>> I'm replacing the sparks plugs on my 98 accord today.
<snip>
>on a dark night open the hood of the car and look for sparks coming from
>the wires... bad wires will have cracks in them and let the high voltage
>stray from the wires to gound.. if you see sparks then you need new
>wires.. on car thats 5 yrs. old you should get some new wires.. stay
>with quality wires from honda and you should have no problem.........
>and dont throw away the old wires.. i always keep some of the old wires
>when i change mine out, also keep the old everything like belts, etc.
>never know when the new one might break and you need a spare until
>monday morning or can get back home with the vehicle.....

I think that Japanese OEM wires can last a lot longer, if they were
taken care of: removed gently by pushing the boots, not being allowed
to rub on sharp or hot surfaces, and occasionally treated with some
silicone.
Another test is to spray a mist of water on the wires with one of
those hand held sprayers while the engine is running. Any cracks in
the wires will ersult in a miss.
I'm not sure about this, but I think that 10k - 20k ohms would be an
expected range for good resistive wires