In article >, crawroy @
nbnet.nb.ca says...
> $70 was the dealer price. I got a set today at Canadian Tire for $30+tax.
> About the same as you paid for your 8 wires. They didn't help any so I guess
> I'm either getting a new distributor or going to get the codes read,
> whichever is cheaper.
> One of the terminals on the dist was white with corrosion and the last one
> had a big pile of rust setting on it when I took the wire off. Been a log
> time since I've dealt with an ignition system but I've never seen rust on a
> distributor before. The terminal wasn't rusted, it just wiped off so the
> rust must have come from inside the wire end.
> "Doug Miller" > wrote in message
> m...

Roy it sounds to me you went way to long without servicing your ignition
system! The rust is from your spark plug wires connector. You have no
"distributor", what you are looking at is a coil pack. Two coils each
with two coil "towers". This system is known as a waste spark system.

FYI a new set of wires doesnt mean a darn thing if you do not use an OHM
meter to check the resistance of the wires. It seems no less than 50% of
the wire sets I buy have at least one wire that is either out of spec or
completely dead! A bad wire can make your car run like crap and WILL
eventually kill your coils.

The resistance of the wires on a S-series Saturn should be no greater
than 12,000 OHMS (12k ohms). If you tug or bend your wires you can
damage them so if in doubt check the resistance again. Buy some Silicon
Greese (if none comes with the wire set) and apply it to the insides of
the spark plug boots. This will prevent future corrosion and keep the
boots from sticking. Wires should always be replaced at the same time as
plugs or sooner if they are in poor shape.

There are only 2 types of spark plugs I recommend. AC DELCO and Autolite
both in "double platinum". Some say NGK but I have never ran across
double platinum NGK's here. The double platinum plugs should last 80k
miles. Non platinum plugs last 30k tops. (do NOT buy Bosch plugs at all)
Also buy Anti Seize compound and apply a small dab to the spark plug
threads and keep it away from the electrodes.


Other advice
-------------
Clean your coil towers before attatching the new wires.

Before removing your old spark plugs make sure there is no debris that
will fall into the combustion chamber.

If you find oil on your spark plug boots and in your spark plug wells
(DOHC engine) you will need a new cam cover gasket set.

See if your old wires have nicks or chafing. You can use "wire looms" to
help prevent the new plug wires from chafing in those same places.

The order of your engine from front to rear is
1234
The order of your coil towers from front to rear is
4123
Just match the numbers.

Inspect your old plugs
http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/engine/plugs.html
--------------

BTW you should always have your codes read! You can even buy yourself a
basic code reader for around 50 US dollars at auto parts stores.