Spark plug wires - DIY?

[monkeyodeath]

Just wanted to get some recent opinions (did a lot of searching and saw many 10+ year old threads on the topic).

I think it's time to replace the spark plug wires on my 3.2. Seeing some sparks from them at night and a recent rainstorm had the car misfiring badly.

My first instinct is to just buy some 7mm solid-core wire and the little crimp-on M3 connectors, and re-use the old spark plug connectors with new wire. Some of the threads I've seen argue that the stock Beru connectors basically never fail. Figure this is the cheapest method.

Other threads argue that the Beru connectors are the weakest part of the system, in which case I'm wondering if I should be looking to something like Clewett which replaces those old connectors.

Any recent opinions? Seems like supplier quality has changed a lot in the many years since the threads I was reading were written!

[stlrj]

My 87 3.2 just started to misfire with the recent rain and found #4 plug connector had green powdery corrosion on the screw like terminal. I tried to clean it off and screw it back into the plug connector but the crimped screw like terminal broke off when I tried unscrewing it to see how far it went in. Now what do I do? Since it couldn't get any worse, I decided to strip back the cable to expose the conductor and slip it inside the connector without the terminal. Crossed my fingers, started it up and took it for a test drive without the slightest hint of a miss even in the heaviest rain we've been having.

Wishing you the same luck,


Joe

[mo-mon]

I'd go with your initial plan/instinct. Assuming those are the original Beru connectors, they're okay.

I don't trust the new Beru distributor cover, rotor, etc.

[Cubieman]

Just put in some new red Clewetts the other day as well as beru rotor/cap.
Mo-mon, why don't you trust the beru cap/rotor?

Was going to buy Beru wires as I like OEM stuff but my 84' didn't "match" on pelican website. I think there is just a slight difference in the routing on 84' 911's. Probably would have worked fine. The Clewetts are great, and much cheaper, got 6 spacers and it looks so clean!

[monkeyodeath]

Just to make it clear, I'm talking about re-using the old Beru connectors with new wire, not getting the whole Beru wireset. I think John Walker posted somewhere that he just fabs new wires from a spool of 7mm solid-core ignition wire.

It's definitely cheaper, and I have an old BMW that uses the same setup and will probably have enough leftover wire and connectors to make new spark plug wires for that car, too.

I think the wires may be original to my 911, but not really sure. I haven't changed them in my 6 years of ownership.

If I'm going to eventually have to fix or replace all the old Beru connectors, it's probably not worth it, given their unit price. Someone else has a thread on how to rehab them, but it's a little bit of an involved process.

Maybe the Beru connector failures people were seeing were from new units? A bad run perhaps? Seems like one moment people were talking about how they were pretty much bulletproof, then the next they were posting pictures of new ones all cracked and crappy. FWIW, I've owned BMWs with Beru wiresets from the same period and never heard much negative about the connectors.

I suppose the real answer here is to pull the wires off the car and measure the connectors on the multimeter to see how many are still in-spec, but figured I'd get some opinions first.

[monkeyodeath]

Also, once I let the car dry out a bit after the rain, it ran fine. Didn't see any moisture inside the dizzy cap, so I'm assuming that it's still okay -- I know the wires are shot, so I figure I'll replace those first, then move on to the rotor/cap if I'm still having problems.

[mo-mon]

[QUOTE=Cubieman;10683930]Just put in some new red Clewetts the other day as well as beru rotor/cap.
Mo-mon, why don't you trust the beru cap/rotor?

Well, it was a real struggle to align the cap properly & even when I felt it was okay, the next day while on a drive, my carrera started misfiring & when I stopped & checked, both rotor & cap were partly melted & burned. Luckily, I had an old Bosch set in the car & swapped them. Never had this issue with the Bosch. This happened about two years ago.

Maybe it was a production defect but I have another set which I will NEVER install. The fit & finish is clearly inferior to the Bosch. YMMV.

[mo-mon]

Definitely change the wires asap. Do the J. Walker way if you're up to it or just buy new Clewetts & call it a day.

[stownsen914]

You can test the sparkplug connectors. If they are in spec, no reason not to reuse with new wire.

[patkeefe]

P/N: 91160931000 Genuine