Are these wires factory?

Are these wires original?
IMG_20201205_154619084 by Brian Cohen, on Flickr

In all likelihood. The replacement Delco wires don't have plug numbers on them; I think you could special order them but you'd have to ask a GM parts counter person about that.

The original wires were quite durable. Enthusiasts like us eventually *have to* replace wires. I see many 3800 engines in the pick & pull that still have original wires, though.

In all likelihood. The replacement Delco wires don't have plug numbers on them; I think you could special order them but you'd have to ask a GM parts counter person about that.

The original wires were quite durable. Enthusiasts like us eventually *have to* replace wires. I see many 3800 engines in the pick & pull that still have original wires, though.

I'm thinking the 90-year-old lady that had this car probably did not do that LOL. I saw a couple of posts on here saying we should change plugs and wires but my car runs great. Should I change them anyway? The car has 70,000 mi but of course it's 20 years old.

I don't care about originality, if the car runs fine should I leave the plugs and wires alone?

carguy8888 wrote:

I don't care about originality, if the car runs fine should I leave the plugs and wires alone?

Yes, *but* what you really should do is inspect. You'll want to make sure none of the terminals have loosened their internal connections to the core conductor, nor that the terminals have loosened such that they don't grip the spark plug tops or the coils well. You'll want to check to make sure that none of your terminals have (literally) vanished. Be sure to snap them back on well... if they loosen, they arc internally, turning the metal to a plasma and vanishing by ablation. This has happened to me twice on the wire to my #4 plug for reasons I've never figured out. I'm on my 4th set of wires; the 3rd was a Delco set I replaced because of my prior experience, not because they were not firing. 2nd was a Magnecor set, replaced them because one (the #4) failed (ablation) and Magnecor would not replace/repair it under warranty because it was dirty when I mailed it back to them for inspection. 1st was the original factory set and on that one the #4 wire terminal failed at the coil.

Yes I have replaced the coils and the ignition module.

No it does not bother me much, when I am doing springtime maintenance I just pull the connectors and inspect.

Ty, I will have them checked and pull one plug on my next oil change.

carguy8888 wrote:

Ty, I will have them checked and pull one plug on my next oil change.

If it does not bug you to do, so I recommend you check them yourself.  The rear wires are a bit difficult to reach, and more than one tech has left one or more loose.  The rears are much easier to reach, by the way, from under the car.  Otherwise, if you've no misfire it might be better if you just left them alone. The original wires are, actually, quite good. They won't last forever but will run a very long time.