Hey everyone, I have finally been replacing the plugs on my 2000 Monte Carlo SS. She has a little under 130k miles on her. I have replaced the front three plugs and wires with stock ACDelco parts. However, I have a few questions:

1) Can I drive her for a little while with just the front plugs replaced until I can get to the back ones? Or will this be hard on the engine?? The old plugs were getting fairly bad:



2) How necessary are the little metal plug wire covers? I did not put them back on (but I can if necessary). They seem to really be a PITA when removing the plug wires. I'm talking about these guys:



3) Have you used those plug pullers? I'm thinking about buying a pair to aide in removal of the back plugs.

Thanks again for all of your help guys!!

 

I'd put them back on they are there to protect the wire from heat/melting. As far as the plugs I would do them ASAP. I don't think it will cause any damage but it probably won't run as good as it should.

 

As Lou mentioned, the shields protect the wires from heat and should be installed. A spark plug wire puller will help aid in the removal of the wires. Another little trick is to slide a piece of vacuum hose onto a screwdriver, then use it to remove/install the spark plugs. Once the plug has been broken loose push the vacuum hose onto the end of the plug and unscrew it from the head. Push the hose onto the new plug and thread it into the head, then use your rachet to tighten it. A small amount of anti-seize on the the plug threads will make removal easier next time, as will a coat of dielectric compound on the inside of the plug wire boot. A plug wire removal tool like pictured below will fit inside the metal shields. Grab the plug boot, turn 1/4 turn then pull and they should pop right off.

 

One reason those wires are a pain to remove with the metal protectors is they may lack proper amount of die-electric grease. I helped a friend with a 3800 in a Bonneville and had a pain getting the old wires of (I'm used to twisting the boot and pulling out, because of the metal protector, I could not get a grip on the boot).

My answer, on the back wires (as they were the toughest), vice grips. I used a set of vice grips on the boot itself that stuck out of the metal protector.

We did reuse the metal protectors. They are probably there for a combo of heat protection and maybe a couple other reasons. I know the 3800 CAN work with out them (I've seen plenty late 90's Series II 3800s that did not have them, to my knowledge from the factory).

Make sure to use Die-Electric grease in the new wire boots and twist them once you get them seated (spread the grease).

 

Thanks for your help guys! I do think that 12 years and 130k miles have made this job a little tougher than it should've been

That being said, I did purchase a boot puller (that exact one actually) from Oreilly's tonight. I plan to finish the job tomorrow morning.

The ACDelco plugs came with a packet filled with some silicone lubricant...I'm assuming this is the dielectric grease that should be smeared into the plug wires with a q-tip??

Also, when replacing the plug wires to the ignition coils, I noticed that the outside two coil packs looked brand new -- shiny and silver. The middle pack, however, was brown/rusted/discolored. I'm assuming that it's time to replace that as well...does anybody know the exact OEM replacement part for that? Is it ACDelco or Delphi?

Thanks again!!!

 

I found the AC Delco packet of die electric grease is NOT enough. I never bother using a q-tip to apply it, just a squirt in the boot is all you need, but I'd buy a little extra.

As for the coil, if the car appeared to run fine, I would not replace the coil. Get a scotch brite pad and use that to rub the tips clean on the coils. I have a car with 150K+ on the coils, another had 180-190K on the original coils (then I upgraded to the L67 coils).

 

I got the plugs/wires finished up today...after rocking the engine, the back plugs *almost* seemed to have more room than the front did. I didn't use the boot puller (it cost 8 bucks, might as well get my money back), because a pair of channel locks worked just as well

I noticed that some more of the coil pack terminals were rusty, so I took some emery cloth to clean them up as best I can. The car seems to run fine, without any misfiring or anything...so I'll just leave the coil packs alone for as long as I can.

Thanks again for all of your guys' help! You're awesome!

 

All I can say is, AWESOME! It's great when challenges (like difficult to remove plug boots) are over come. And glad that cleaning trick for your coils worked out. Those coils are pretty good on these cars. Rarely go bad (it does happen, but not often).