plug lead

My 2000MY Range rover 4.0 suffered a plug lead failure due to corrosion between the lead and the plug itself which caused arcing to the engine block. As the plugs do not need to be changed on a regular basis this is a common fault according to my dealer (in other words, it is not a service requirement to check them) .The car is 3.5 years old and covered only 30k miles. I have a 14 year old BMW which is still using original leads. What is the difference? Perhaps just better quality original equipment?

As the dealer simply recommends a full new set of leads, I inspected the remaining 7 plug/plug lead connections I found 5 to be in 'as new' condition and two to be corroded and in need of cleaning or perhaps replacement. The plug tops clean up OK, but the lead ends are more difficult. Should these be replaced? Why are some corroded and others not?

Reply to
David Haggas
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Sounds like you just had a bad lead, having said that my V8 Discovery was improved greatly by fitting a set of high quality performance leads and irrespective of what the dealer says, your engine was designed in the 1950's originally so i would change plugs every 12,000 miles or 12 months.

Reply to
Exit

On or around Mon, 02 Feb 2004 15:51:47 GMT, "Exit" enlightened us thusly:

the best leads are not necessarily the ones sold by LR, either. Magnecor get good write-ups, though I don't know what the connector parts are made of and whether they'd corrode as you describe.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

I'd say the worst ones are the LR ones!

I like my magnecors but I hear the Lumenition ones are good too.

Reply to
Exit

Reply to
Richard

Interesting to hear your comments. The original leads are "Rists suppression" and the platinum plugs are only intended to be changed after

60000 miles. During BMW's reign at Land Rover, the old V8 had quite a make over with new inlet manifold and management system increasing power and torque.Why would they want to spoil all this by fitting duff spark plugs and leads?
Reply to
David Haggas

Cost. Somebody pretty senior in Land Rover admitted recently that the HT leads they use are s**te. It's not so much of a problem unless you're running on LPG, most of the time.

David

Reply to
David French

They're also blue, which I like in an HT lead. It brings out the Kev in me.

Reply to
David French

Lol - you've got a lot to learn about LR! :)

The V8 has had makeover after makeover since BMW first invented it for the

507 and GM sunsequently based the design of their 215 on it before Rover eventually bought it. The '60,000' mile plugs are fitted for marketing reasons, not performance reasons and the leads are very poor quality and bought at the cheapest cost.

You'll also find at the time of the make over you refer to they also managed to introduce the huge technical advance of porous bores!

I love Land Rovers, but if you start believing what LR dealers tell you, you are on your way to hell in a hand-basket! :D

Reply to
Exit

We have a customer using Magnecor on his 101 - they solved his ingnition problems very nicely. The problem with the Rover V8 (I was working at Rists when some problems were encountered with the 38a leads just after launch) is the horrendous temperatures in the "holes" where the leads attach to the plugs - much, much higher then specified by Rover. The other problem was that people will insist on puling the leads off the plugs by yanking the leads rather than by pulling the shrouds.

Richard

Reply to
richard.watson

The Magnecors we bought are red, the Luminition ones are blue see through (with lots of flashing!!) Richard

Reply to
Richard

On or around Mon, 02 Feb 2004 21:33:11 GMT, "Exit" enlightened us thusly:

Champion triple-silicone seem reasonable too, especially as they're about 25 quid a set, though I did pick up a slight misfire this morning driving through a long shallow flood at watersplashy speeds. If I'd slowed down, it'd have no doubt been OK.

I did had a non-starting problem following pressurewashing, but that turned out to be a crack in the top of the coil, which is nothing much to do with the leads...

I notice a trend to have coils with extra-slim insulating noses, which don't fit all the leads. Buggrem.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Magnecors come in 5 types, from "standard" to "magga racing thingies", coloured (from budget to posh) black, black, blue, red, red - the blue ones seem to offer the best quality/price deal (8mm) - at 83.25 inc VAT they are not cheap - but do seem to do the job.

Richard

Reply to
richard.watson

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