Technical What's the Best Way to Clean Spark Plug Wires?

Got a set of pretty shabby/mildewy/dirty wires on a '60's vehicle that I'd like to clean up. YouTube's mostly about WD40 while AI touts brake cleaner/carb cleaner. I'd like something that will last a while, not harm the ire insulation and won't fry my liver. I'd appreciate suggestions.

 

Goop hand cleaner works for me.

 

Dawn/water.

Ben

 

I’ve cleaned a lot of stuff with those tub-o-towels in the yellow bucket from oreilley’s.

 

409 and an old T-shirt.

 

Dawn on a rag works pretty good If you got some really stubborn grease on them purple power works excellent just make sure to wipe it off fairly quickly and sometimes purple power will remove ink writing on plug wires I've never used it on some of those cool clear wires I don't know how safe it would be for those.

 

Goop hand cleaner.

 

Simple Green

 

Yep, I first tried 409 in the 70's (on yellow plug wires) and it worked so well, I've stuck with it for 50 years...

 

Stick them in the dish washer when the wife is out.

 

I used to wipe them down with a gasolined rag

 

Simple Green Wipes have always worked well for me.

 

Put new ones on everytime you drive it........

I hear @Moriarity might be able to help

 

I can't remember ever cleaning a spark plug wire.

 

I use Purple Power concentrated degreaser for a lot of cleanup. So I remove my plug wires and mix up some Purple Power 50/50 with water in a bucket. Just enough to get the wires coiled in the bucket and wash them with a rag. They come out looking new, and ready to put back on the engine.
I buy PP in 2.5 gallon jugs and use it for cleaning my concrete floors, and dirty engine bays, or greasy parts. Mostly at lighter concentrations of 10 parts water to one part PP. But for tougher grime I go 50/50.

 

Don't forget to re-polarize them when dry ...

 

Only the suppression models, solid cores are good to go.

 

I'd say dish soap (Dawn) and water or maybe some of those "scrubs in a bucket" things. The cream style hand cleaner doesn't seem like a bad idea either, especially if it has lanolin in it. Maybe rinse with water and spray with WD40 to displace any moisture that may be trying to wick its way into the insulation and boots. For a finishing touch wipe everything down with a very light coating of dielectric grease.

 

I was a fool and bought those SS Yellow wires. Before I got smart and threw them away, I spent way too much time trying to keep them pretty. That and doing other people's in the shop taught me that as usual, milder is better (soap/spray cleaner) and when you go stronger (full strength simple green, carb cleaner) the wires were very sticky and much easier to get dirty and stained. You can wipe them with a rubber/plastic dressing to fix this. I try to keep leaks at bay and use good ol' Black wires now.

 

If they're really dirty, I wet down paper towels with WD-40 and scrub them with that. I made myself white Taylor spark plug wires for the 390 in one of my Cadillacs, and that's about the best way I could keep them clean. (And I'll never do white plug wires again).

 

You've never had leaky valve covers on a SBC & wiped the wires off to work on them , must lead a charmed life ...

 

Thanks to all.

 

At the price of dielectric grease, it probably would be cheaper to buy new wires !

 

What??? You don't already have a half used tube in the back of a drawer in your tool chest? Plus you can spread it really, REALLY thin.

 

either that, or my memory is gone....

 

If memory serves, Wd40 works for taking off the ‘bold’ advertising print as well.

 

Never have had that happen on 6 different cars worth of wires, but I only run Taylors (at least when they were made in the USA, which I believe they're not now since they got bought out by Pertronix.)

 

I buy these every time I check out at summit. One abrasive side, one smooth. It will take automotive paint and clear off your skin without killing you. I use them to clean my tools after a messy job, and I use them to clean my spark plug leads (they don't remove the lettering like thinner will. I recently used them to clean my car remote fobs which they did without removing the icons. I have one in my truck, one in my trailer and a couple in the shop. Smell like oranges.