Changed Spark Plug wires and having problems

[ajsmith25]

Just changed my spark plug wires and now the service engine soon light comes on and car runs horrible. I bought Duralast wires from Auto Zone and swapped all but 2 of the wires back out with the old AC Delco ones. Still, having the service engine light coming on. Help!

[Mr. Guy]

Just gonna add my two cents...

Make sure you put the right wires to the right cylinders. If you got two switched around, it'd result in two dead cylinders since the plugs would be firing on empty cylinders. On a v6, associated pistons might not be at the top of their cylinders, getting fired on before the proper time and potentially damaging the engine.

Especially if you have a four-cylinder, the engine will also run horribly with half its cylinders dead (tried that once, was interesting). A v6 will be less noticeable, but there'll still be a definate shake in the motor with 1/3rd of its power gone :P

Also, make sure when you put the wires on, you can hear and feel a *click* as the connector "locks" on to the spark plug. If the wires aren't "locked" (from lack of a better word) on, the electricity will have to arc across the distance (which will damage the metal on the spark plug and the wire's connector) or, more likely, won't get to the plug at all.

Oh yea, and especially if you have a new model, the check engine light will come on due to all the various sensors on the engine screaming in pain.


Right well, that was more like ten cents. Oh well. Before you get this fixed, do *not* drive the car. Any load on the engine might cause more damage, assuming wires are switched around, and even if cylinders are simply dead the efficiency of the engine right now is abysmal.