Auto Sparkplug Wires

[captweed]

Went to replace a plug wire on a 225 johnson,bought an automotive packard wire type instead of making up a marine one.The shop claims it will not fire the plug properly,can't use.Any confirmation?

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Should be okay if it is a solid wire core plug wire. The carbon-fiber strand core wires won't work, however.

 

[wayne h]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

solid wire core plug wire are not used for automotive use they have not been in years and i dont think you will find a set in stock at your local auto store you might be better off getting the wire and making your own its not that hard

 

[mathiasmorgan]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Waht would be the result on the motor if you did use auto wires? Anyone know.. I had a 1960 Evinrude that I put automotive wires in.. I know for a fact they were carbon strand. The motor ran great in a barrel in the driveway.. but when I put it on a boat and put it under load.. it would bog down.. barely move the boat 5 mph.. I wonder if that is what caused it! **** .. I JUST sold it cheap.. oh wellI've moved on to a bigger boat with a I/O anyway.. but it would be nice to know that was the cause.. I sent an e-mail to the guy that bought it from me so he'll change the wires... George

 

[wayne h]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

u just described what it does. under a load the spark will breakdown and be weak carbon wires are really for high energy ignition and a magneto will not throw enough voltage.yaa the spark might look good out of the cylinder but not when its under a load.stick with the copper core i think its only like .70 a foot its pretty cheap and they are easy to make .this way its just the right size you need

 

[mathiasmorgan]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Arrrrrrrrgh! It's hard to type while kicking myself! I had noticed a cut in one of the spark plug wires when I was packing up the motor for the winter. The previous owner had thrown some elctrical tape on the wire.. so I thought I'd just go ahead and replace the wires. The motor had been running fine. I replaced the wires with automotive wires and ran the motor in a barrel.. ran fine (not under load). The next spring I took the boat out and had the problem... and NEVER associated it with the wire change.. UGH! I messed with that motor all last summer and never (obviously) got it to run right.. rebuilt the carb.. new points condensors everything... all because of stupidity! and as I said before I just sold it (along with my old boat) cheap... oh well.. live & learn.. besides I ended up with a much better boat that I also got cheap.. so it worked out ok.. and I've told the guy that bought it so he should be happy... heheheh George

 

[walleyehed]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

FYI....any Briggs&Stratton dealer probably has tons of coil wires that come with magnatron ign. coils. They come with about 2ft of wire and you cut them down to about 6-9". They also already have one end on them. The Briggs dealer has the boots and the ends for coil and sparkplug, too.

 

[Tmat31755]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Well, not knowing any better, I made up a set of plug wires, Accel 8mm, that I used on a truck rebuild. Put them on my 1995 Mercury 40hp 2-cycle, 4 cylinder motor and the motor seems to be running great, even under tube and ski towing.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

That may work for awhile but it's putting alot of resistance on your ign. system...LOL.......

 

[Tmat31755]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Thanks for the info, I'll change them back to the right ones!<br /><br />Tom

 

[OBJ]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Walleye hit it on the head. Carbon cores have to much resistance. Stick to wire core wires.

 

[Tmat31755]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

I took off the automotive wires and measured the resistance to be 340 ohms. The new copper wire plug wires measured 0.3 ohms. How much voltage do the coils produce on a magneto ignition system?

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

I was thinking exactly the same thing. <br />BUT-<br />Although the magneto on older engines is capable of providing ~30000v, most of the energy is transeferred between the coil and the combustion gasses at ~150v during the arc phase of the spark. So with a wire resistance of 340 ohms, a good portion of the coil's potential ends up as heat. More importantly, the spark's transition into the glow phase is hastened since this is current dependant. Energy dissapated during the glow phase is essentially wasted.<br />So, to answer your question properly, somewhere around 40% of the coil's potential is wasted by using resistance wire, even though it's only 340 ohms!<br /><br />Oh, and I've been meaning to say, thanks wayne34609 and walleyehed for the heads up! I would never had thunk it.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Don't delete this. <br />Change the topic to<br /><br />"auto sparkplug wires"<br /><br />so that members can find it in the future.

 

[Mod2]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Good idea roscoe....done.

 

[SeaMasterZ@aol.com]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

so where do you go to get the solid core wires?<br /><br />would NAPA have them? or is it time to go to the local marine robbem shop?

 

[roscoe]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

Da, Napa. Dose-vee-donya.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: Auto Sparkplug Wires

You can buy the solid core Packard 440 spark plug wire from your authorized Johnson/Evinrude dealer from a 100' roll for about $1 a foot.