Spark plug wires

[Big Tom 10628]

My '99 with 76K still runs fine. I'm just wondering how do you know when it's time to do the Plug Wire conversion?

[Big Tom 10628]

I see you can still get them from Honda..  Even with the Direct Line 10% off sale it still comes to $152....  Wow.

[Bighead]

If it is running fine leave them alone. If you did want to change them you could make them up and same some money.

[WintrSol]

How do you tell? One way is to go where it is really dark, like cave dark, start it up and look for blue glows flitting about the wires. It may help to unplug the headlamp fuse. Another way is to use a plant mister or equivalent, mist around the wires and coils, and listen for stumbles.

[Kep]

Just bought a set from procaliber.com for 124.00 ...free shipping

[Ramie]

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/ShopTalk/plugwires.pdf

[Big Tom 10628]

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/ShopTalk/plugwires.pdf

Yeah I saw that....

[Woton]

Nothing in the owners manual or the shop manual that I can find re: plug wire replacement interval.

We have some high-mileage Valks out there -- I would be curious to know if anyone has had an OEM set of plug wires to break down to the point that replacement resulted in a noticeable improvement in performance.

I recognize myself as one that tends to fall on the side of doing "too much, too soon"  in maintenance areas such as this.  Fortunately, it usually hurts only my pocketbook.  Not surprisingly, I have considered a plug wire replacement as I'm pushing 65K on the Valk.

Somebody stop me

[Paladin528]

I would like to replace mine with red wires strictly for appearance reasons.  Just need to find some red bulk 7mm spark plug wire

[98valk]

from one of my recent posts;

the OEM wires are solid core with resistors in the plug caps. not my favorite set up. many write ups how solid core can break down during street use. should only be a race track item IMO and others, plus one never knows when the resistor can fail, not an easy fix on the road. But of course there are 10s of thousands of goldwings and valkyries out there with millions of miles with zero problems. Actually honda uses solid wire type on just about all of their bikes.
However, with this style plug http://www.sparkplugs.com/product.aspx?zpid=7783
and the moroso wires, I did notice better acceleration and slightly better mpg.

suggest read everything on this site, they don't like solid core for street use. http://www.magnecor.com/magnecor1/main.htm

magnecor do not come in yellow, the closest to the magnecor design I could fine at the time were the moroso blue max spiral core wires. I used yellow flex coating for the black boots. http://www.jegs.com/p/Moroso/Moroso-Blue-Max-Spiral-Core-Plug-Wires/748791/10002/-1

[Bighead]

120k + and still on original wires never had the Carbs out or any other nonsense. Ride it she will thank you for it.

[Robert]

Magnacor wires are 7 or 8 mm in red, black, blue and you can take the oem boots put them over the Magnacor wires with the angled ends and they work great. They sold me all the parts and I put them together it was very easy and the wires look good also. I also have Dynacore coils that boost the spark and have never had a problem. The OEM wires have resistors in them and although many seem not to have problems I have noticed corrosion on the connections in the resistors.

http://www.magnecor.com/magnecor1/main.htm

[R J]

242K on the original wires.

Not a problem.

[Ricky-D]

If you exchange the spark plug wires and fail to match the resistance of the OEM you chance

stressing the ECU to a point of failure.

***

[John Schmidt]

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/ShopTalk/plugwires.pdf

Re. changing out the wires, I did it simply for looks and no other reason. Gave the old harness to someone that was rebuilding a wreck, as far as I know it's still running them. They don't really create probles as a rule. I did it in one afternoon, including taking the pictures, just not a difficult job. To go a step further, I replaced the two linkage cover screws with small SS allen heads which I ran through the wire separators. Under the separators I used some small pieces of SS tubing for spacers, about 1/4" long. Seems to have held up rather well, been on there for about 10 years I'm guessing with nary a problem.

[Pappy!]

If you exchange the spark plug wires and fail to match the resistance of the OEM you chance

stressing the ECU to a point of failure.

***

Uhhh, you care to explain that since the ECU never sees the secondary voltage produced by the coil !

[Paladin528]

I was gonna ask the same question.

[Ricky-D]

Incorrect spark plug wires can generate EMF to a point where there is interference with the

solid state ECU, thereby causing instability and failure.

***

[98valk]

Nology type wires can lead to ignition coil and control unit overload failures due to the extra ground wire.
I have never read any problems to coils and/or ICMs due to different resistance plug wires than OEM. It is well known that very low ohm wires due cause very excessive spark plug wear esp when matched with a mulit spark ignition. the red box.

[Pappy!]

Incorrect spark plug wires can generate EMF to a point where there is interference with the

solid state ECU, thereby causing instability and failure.

***

Thats a stretch. With solid core plug wires....maybe.
There are Japanese standards, EU (European Union) standards as well as US standards that have been in place for a very long time governing electrical/ignition emissions. The ECUs are and have been effectively shielded with proper grounding for a long time as a result.
By comparison, usually the EU standards are the bitch for engine manufacturers to meet and adhere to and units cannot be sold in the EU until they meet the criteria.