Ignition cables - 2000 Concorde -3.5 L - 111Kmiles

I just phoned the only Chrysler dealer in a 30 mile radius and was
told I don't have ignition cables in my 3.5 engine so there's nothing
to change. I'm confused. The service manual I bought from the factory
in 2003 (shop manual) calls for this replacement at 100,000 miles.
What's up?

 

Correction! That's a 3.2L engine.

 

Yes - the 3.2 (same as 2nd gen. LH 3.5 - *only* difference is bore size)
has what is called coil-over-plug - each spark plug has its own coil,
and the output of the coil is a direct contact to the top of the plug
with rubber boot incorporated - no coil-to-plug wire m(same is also true
of the 2.7).

If the shop manual has a replacement interval for "ignition wires" or
equivalent, then someone failed to remove that from the standard FSM
boilerplate.

I have software copies of both the '02 and '04 FSM's. The '02 FSM does
not include the maintenance schedules, but refers the reader to the
owner's manual. The '04 FSM includes the maintenance schedules, but
does not mention ignition cables or ignition wires. They must have
caught the error for the '04 manual.

 

Hi Bill! Yep. Page 0-4 for Schedule - A says for 100,000 miles....
* Replace the spark plugs
* Replace the ignition cables
* Replace the engine timing belt
* Flush and replace the engine coolant...
* Chanhe teh automatic transaxle fluid and filter

It's from the red "2000 Service Manual - LHS, 300M, Concode and
Intrepid by DaimlerChrysler Corporation (pub #81-270-0040)

All's done but the first two. After the guy told me it didn't have
ignition cables, I asked about the plugs. Eight bucks each! Is he
pullin' my leg?

So you're confirming there are no "ignition cables" as part of this
schedule. OK. What about "plugs"? And what about that "eight bucks
each"?

 

Well what do you know! Besides the pdf '02 and '04 FSM's that I
mentioned, I also have the hard copy of the '99 FSM, and it has the same
information as your '00 FSM! I never noticed that before. But - yes -
it is an error. Be assured: There are *no* ignition cables on our 2nd
gen. LH cars.

That plug would be the NGK ZFR5LP-13G. Yes - it is an $8 plug. You can
find it for $7 at places like Advance - occasional coupons might get it
down lower. I will say that the people on the LH car-specific forums,
including the 300M Enthusiasts Club really do like that plug. Several
of them have tried other plugs - some that are more expensive, but they
keep coming back to the NGK - it is pretty much unversally agreed to be
the best plug for the 3.2/3.5 engine.

 

So the only error in the schedule involves the ignition cables. Those
plugs SHOULD be replaced at 100,000 miles. Right?

P.S. You have any recommendation for the rear brakes; rotor and shoes
(I assume it's a rotor).

 

Don't know what he's looking up for plugs but the OE plug is a very
non-fancy Champion RE12PEC5 which you should be able to buy for under
$3.00 each. They work fine.

There are no ignition cables, just a rubber boot on each coil/plug which
is advisable that it be changed.

FYI, some spark plugs <cough-ford-cough> are now over $25 each.

 

The TDK's were factory plugs on later years, and as I reported, people
on the LH car forums, and in particular the 300M Enthusiasts Club, have
come to like them after experimenting quite a bit. I will say that
there are no complaints on the Champions either, it's just that people
seem to like the TDK's more.

Many people on the 300M Club adamantly advise against the Bosch +4 plugs
- more than one first hand report of a ground electrode breaking off in
the in the combustion chamber.

Hmm - I've not read of nor experienced (350k combined miles on my two
Concordes) any problems with the boots. I believe the boot is part of
the coil assembly - not removable or replaceable, so the coils would
have to be replaced to replace the boots - is that not correct?

 

fords are high-priced for sure but try a Mercedes.....X2 per cylinder

 

Are you dubbing some music tonight Bill? TDK?

NGK makes excellent spark plugs, i just thought I'd mention that the OP
has options WRT where and what he can buy.

Yech... Bosch Platinums...

IMO, there is a greater chance of the boots carbon tracking on
applications where the plug/boot reside deep in the cylinder head.

The boots are available separately for about $5-$6 each and since it's a
once every 100K affair, cheap insurance.

 

Ahhh,,, but it's Cherman.

Ooops, so is a 2000 Chrysler.

 

I'm just glad i don't have to buy 16 high priced 4 ground strap plugs at a
time

 

Hah! I have no idea where that came from. The mind is a terrible thing!

OK - good info. Again, I have not read of any problems with the boots
on the various LH car forums.

 

That's what's suggested by Chrysler. But it would be better to do it
around 70k miles. You will likely notice mileage drops and performance
issues - nothing serious, but some incremental effects - before you get
to 100k.

It's a combination rotor/drum - the rotor part is the service brake and
the drum is parking brake only.

You can't go wrong with Hawk HPS pads. Performance Friction carbon
metallics are also good. Stay away from ceramics unless you know a
particular brand and type is good. The term "ceramic" is almost
meaningless for brake pads - almost any pad could be classified or not
classified as ceramic depending on *how* you define the term "ceramic"
(materials and level of content). I can say that there are some real
junk pads in ceramic, though there are also some good ones - the trick
is knowing which are which.

Raybestos makes a line of rotors that have an electro-deposited black
paint coating in the mid price range. NAPA carries them under their
in-house "United Brake" brand - you want the "Ultra-Premium" - that's
the good-quality Raybestos rotor with e-deposited paint.
www.rockauto.com carries the Raybestos, and even after adding shipping
cost, should be lower cost than the same rotor from NAPA.

I've had good results from that level of Raybestos rotors.

 

Thanks for the advice. In summary:
Plugs: the NGK ZFR5LP-13G
Cables: forgettabodit
Rear brake pads: Hawk HPS
Rear rotors: Raybestos electro-deposited black paint coating
Tires: ???

 

You're welcome.

Sorry - when you said "shoes", I had brakes on my mind.

Of course it depends on what you want in a tire. Me personally - I
wrote off so-called "hi-performance" tires about 6 years ago. To me
they are a poor value. Besides typically costing a lot more and giving
way less tread life, they develop unacceptable noise about half way thru
their tread life (even when they are regularly balanced and rotated),
and the manufacturers do not stand behind them if there are any problems
because - "Hey - they're high performance tires - we assume people abuse
them, so the burden of proof is on the consumer to prove that *they*
didn't cause the problem" - the dealers and manufacturers literally tell
you that if you try to get a failure adjustment on a "hi-performance"
tire short of spontaneous explosion shortly after having them installed.

I have been using touring tires, specifically Cooper Lifeliner Touring
SLE and CS4 Touring (the CS4 replaced the SLE when the SLE was
discontinued) ever since swearing off "hi-performance" tires and have
been *very* happy with them. They are super quiet (important in the LH
cars as they tend to amplify tire noise), have excellent tread life (80k
mile), and are available in T and H/V speed ratings. I might be
sacrificing a little G-pulling capability, but I'm not a
spirited/aggressive driver and for me they are a much better value IMO.

YMMV - literally.

 

Thanks Bill. I don't know what class the tires I have fit in but
they've ben acceptable. Unfortunately, they've also been discontinued:
Firestone's Turanza LS-T P225/60R16 TLBS PS

 

jaygreg full-quoted:

I don't have the same experience with high(er) performance tires that
Bill has (or thinks he has).

I have Yokohama Advan s4 as summer tires for my '00 300m. Because I
rotate them with winter tires, I get more life out of them vs having
them on all the time. And they remain quiet regardless of wear.

I don't do a lot of driving anyways, so my tires are more likely to wear
out because of UV or ozone dammage to rubber (ie - aging) vs actual road
wearing.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=ADVAN+S.4.

Even though they are classified as an "all-season" tire, I only drive on
bona-fide snow tires in the winter.

These Yokohama's rank 5 right now in it's catagory. The top tire in
that catagory is the Continental ExtremeContact DWS. I normally
consider Continental as more of a generic tire maker - the sort of
high-milage (ie - rock-hard-rubber) sort of tire you find at CostCo.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=ExtremeContact+DWS

Very unusual tread pattern there.

 

Ouch!

 

I'm running these on the LHS sine the good years only went 28,000
http://www.coopertire.com/html/products/tires_passenger.aspx?page=cs4_touring_hv
http://www.coopertire.com/cs4/index.html

a little noisy but they wear very very well! and when it rains, get the hell
out of the way, I'm coming thru!
around 450.00 for all 4.

Thanks Bill. I don't know what class the tires I have fit in but
they've ben acceptable. Unfortunately, they've also been discontinued:
Firestone's Turanza LS-T P225/60R16 TLBS PS