Expensive plug wires

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GRWeldon

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So is it not possible to find a reasonably priced set of plug wires for a V6 these days? It's an SC. Does that mean the wires are super special? I can't find the sets listed at $37 but I can find a BUNCH of sets for $90 plus. This is ridiculous!
 
Are you looking on RockAuto?

I try to get Autolite plug wires when I can. I don't know if the SC's have a special wires or not.
 
The most expensive plug wire sets on RockAuto are about $30. For a relatively stock car they should be just fine. I do not know what the Motorcraft or Autolite wire set part numbers are, but I'm sure they are long obsolete.
 
KevinVarnes said:
The most expensive plug wire sets on RockAuto are about $30. For a relatively stock car they should be just fine. I do not know what the Motorcraft or Autolite wire set part numbers are, but I'm sure they are long obsolete.
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I looked on Rock Auto. I don't do business with them anymore but they wanted $17 shipping for a $30 set of wires. I'll find something somewhere else.
 
I don't know. I just plugged the Standard Motor Products wire set in to my cart and they only wanted $7.99 for shipping. With tax and the 5% discount the total came to $37, so I guess the same as the cheap wires you were looking at.
 
GRWeldon said:
I looked on Rock Auto. I don't do business with them anymore but they wanted $17 shipping for a $30 set of wires. I'll find something somewhere else.
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Smart man. Try Temu! LOL... be sure not to give any personal info... just your shipping address and a PayPal account. :p
 
KevinVarnes said:
I don't know. I just plugged the Standard Motor Products wire set in to my cart and they only wanted $7.99 for shipping. With tax and the 5% discount the total came to $37, so I guess the same as the cheap wires you were looking at.
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I got mine on a close out event from RockAuto. They did two different close outs and now I have two sets of wires for the Cougar.... "I'M NOT A HORDER!!!!"
 
If the v6 cars use the same coil packs, I'd expect anything but motorcraft wires to fail in about 2 years. Motorcraft usually last at leaast 3. As soon as the plug gap opens up, it wears on the wires.
 
Grog6 said:
If the v6 cars use the same coil packs, I'd expect anything but motorcraft wires to fail in about 2 years. Motorcraft usually last at leaast 3. As soon as the plug gap opens up, it wears on the wires.
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Did not know👍
 
The SC uses double platinum plugs .. they don't wear out as quickly as those shitty coppers.
 
Grog6 said:
Copper pugs work great; but they have to be dressed every 10k miles, or they will quit. I get over 100k on double platinums.
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I agree. I have tried different spark plugs in my car and the ones that lasted the longest and worked the best were plain old
Autolite AP2545 or Motorcraft SP-482 (standard V6).
 
Or ignitions are extremely high voltage; I have one that cracked, and would miss in the rain. I cleaned it, vacuum baked it for a couple of days, and sealed it with humiseal, a hv insulator. After I cast it in a block of hv rtv, I used it for feeding a tesla coil for a few years, until the whole setup got wasted in a storm. It measured 160kV, going into the circuit for the tesla coil. Output from that was incredible :) 12V to millions, lol.
 
White Lincoln said:
Regular 3.6L or Super Coupe 3.6L?
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Neither of those. 🤭

It depends if you have a distributor or coil pack ignition on the NA 3.8L; the SC all used coil packs which is why double platinum plugs are required - since the voltage passes through 2 wires and cylinders on a shared coil ( waste spark system ) in other words - it goes both ways.
 
dDUBb said:
Neither of those. 🤭

It depends if you have a distributor or coil pack ignition on the NA 3.8L; the SC all used coil packs which is why double platinum plugs are required - since the voltage passes through 2 wires and cylinders on a shared coil ( waste spark system ) in other words - it goes both ways.
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Dang, learn something new every day.... Thanks dDUBb!

And yes, I have a distributor.
 
White Lincoln said:
Dang, learn something new every day.... Thanks dDUBb!

And yes, I have a distributor.
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Tip of the iceberg 🧊

So in your case .. the ignition coil may produce anywhere between 20-35Kv per ignition event. The KV will increase to compensate for excessive spark gap - the space between the tip and electrode is the reason why high voltage is induced - to cross the gap and a worn out plug may lead to excessive voltage requirement that could damage the coil / and or plug wires ? According to Grog; 3 years max .. but I've had the same wireset on my SC since 2005 and you know what they say about comparing apples to orages; it's just a huge tangent. 😉
 
Coils vs coilpacks are completely different. Coils don't burn plugs off below the insulator in 10k miles, or kill you if you lick the wire. :) dttah,lol. Ive never really looked at a non sc 3.8. But I can set points. With a matchbook, in the rain. (63 tbird 390) Its wires lasted at least 20 years.
 
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