Stupid squirrels... stupid Mitsubishi engineers

During the last week of school, as I found myself attached to the computer working on my research documentation book, I didn't drive my car for a couple of days. After finishing, I emerged from my cave to celebrate... and the car wouldn't start. It would turn over but the engine sounded pretty bad. I checked under the hood and found that my spark plug wires had been....uh....eaten? (see image to the right)...... stupid squirrels.

Worried that it would be very expensive to replace the wires, I tabled the problem for the time being in order to focus on finishing all of my school responsibilities. Fortunately, the CAT bus stops right in front of our apartment complex and I could easily take it into campus to finish up the rest of my assignments for other classes. In the meantime, one of my friends took me to Advanced Auto to buy some new wires (I found an off-brand for cheap..thanks for the ride AJ!). Planning to do the work myself, I quickly found that the wires weren't easily accessed without some extra tools....tools that I didn't have. So, I had to put it off for a few days until I could get my dad to lend a hand....... stupid Mitsubishi engineers.

As these things sometimes do, a few days turned into a week...which turned into two. Being pre-occupied with the home renovation, I didn't really need a car because my dad and I were in his truck most of the time. After graduating last weekend, I found myself needing my car again this week (in order to get to Piedmont to work on our house). So...thankfully, dad came by this evening to help me get the manifold off so that we could install the new wires. Here are some pics of the process:


I had to grab a shot of the firing order diagram for my cell phone...so we could reference it when we replaced the old wires.


We had to remove the air intake system and detach & lift the manifold in order to get to the wires.


The new wires...


The "lifted" manifold...


Plugging everything in...stupid Mitsubishi engineers.


A pic of dad with his hand under the manifold.


The new wires in place.


The old wires...with sections missing.


Stupid squirrels...


I hope that squirrel choked on it...haha!