Can you use a good grade automotive spark plug wire set on Mercruiser 4.3?

[robertearl]

I broke one of the spark plug wires pulling it off. Will a high quality automotive set of wires be safe, or does it have to say Mercruiser on the wire. I understand the
need for marine grade starter, alternator, distributor, etc. but is there something I am missing on why you would have to use Mercruiser wires???

Reb

 

[achris]

Yes.... Any good automotive SILICON or wire lead will do the job... NEVER carbon...

 

[MikDee]

Marine wire sets are usually longer, and cut to fit, but actually you can use automotive wires as long as they're long enough. I usually go with a good quality stainless steel suppression core wires.

 

[fishrdan]

Will a high quality automotive set of wires be safe, or does it have to say Mercruiser on the wire.

Safe yes. Fit, probably not.... Automotive wires don't have to go around the manifolds like the wires on a marine engine. You don't necessarily need a "Mercruiser" set as there are aftermarket wire sets available, if you need to replace the whole set.

Or, do as achris said and just get 1 replacement wire the correct length.

 

[achris]

Best thing I have found is to take all the leads off and wander into a auto shop with them. They can usually make up the set off a roll. They put the right ends on and the leads are cut to length.... It works out better and cheaper than OEM...

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Best thing I have found is to take all the leads off and wander into a auto shop with them. They can usually make up the set off a roll. They put the right ends on and the leads are cut to length.... It works out better and cheaper than OEM...

I wanna live where you live. Here, I take a shop rag and wipe the drool off the guy's chin, then wake him up, then stand there while he tells me he doesn't sell boat parts and can't help me.

 

[achris]

I wanna live where you live. Here, I take a shop rag and wipe the drool off the guy's chin, then wake him up, then stand there while he tells me he doesn't sell boat parts and can't help me.

Not when we have to pay anything up to 5 times the price of spares as you do. I bought an oil pan, timing cover and oil pan gasket, including freight for $250... In Australia, the timing cover alone is over $350....

 

[DaveG55]

Im curious, why never carbon?

 

[MikDee]

I wanna live where you live. Here, I take a shop rag and wipe the drool off the guy's chin, then wake him up, then stand there while he tells me he doesn't sell boat parts and can't help me.

So True, Welcome to the USA :lol:

Im curious, why never carbon?

Yrs ago cars came standard equipment with fiberglass strands, packed in carbon inside the spark plug wires (instead of real wire) for radio suppression, and, or, maybe a cost factor as well.You can imagine how poor that worked.

 

[DaveG55]

Right, I understand spark plug wire construction/composition and the benifits and drawbacks of them. What made me curious was the word "never" was capitalized and I wondered if there was a safety concern. It seems from your reply that it's more of a performance concern. Another reason I asked is that some of the newer spiral wrapped core wires use a carbon coating on the core for noise suppression and wondered if that proabition extended to them as well? Again, the safety queztion?

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Best thing I have found is to take all the leads off and wander into a auto shop with them. They can usually make up the set off a roll. They put the right ends on and the leads are cut to length.... It works out better and cheaper than OEM...

This is what I have always done and never had any problems.

 

[achris]

Right, I understand spark plug wire construction/composition and the benifits and drawbacks of them. What made me curious was the word "never" was capitalized and I wondered if there was a safety concern. It seems from your reply that it's more of a performance concern. Another reason I asked is that some of the newer spiral wrapped core wires use a carbon coating on the core for noise suppression and wondered if that proabition extended to them as well? Again, the safety queztion?

The major concern with carbon leads (the old carbon leads of yester-year) was that they would go hard and become brittle. With the hammering things get in boats they crack and break internally and lead to misfiring. Not really a safety issue (unless it happens while trying to surf a green one in crossing a sand bar :facepalm but has lead to more than one engine taking a gulp of seawater....

I have no experience with the new carbon leads. If they have a steel core with a carbon coating, I would guess they would be good to go... I've always used either wire or silicone, but not in my car... That doesn't use spark plugs

 

[matth121]

doesn't use spark plugs? wtf? is it electric achris? mine doesn't have wires, but it def still has spark plugs(coil on plug)

 

[midcarolina]

I'm guessing his car is a diesel...............

 

[matth121]

yup, that occurred to me shortly after i posted, once the caffeine kicked in i guess

 

[MikDee]

He's an Aussie, so of course they have diesels down under Something we're sorely lacking here in the states, due to emission control B.S.!

 

[achris]

Yes it's a diesel... And it's one of yours ... A GM 6.5 litre turbo V8, in a 100 series Landcruiser....