Basic Ignition Tune-up Questions

[Twistiva]

OK, it's been about 4 years since I changed my sparkplugs and sparkplug wires. Seems to be running fine but way overdue.

What kind of sparkplugs do most of you use?

I used the search engine here and didn't see any overall clear recommendation. If I don't hear anything here, I'll go to my Ford dealer and get some Motorcraft plugs that were specific for the Festiva. I seem to remember somebody here posting that their Festy ran better using plugs that were specific to our cars. I checked 2 days ago and, surprisingly, Motorcraft plugs were only about $3 apiece.

Sparkplug wires: preferences?

If the rotor is clean/no corrosion does it need to be replaced? (Most likely will change it due to the age (changed same time as sparkplugs) since they're not expensive.)

If the distributor cap isn't cracked and the contacts are clean, would you guys change it?

And.....just how long do OEM distributors and coils last? I've owned my Festiva 24 years and I don't think I've had to change them out. Thoughts?

[KingFish]

Plugs=NGK V-power
Wires=NGK
Cap and rotor= Yes, as some wear is hard to see, carbon tracking and the like and the parts are cheap.

[blkfordsedan]

NGK, Motorcraft or Autolite plugs are all good choices. I've tried all 3, and honestly, the plain Autolite copper core work as well as any. Plus, they are cheap and available at WalMart. They do wear fast, but I like to change plugs often anyway and they're easy to get to. I actually found my Festy ran better with Bosch Platinum+2 than any other plug. I even swapped them back out with new regular plugs several times one week, just to make sure it wasn't in my head. Most people don't have very good luck with them, so I was surprised. I have found Bosch wires to be pretty good as well. When I rebuilt my B6, I bought new Belden PowerMax wires from Rock Auto for $5.00. I'm very impressed with the fit and quality so far.

[WmWatt]

Get wires with lifetime warranty and keep the reciept. Replace for free. I clean wires once a year.
I've had my Festive since '89 and only replaced the cap and rotor once.
I clean and gap the spark plugs annualy but have not replaced for many years. Loo fine to me.
Car passes emission testing with flying colours. I use a vaccum guage to check ignition okay.

[Movin]

Champion, Motorcraft and Autolite have really suffered lately from quality issues. How ever the festy does not stress things much you likely will be okay.
Bosch platinum is the most unreliable plug I have ever seen !! They are sweet until they fail. The percentage that do fail is overwhelming, I will not work on motors with this plug.
The E plug has been working good. NGK has been working good. Accel is okay and really works nice where short plugs are needed to clear headers. ND maybe, they may have corrected some things. AC is champion. Just my judgement of what I see coming in shaking like a dog trying to pass a peach seed.

[TorqueEffect]

I can vouch for the bad quality of the Bosche plugs, at least the +4s.

When I went to O'Reilly to get tune-up supplies, when I asked for spark-plugs and they had the Bosche +4s on there computer, they were only like a few cents more so I went for em.
Bad choice, they ran fine at first but after a few weeks I started having bad ignition issues, pulled them out and put Autolite coppers from walmart in instead.
Returned the Bosche plugs and the employee there (different employee this time) pretty much said those are not supposed to be used on this engine and didn't know why they were listed in the computer for the Festiva.

[Twistiva]

......The E plug has been working good.........Accel is okay and really works nice where short plugs are needed to clear headers. ND maybe, they may have corrected some things. AC is champion.

"E plug"?..."ND"?...googled those 2, didn't find anything on them?

"AC"....you mean AC Delco? So by being "champion", is AC Delco what you use?

I appreciate what's been posted so far (and welcome other's inputs) but still haven't heard anything about how long the average Festiva distributor and ignition coil last. Won't swap those out unless some super experienced Festy bubbas say it would be a good idea. Those parts cost an arm and a leg.

Thanks!

[Movin]

"E plug"?..."ND"?...googled those 2, didn't find anything on them?

"AC"....you mean AC Delco? So by being "champion", is AC Delco what you use?

I appreciate what's been posted so far (and welcome other's inputs) but still haven't heard anything about how long the average Festiva distributor and ignition coil last. Won't swap those out unless some super experienced Festy bubbas say it would be a good idea. Those parts cost an arm and a leg.

Thanks!

The AC or AC delco I do not use. AC and champion have something going on . The E plug I have been using is this.

http://www.e3sparkplugs.com/

About the only standard plug to work well in all conditions is the NGK

I cannot stock a plug, I had Champions until a year ago, that will work fine in a Ford, pretty good in chevy's and fail in COP applications. The COP plugs that are in a hot area of the engine are killing the cheaper plugs.
Bosch plugs were ok until they went Platinum and I suppose patents prevented them from using proven technology. They have been unsuccessful except in marketing. Once the platinum falls off-could happen anytime- the engine runs poorly.

[sketchman]

Thanks Movin. I was wondering this just this morning. NGKs on the way. Pretty cheap on rockauto too.