G Man

Was poking around under the hood the other nite and decided to check out the green wire for the distributor. It appears that my green wire has turned an ugly dark brown color. I am guessing that this is the original wire that came on the car when new, and that over the years it has lost it's color for what ever reason.The only green on the wire is where it plugs into the harness near the fender. Every thing seems to be functioning as it should. The engine runs fine. Should I replace the wire with a new one just to be on the safe side?

ViribusUnits

Uh yea. That would be a good idea...

Marc Schwager

Well my "green" wire isn't so green either. I think when it seriously deteriorates there are some specific symptoms (like the car stops running for one :-) but I will let the local intellegesia weigh in on that. There are some things that I have done and will do preventively - Tbelt, hoses etc. The only reason I would do the green wire is if the outer casing became brittle. It is exposed to a lot of heat so that may be the case with your wire.

SharkSkin

Sounds like you're on the verge of having one that looks like this:



I'd say replace it. It's a pretty critical part.

Garth S

If the insulation is intact and the connectors are OK, I'd run it 'till it drops! You can pick up a spare for security - the discolouration harms nothing. Now, if it looks like Sharkskins, I withdraw my comment.
While we're on the subject, what is the 'green wire' exactly? - is it a braided shield over a signal transmission core? - single or multiple conductors? If the connectors are OK, is it reasonable to replace the wire with coax, or is there a capacitance issue? Never bothered to look - yet ...