plug wires?

I got a CEL a couple weeks ago, had it scanned and it read O2 sensor, and my car is wanting to die out on idle and hesitating, all that good stuff, so I'm waiting until I get the money to have it replaced. And just tonight when I was driving with no radio on, I notice a whining noise coming from the engine bay near the passengers side when I accelerate, kinda sounds similar to a dentist's drill (first thing that popped in my mind). I heard this was caused by a vacuum leak, correct? So I pop my hood with the engine still running to see if I can find the problem, and I notice that from cylinders 2 and 3, it was arching from the plug boot to the valve cover, and everytime it did that my engine wanted to die out. 10% of the time I drive just fine, but the other 90% its with the bucking, hesitating, etc. now Im wondering, is the plug wires the cause of this and could they have for some reason be the cause of the CEL as well? Yes, I bought cheapo 30 dollar plug wires only because I was strapped for cash and my OEM ones were totally trashed. If so, where can I pick up some OEM cables? I'd rather by them than a 70 dollar O2 Sensor..thanks and sorry for the very large paragraph.

yep its the wires, if not those then a bad coil pac. As for wires, best bet for OEM is dealership or www.gmpartsdirect.com , Personally if you could afford them go with Nology.

Try any Napa,Carquest,any top of the line auto parts stores.Do not buy plugwires from AutoZone(really called AutoJunk) and Advance Auto Parts,they sell the cheap ones and cheap plugwires are not the way to go.