I was changing the oil on my 1992 900, and decided to check out some ignition components while waiting for oil to drain. I was measuring resistance in the spark plug wires, which is supposed to be between 2000 and 3000 ohms. The wires from cylinders 2, 3, and 4 all fell within that range (actually four was a bit below 2000, but it is the shortest wire), but the wire for cylinder 1 was over 6000 ohms. That is the longest of the four wires, but I measured the long wire from a new set at just a bit over 3000.
So, considering that the car runs perfectly, should I really care?
in article slrndjugvb.n48.rotten_NOSPAM snipped-for-privacy@oragam.example.com, John B at rotten_NOSPAM snipped-for-privacy@ccil.org wrote on 02/10/2005 03:20:
Nah!
I've measured all manner of wires and, while I'm certainly no expert, have put over a hundred thousand miles onto C900s. When it comes down to spark leads, SAAB got it right to start with ... Bougicord! Bosch, Nology, whatever are great to start with (well, any new wire is going to be better than a used wire) but Bougicords just keep on doing the job properly.
It's a bit like running non-NGK plugs. Okay for a few miles, maybe a few hundred miles, but not so good after that.
Resistance is probably something to consider on a pristine, rebuilt, brand new, hardly used engine. On a 15 year old daily runner, the only thing you should care about with regard to HT leads is having a good set of Bougicords. That said, I have found Bosch to be very good indeed on B201 engines for several thousands of miles.
For the remainder of the ignition, use NGK BCP7EV plugs for a turbo C900 (or BP7ES, otherwise ... Maybe BP6ES on T8/8i, but I'd still recommend the BP7s, since they're run hard usually :) ) and a good Lucas (or cloned) rotor arm. The cap should be Lucas, too, IMO! But that's my opinion and completely unqualified :)
I'm about to invest in a set of Magnecor spark plug leads for my 1983 900S since it doesn't have stock Saab (ie. Bougicord) leads and I'm keen to try the Magnecor product as we have a local Magnecor agent (Thundercords right here in Sydney) who make up the leads in Australia as required using Magnecor's lead and connector parts
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