Pontiac: Pontiac Starting, pontiac bonneville, 2000 pontiac bonneville

Question
Hi,

I have a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville with 77K miles.  Recently it has had a problem when starting.  It hesitates before it starts up, and today it seemed to backfire.  Once it starts it seems to run okay.  I've replaced the fuel filter, but now am wondering if it may be a bad spark plug.  It has not had a tune up, but I do the regular maintenance (oil change, etc.) every 5,000 miles.  Any suggestions?

Answer
First of all, you should change the oil every 3000 miles NOT 5000. The plugs are supposed to be good for 100k miles but now would be a good time to change them. Also now would be a good time to replace the plug wires. I see a lot of wire failures around 80k.