Hi guys,

Actually this is not for my s2k but for my accord. I noticed some cracks on the wire and thought of changing it before it stalls my car. The thing is, I've searched s2ki but didn't find any good discussion about sparkplug wires and was thinking what you guys think? Should I just get a OEM honda sparkplug cable or from someone else's? Is there a difference? and if yes, where can i buy them? Im in california LA by the way..

 

What do you mean by someone else's? I am not familiar with after market brand spark plug wires for Honda, but I do know that OEM wires are pretty good. Wires that are cracked are no good. You could have a weak spark, or spark could jump from one wire to another causing cross or misfire. I have never had an engine stall due to a worn out set of spark plug wires, although an engine might run crappy with a bad set.

Whatever brand you decide, I recommend you test for resistance with a ohm meter. A good service manual will give you the spark plug wire specifications (ohms). Helm is the best manual. Even if your wires look good, an ohm meter will tell you whether or not a wire is good or bad. I once bought a brand new set of wires for my Del Sol. After testing each wire for resistance, I discovered that one wire was way out of specification. It had way to much resistance. I took it back to the auto parts store along with the ohm meter and they gave me a new wire that I tested right there. Your wires could look old, greasy and ugly but the ohm meter might tell you that they are still good.

Later

 

Just to add to what Racer said, you also want to check the outside diameter of the rubber part that goes down inside the engine and sits just above the spark plug (forget what it's called).

On my 240SX, the diameter of every aftermarket set that I tried was too large in this area. The result was that they would bind when putting them in the engine or taking them out. The diameter of the OEM spark plug wire set was just slightly smaller in this area, so it went in and out just fine.

 

Check and see if there is a Magnecor wire application for your car...

Very high quality wires, almost universally respected.

 

Given that this is a 9K car that does not seem to have a lot of misfiring, the Honda wires appear to be completely adequate. Big thick wires may look fly, but unless there is too much R in the stock cables (which obviously there is not), there will be no hotter spark at the coil/plug.

 

You must have forgotten that, while the Accord may have high-tension spark plug wires, the S2000 does not. The coils sit right on top of the plugs.

 

No, I didn't. The coil/plug - get it? Not coil/wire/plug as in a conventional system.

And, if you deliver a higher primary voltage to the coils, they will produce a higher secondary voltage - a fundamental principle of transformer windings. (I am an EE). That is what I was getting at in the second part of my answer. The R is for resistance, which will affect the current delivery of the wire whether it is low voltage or high voltage. R is R, L is L, and C is C.

Thanks for me keeping me honest, I guess.

Lynnwood - that is where Bob Carver, the brilliant audio engineer, started out Phase Linear. He is in Snohomish now.

 

Aren't the coil packs in the S2K capacitive discharge? If so then unless the rc time constant of the charging circuit is lengthened by excessive r past 1/rpm then they should charge to the same regulated supply voltage. I don't know if that voltage is internally or externally regulated though.

Page 4.17 of the helms shows an ecm triggered ICM in each coil pack. These are fed directly by the battery and triggered by the ECM. That tells me that they are internally regulated, so an increased supply voltage wont buy you a stronger spark.

Also, if i understand it correctly, each coil pack fires once per rev(1/rpm) and not once every other rev(2/rpm). This is done by the ecu to check for misfire as the dielectric of unburnt fuel is quite a bit different than burnt fuel.

 

Alas, without the schematic I am lost - if what you say is correct about the sourcing of the trigger voltage, then I would agree with you 100% - and it certainly supports the statement that fancy aftermarket wires might be more hazard than good.

 

Thanks for the info guys, I decided to get the Honda spark plug wire and Honda plugs. To my surprise the plugs cost 10 a piece!@# thats already employee discounted (thanks to johnR). Daaaayum, $40 for four... just for plugs... It looked like iridium plugs though... not the ordinary ones..

The stock wires cost $39. List price was $69. Again, thanks to john

Installed em all, torqued it and reseted' the computer. Should be all good now.. thanks guys.