Quick "?" on OEM NGK s.p. wires

[97tbird]

Replaced my plugs (with OEM NGK) and wires (also OEM NGK blue) on the 2003 XD today.

(This is my 1st time changing SPs/wires)

Car had Hyundai wires (factory???) and Champion OEM plugs.
(Car is almost at 220k miles)

I think it went well. (need to finish throttle body cleaning so have to wait till tomorrow morning to test).

BUT i felt like NGK wires didn't SNAP / POP into place when I pushed them onto the plugs. (I tightened the plugs well, all felt smooth and solid.)
When I pull at them, it feels solid and takes good effort to pull them off the plug BUT i feel worried as I didn't feel / hear the POP when pushing them in.
It also feels like they're not sitting 100% flush against the valve cover like old OE tops did... (I pushed as hard as they would go)

Any ideas? They're a tiny bit loner than OE wires, and the wire comes out of the plug at an angle so they don't keep flat on the first "holder" on 2 wires, that's not a big matter,

What I am concerned about are:
1. why aren't they sitting 100% flush on the valve cover?
2. why don't I hear the POP / SNAP noise when I push them in?

 

[mclasser]

If the wires are on there nice and snug and the car runs fine, you should be all good.

Were the Champion plugs from the factory? If so, I can't believe they went 220,000 miles. I had an 05 XD and I had to replace the factory Champions at 80K since they were causing a rough idle. I sprayed some penetrating oil down the plug tubes the night before to remove any rust but the plugs were still a massive PITA to get out. Lots of crunching and squealing. The wires were also SUPER tight and required an hour of gentle twisting and tugging to pop off. Most annoying 4 cyl spark plug job I'd ever done. I was surprised I didn't break anything during the process.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks for the reply.
No. The plugs were not factory. I think they were replaced about 80k miles ago. I am changing the plugs and wires mostly to learn how to do it, AND perhaps it's time anyway.

The wires however, had "Beta 1" stamped on them and looks very factory-like. IDK if they were changed or not when plugs were done. Probably not.

2 of the plugs came out with a strange noise and not very smoothly. They sounded a bit "crunchy" too, coming out. Putting the new ones there went ok, although they were not very smooth going in. Those 2 plugs were the dirtiest of the 4 that came out. Otherwise they all came out pretty easily, and so did the wires.

I guess, like you said, I have to finish the rest of the stuff and start / drive car and see. If it's fine I am not going to worry about it.
(looks like NGK wires do this quite often, as I can see from a quick internet search but being OEM and all that, it sort of surprised me a bit).

Will update tomorrow.

 

[Al]

I have the blue wires on my subaru. They fit exactly like they are supposed to. Double check the year and model against the wires you have. Also (and this is unlikely) was the terminal in place on the plug at the top?

You should feel the wire click onto the plug. If you have never done it it is possible you don't know what it feels like. You could pull the wire off the plug and hold a plug in your hand and verify it does snap into place.

I am sure you know to pull the wire off the plug by only pulling on the boot (not the wire)

 

[toneydoc]

Hi and glad you are doing and learning about your vehicle and how to work on it.

All wires do not snap when you put them on the plugs.

And I do want to caution you about pulling on them too much. Especially after they have been on the plugs a little while. I have pulled on the boot before and had the spark plug wire and plug connector come apart from each other which means it is ruined. Now I simply place them on the plugs and leave them until I change them out.

As long as the vehicle cranks, runs, and is normal in operation, I would not play or pull on the wires and connectors and boots.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks for all the replies.

Al: yes - done all that: 100% on correct part no. This set automatically gets suggested when you search for the SPs on this car. (verified at several other places too. Part no matched every time).
Yep - i know to pull on the top and not the wire.
SPs all looked ok. (had terminals).
I did do the wire and plug in hand "test"- i feel it going into place - but nowhere near a click/snap even then: so I am guessing this is just how these wires are: their boot-end is a bit different shaped than the wires that came out, but diameter/length is the same..

Toneydoc:
Heard the same thing on Elantraforum.com. (sometimes these wires just don't click/snap audibly)

Will finish cleaning throttle body etc and start / drive in a few hrs and report back.
------------
This is a different car / application (coil packs) but BMW coil pack users also had scares about their new Bosch coil packs not snapping / clicking etc: Then Bosch put out this notice:

 

[97tbird]

OK. all done and started the engine.

engine shakes a bit at idle, after the initial few seconds of fast idle after starting. smooths out when given gas. Smooths out when put in Drive.
RPMs steady around 500 RPM at idle. (i think that's normal for this car)

shake can be felt on steering wheel and is also visible a bit, when looking at engine.

Certain noise also...it sounds like coming from throttle body area, which I cleaned. Perhaps I should just drive and see if it needs clearing out? Also a sort of a knocking sound, but I have never taken the engine cover off prior to this and heard engine without the cover, so I can't be sure ...

No CEL. Haven't driven.

I had disconnected battery during SP change.

Any suggestions? VIDEO below of engine sounds:

 

[97tbird]

UPDATE: started car again, and no more idle shake.

Drove for about 40 minutes (upto 70 mph) and feels normal, except the idle still SOUNDS a bit strange. But better than Youtube video above in previous post.

Acceleration is better than before.
Came home and still no shaky idle.
Looking at engine, cannot see or feel the shake like before.

2 things:

1. when i first started the car I had forgotten to reconnect the EGR hose. IDK if the ECU detected this and has since stored it, if that was the reason for the shaky idle. (I have since reconnected it)
(should I disconnect and reconnect the battery again?)

2. When i press gas pedal with engine off i hear a little noise from the throttle body/plate area. I can reproduce the noise by manually pushing on the throttle "spring" next to the TB. All I did in that area was clean the TB with TB cleaner, just sprayed and wiped a bit while holding the TB plate open with the "spring/cable" thingy.

Checked for codes just for kicks: NOTHING - no active or pending codes.

Plug wires still in place and feels solid.

Otherwise car drives and idle great now.

 

[hpb]

The idle was probably unstable because you disconnected the battery, which you really didn't need to do. Going for a drive has allowed the computer to relearn its settings.

 

[nthach]

NGK wires aren't "OEM" BTW - they are made by Seiwa in Japan but they do fit and feel like OEM - the Japanese have Sumitomo Electric and Yazaki make their plug wires(except for Subaru and Nissan, I've seen Delphi/Packard and Prestolite as OEM on those) but I'd still use NGK wires with confidence.

As for the disconnected EGR hose, most OBD-II DTCs are set via 2-trip detection logic, meaning the ECU/PCM needs to catch the condition in the next drive cycle - I can be wrong. In the case of EGR, you also have an EGR monitor that runs.