Bought a '95 wagon, questions:

[Notron]

Hello,

I recently purchased a '95 wagon with 82k miles and had a few questions.

1) The 3rd stop light (the one in the window), the license plate lights, and the rear side lights were all burnt out. Is this indicative of a problem or just something that happens?

2) The grey spark plug wires say carquest triple silicon but the boots on the wires say Ford. Does that sound aftermarket or original. I've heard that one should stick with motorcraft...but the price diff is substantial. Dealers want $56-$63 for a set of wires. Can I get away with autolite plugs and a set of Napa Belden wires with the lifetime guarantee ($32.)

3) The car is running on 195/60r14's. Too big? the tires seem to fit.

[Jet-Lee]

I was able to get Motorcraft Plugs from Autozone, I also got $16 plug wires too, looked identical to the originals.

BTW-Mine's a '99 with 139k miles

[Notron]

Okay, new question.

I'm looking at my engine. at the rear driver's side corner of the valve cover there is a hose that goes to the box that the air filter drops into.

It is all cracked at the point where it attaches to the valve cover (immediatly under the PCV hose that runs fore to aft over the engine.)

What this hose called so that I can buy a new one?

I checked on the autozone website and couldn't find it listed in their component location diagrams. While at autozone I checked a Haynes manual (waiting for one to arrive from Amazon-used) but the Haynes manual did not say what it was.

Thanks BTW, Jet. I pulled the plugs (that one under the alternator really is a pain). And they were autolite platinums. I replaced with autolite copper tips.

Also bought a new battery at Costco. It looks like the car has an original Ford battery. I didn't think they lasted 9 years.

[Notron]

And...crap.

Are Motorcraft battery posts bigger than JCI posts? Cause the terminals just don't cinch tight enough on the Costco/JCI battery.

Crappity crap crap crap.