftermarket = carbon coated fiberglass... junk
solid core = good current with low resistance but not too good for radio reception and noise supression
Spiral wound = The best of all worlds, low resistance,very durable and still manage to keep RFI to a minimum


Take an OHM meter and measure the resistance of different wires and you may be suprised. Lower resistance wires = more current, People can argue all day long but OHM's law is very simple math.

 

I just picked up a set of NGK's from www.sparkplugs.com for less than $30. Wire-Wound Ferrite Core. TE-66. I can't wait to see how they work for mine.

 

So for a basically stock 3.0 (only changes are the air box mod and k&n drop in) what does everybody reccommend? what combo of plugs and wires? NKG vs. Autolite vs. accels...

 

So what's your opinion on the MSD wires?

 

http://msdignition.com/wire_1.htm

 

MSDs are nice wires but for a stock ignition they are pricey and a bit of overkill.

 

http://www.wires4less.com was pretty popular a while back with some YT guys. I got a set for my 1st gen (7mm? 8mm? I don't remember) and could tell the difference on the road.

EDIT:
Nevermind the site is dead now.

 

i've been doing good with bosch wires. just make sure to include the di-electric grease when you install them. runnin' NGK v-powers since 96. no complaints.

 

Glad you mentioned it. MSD wires RULE! the last MSD wire I measured was around 40 ohms per foot (compare that to 6-10k per ft with OEM or 300ohms a ft with bosch). If I could have purchased them for my 3.0 I would have done so already.