1996 V8 plug change

Plugs are pretty ez to get to through the wheel wells. Nothing real special.

Why do you want to change the wires ? Are you having problems with them, or are you just changing them " just cuz" ?

Unless you have scoped the motor and the wires show signs of breakdown, I wouldn't worry about them.

IMO too many people replace wires with new ones that are actually inferior to the OE wires for no real reason.

No problems at all. Just read so many posts that you should change after 45-75k miles. Someone mentioned PEP Boys wires, Borg Warner,and only $20.

Changing the wires should be a personal preference..... yours are nearly 10 years old but bargain wires can be bad out of the package. I prefer to avoid problems rather than be a victim of a problem.

I rarely see comments about blowing the spark plug wells out with compressed air..... I do this religiously though most people don't with no seeming ill effects. I don't like introducing foreign matter into peoples cylinders and I try to avoid it. Service manuals often refer to backing the plugs off one turn, and running the motor briefly though I have never ascribed to that myself. I wouldn't get too concerned, but if you have the opportunity, it can't be a bad thing to do.

Had you gone to the dealer, you could have purchased the one wire that you needed.

Conversely, one wire is arcing to ground and all the others are now suspect. If one doesn't mind the inconvenience of multiple failures, then do it one at a time.

Where I come from is that I might change the problem wire this week..... a week from now, another wire causes a similar problem.... did I save anyone money??? NO.... I'm a dork who couldn't fix my way out of a wet paper bag because the SAME PROBLEM CAME BACK!!!! It matters not that it is a different wire, but Joe Customer spent money and now he is back again. (Did I ever mention the time the phone rang.... "ever since you fixed my brake lights my motors been making a funny noise...." only because I mentioned that the car didn't sound good when I had it).

We have two options... we can work our way from one breakdown to the next, or we can bite the bullet and replace sacrificial parts at regular intervals and avoid problems. My loving bride drives through some pretty lonely country in some formidable weather...... I refuse to risk her safety for the sake of a few bucks. Part of how we save money running our vehicles is to address problems before they reach pre or post-catastrophic proportions.

In a nutshell, CHEAP, AIN'T.

Oh, I agree. I'm the same way with headlights and u-joints. If one goes, they both get replaced. My comment was in response to Don-Don's statement that he would have changed just the one, but HAD to buy a whole set.

Agree. Hell, I changed the wires on my old 91 with 190K miles on it for the first time 2 months ago. It was having trouble starting in the rain, so I figured it was time for plugs/wires/cap/rotor. Guess what? It starts in the rain now! No difference in mileage after doing this.