Wires Chafing on 2002 3.8L V6 Engines
 

Howdy Forum!

Just bought a 2002 Firebird for my girls 16th birthday. It had 40+ thousand miles on it, and ran a little rough at idle.

I got some new plugs, installed them, and it ran a little better. While I was putting in the # 3 plug, I discovered that the plug wire had chafed to the point of arcing on the black bracket where the plug wire holder for the drivers side is. Several plugs from the other side had strange deposits, so I looked at those wires and discovered some chafing on top of the intake manifold and down by the alternator.

By the alternator, I noticed a BIG potential problem - The output hot wire ( the big red wire ) going across the aluminum mount bracket had chafed almost all the way through. That would have been instant bad news.

Just wanted to info other owners out there to check their 'birds if they've got a few thousand miles on them before it's too late. I just wrapped the plug wires and alternator wire with heat resistant wire loom.

Later all.

Jim in Bama