Idles very rough; hesitates on acceleration w or wo AC on. Mechanic says plug wires are “leaking,” but won’t pull a plug for examination. Should this car be a reef?
If the plugs and wires are old and haven’t been changed in a while, now’d be a good time to do it, and it may solve your problem. Before you toss the car into the ocean, look at all the symptoms and options. It could be a simple tune up item (plugs, wires, air and fuel filter, ignition timing, distributor rotor and cap, etc.) that has been neglected for so long that it’s become the monkey wrench in the machine.
-Matt
How long have those plugs and wires been on there (time & distance) My guess is that it is time to replace both with good OEM, not expensive designer parts.
It is no necessary to remove a plug to determine that the wires are leaking and in need of replacement.
The question I would ask; are you willing to spend any money to repair the problem.
From the post it sounds like you’re asking the mechanic to spend time pulling stuff apart without committing to fixing what needs to be done.
If the plugs, wires, etc. have been in there a long time then you should be prepared financially for new ones.
There’s a good chance if the mechanic goes pulling old wires they are going to be ruined by the simple act of removing them.
Fuel filters should also be replaced every 30k miles, so I assume this was done…
Continuing to drive it like it is will only create more problems; ruined O2s, converters, ignition coil and module, etc.