Using "new" 15 year old spark plug wires

[nwjones18]

Recently I purchased some acdelco spark plug wires off of Amazon for my Dad's 1995 Buick Lesabre. They are the OEM wires not the professional aftermarket ones. They were heavily discounted so I was not very surprised when they arrived and are NOS wires date coded 2000. They are marked Ac-Delco-Packard and seem to be in good shape. Rubber is all soft and the grease in the boots is still good. I'm going to run them but was curious what everyone else's thoughts were on using NOS wires? Wires on the car are the original ones and it has 185k on it.

Here are the wires in question:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BYG...ailpage_o01_s00

 

[Andrew1972]

Rubber degrades with time.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Use them. Heat and exposure under the hood age wires, not siting in a package in a warehouse somewhere.

 

[vinu_neuro]

Test the resistance against the OEM specs, they're more than likely fine.

 

[mrsilv04]

They're likely worth what you paid for them. Test 'em and use 'em.

They haven't been exposed to high underhood temperatures.

 

[tomcat27]

I would imagine that the jacket material is actually silicone, not rubber. regardless, while time will age any material, the underhood heat is the main aggravating force. I would use them with confidence. at the very least, they are 5 years newer than the current ones and have not seen any heat.

 

[Kestas]

For reference, I have a 15 year old car with original ignition wires.

 

[eljefino]

The ozone from the high voltage will degrade them way more than just sitting on a shelf. Run 'em.

 

[PandaBear]

Inside a package in warehouse should be OK, for sure better than what you are running right now in condition.

 

[JMJNet]

Personally, I will trust that NOS wire than the new one made in Overseas.

IMO, use them without any thought.

 

[Superflop]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Use them. Heat and exposure under the hood age wires, not siting in a package in a warehouse somewhere.
this. I wouldnt think twice about using them

 

[69GTX]

I recall seeing a number of original, low mileage muscle cars in the 1990's sporting their original plug wires (ie 25-30 years old). Those cars usually ran fine. I think we've also come a long ways in ignition wires over the past 20-45 years too.

 

[01rangerxl]

At $16.25, use them. Sounds like a good enough deal. It's not worth it to do anything but use them and see what happens.

I bought some Prestolite private label plug wires off RA for my '02 Ranger years ago. IIRC, they were Carquest packaged and looked pretty old, but were something like $8 for the set. After maybe a year or two, one of the boots split. It may have been related to the precats clogging up (took a while to track down and made the heads hotter than normal), but may have been just been "new old stock" plug wires failing too. Prestolite is an OE supplier, but these didn't look like OE grade wires anyway. Who knows.

I'd still try the old stock wires at that price.

 

[Lubener]

They will be fine. Under hood temps and abuse is what does them in. I doubt that the jacket, boots and conductor will go bad sitting in the box.

 

[DriveHard]

My BMW in my signature has the original plug wires...still runs great. The 750, not the X3. The X3 already had to have a coil replaced, and has no wires.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
They will be fine. Under hood temps and abuse is what does them in. I doubt that the jacket, boots and conductor will go bad sitting in the box.

Agreed...

I had a set of wires with around three years usage stuck in a box from a car I parted out probably eight years prior, installed them on my beater F-150 couple years ago, runs great...