Hey guys, two more questions for you!

I have a 15% pulley sitting at my apartment waiting until I can afford to service the supercharger, crank pulley, tensioner, and ignition. I'm going to drive the West Coast starting Saturday, and I want to minimize how much I have to do replace, because I will get the correct heat range plugs, belt, etc for the 15% pulley and I can't afford to buy everything twice.

That being said, both the coil and wires are factory at 114k miles. With my poly motor mounts, I can literally feel how badly the motor is running. I'll be getting NGK wires for the supercharger mod eventually anyway.

Would only replacing the wires be helpful? If the coil terminals are corroded (especially #3), can i try cleaning them? What should I use to take some of that corrosion off?

------------------------Question 2------------------------

I just changed my oil a week ago, the car has no leaks, and I filled just to the maximum line. Every time I start the car with the car warmed up from a recent drive, that red oil pressure light comes on.

I checked my oil after shutting the motor off immediately the first time it happened, and I just couldn't get a good reading, so I tried starting the motor again. Light went away, and doesn't come back on unless I recreate the warm start situation. Restarting it always "fixes" it.

Is there a trick to getting a good reading on the dipstick? Is it possible I have really burned off so much oil that it went from max to below min?

 

1. You need colder plugs, shorter belt, reduction pulley to successfully install the pulley.

2. Wires wouldn't be a bad idea at their age.

3. If the coil points have a small amount of rust on them they can be cleaned, but if it's bad enough you will end up taking off too much material and the wires will no longer clip on, causing misfires.

4. Don't buy into expensive coils making more HP, the only advantage to them is the fact they no longer use steel terminals, which no longer rust.

5. You probably need an oil pressure sending unit, it's a really cheap and quick fix. When was your last oil change, and was it with an OE filter?

 

1. Correct, but I don't want to add more heat to the S/C until upgrading the supporting systems (from worn and stock) first.

2/3. So there is a benefit to doing wires and cleaning the coil terminals?

4. MSD/Screamin' Demon coils are both cheaper than OEM.

5. How would I diagnose this for sure? Last oil filter change was 3k miles ago, last oil was 1k miles ago, OEM filter. (I had to drain the oil to swap the oil pan gasket, didn't want to waste an almost fresh filter so I didn't change it)

 

We've done SC pulleys on cars over 100k without problem and they still run great to this day.

If you do in fact have rust building up on the coil points then yes, it wouldn't be a bad purchase, but don't buy a "performance" coil expecting power gains.

Wires are a serviceable item, and if they fail usually leave you stranded, or limping home on 3 cylinders.

You can plumb an oil pressure gauge in, or just try replacing the pressure sender. If you have oil in the car, used an OE filter, and are keeping up on oil services' chances are that the sender is your problem.

 

I'd probably do the wires and clean the terminals and see how it runs, but plan on getting a new ignition sooner rather than later. I have an aftermarked ignition (I think MSD) and haven't had any problems with it, except I cracked the head cover when I over tightened the bolts that hold the ignition in place which was a crappy $300 mistake.

If you do a little looking, I think the dodge neons used the same ignition as the mini's (because the engine was part of a joint project) and I'd bet you can get a stock ignition for a neon off of rock auto for pretty cheap and I'd bet it will plug and play.

 

Dude, great thinking!

Honestly though, MSD/Screamin Demon seem like a "screamin" deal at $90 apiece! I'll replace the wires.

What's the best way to clean the terminals?

 

Either by hand with a wire brush, or with a really fine wire wheel on a bench setup. If you apply too much pressure you'll take off more material than you intended to and will end up with plug wires that no longer clip onto the coil pack.