NGK plug wire terminal lock broke

[01rangerxl]

I was driving home at lunch today and could hear interference/popping through the radio that would go up with engine speed. When I got home, I popped the hood and could immediately see that one of the spark plug wires on the coil was not seated as far down as the others. When I pushed down on it, there was a faint click of it engaging on the coil terminal, but I could slide it right off with no resistance.

I took a closer look and discovered that the little snap band thing on the terminal of the wire was split. I pushed on it with my finger and it fell completely off. Now that wire won't even click on the coil terminal at all.

These are NGK plug wires that are only about a year old and are direct fit for my truck. I hate that this happened because the wires are great otherwise, and now I have one mismatched wire. I ended up getting a Belden kit from Napa because it was available right now...I would have had to wait until tomorrow for NGK. The truck did fine for a couple miles back to work with the bad plug wire just resting on the coil pretty much, but I didn't want to drive around at risk of that wire coming completely off.

The insulation on the Belden wires looks/feels kind of cheap compared to the NGKs. I'm sure it will work fine though. The nicer looking insulation on the NGK wire won't keep it on the coil anyway. Kind of disappointed that the highest quality direct fit wires I could get had such a stupid little issue. I don't remember having trouble when I first put the NGK wires on in Nov of '13, and they have been great until now.

 

[01rangerxl]

For clarity, the part that broke is the black band shown on these terminals...

I might try fixing the NGK wire so everything matches under the hood.

 

[Bluestream]

Take it back for warranty

 

[01rangerxl]

NGK is limited lifetime on wires...just need to find my Rock Auto invoice. IIRC, I only spent $20 on the NGK set, so even if I don't find my Rock Auto receipt, it's not a major loss as much as it is disappointment that an NGK product didn't last longer.

 

[another Todd]

You can look up past orders online.

 

[HerrStig]

It is often suggested that a little dielectric grease on the terminal wil avoid damage done by pushing them on against alot of friction. I use the stuff on the plug boots and terminals having had more than one of those break when appempting to ease them off. Not good when the plug is way down in a tube. Both times it happened with OEM wires.

 

[01rangerxl]

I did use dielectric grease on the initial install, and the wire had not been touched since then. Who knows. Maybe I didn't use enough, because it was a [censored] to get the spark plug end off of the plug.

I found my Rockauto.com order info, so I may go through with the warranty if it isn't a pain. I did email NGK about the issue.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I did use dielectric grease on the initial install, and the wire had not been touched since then. Who knows. Maybe I didn't use enough, because it was a [censored] to get the spark plug end off of the plug.

I found my Rockauto.com order info, so I may go through with the warranty if it isn't a pain. I did email NGK about the issue.
I suspect that may be the case. I use more than a "little" smear now, having read bit about how it's used in coax cable connectors to keep water out at 1000 watts + power levels. The parts of the terminals which touch WILL touch and push the grease and contact is not a problem. It does make getting NGK boots on and off.

 

[moklock]

If not. The Belden aren't bad but next time around get some Motorcraft. I've always tried to use ACDelco (without the '9' before the number) onGMs and Motorcraft on the Fords jus becuase thequality really can't be beat.

 

[01rangerxl]

Frankly, I probably should have never changed the Motorcrafts that were on it to start with. I did it as PM, not because of a problem. The aftermarket Prestolites I put on the first time started to split at the boots, so that's when the truck got NGKs...and now one of those has failed. The Motorcrafts went 125K mi without a single issue.

I still have the Motorcrafts somewhere, but I don't know where somewhere is.

Rock Auto has Motorcrafts by the wire...I can buy just the one I need, but after shipping it's not cost effective.

The Belden wire should be fine. It's 8mm, so it actually has more insulation than the 7mm NGKs. I just can't get past the look/feel of the insulation...reminds me of one of those soft plastic fishing lures.

 

[The_Eric]

Sounds like a fluke failure of a non NGK manufactured part. They likely buy these parts by 10's of thousands and install them on their wires. Adding grease to the plug terminal to reduce friction won't aid the tension ring. It is still going to expand a set distance as the connector is pushed onto the plug terminal no matter what.

Get the wire warrantied and move on down the road.