Finding bad spark plug/wire

[mrutkaus]

to find a bad plug or wire, i disconnected one plug at the coil, drove the car a block or two, connected it back up, disconnected another plug, drove a couple of blocks, etc, until i had driven with each of the plugs disconnected

in my case, number two plug made the LEAST difference in driving when it was disconnected, and indeed, did have a connector short/burn mark/blackened plug. and replacing it solved the miss problem.

mike

 

[69Boss302]

not exactly the best way of doing that. You're dumping fuel into the combustion chamber without it being ignited. An easy way of hydrolocking the motor.

The best way would be to remove and inspect each piece. If there are no visual cues, the next best thing would be to wait until it is night, pop the hood and look for sparks. Most of the time you'll easily spot the faulty plug or plug wire.

 

[BrApple]

why are you trying to find a bad plug or wire?

 

[mrutkaus]

Because of an engine miss around 2K rpm. It's all fixed, it was #2 plug connector inside the hole near the plug. Relative had the car (95 v6 mystique) since new, I swear it came with a little miss!

Mike

 

[tophe7d]

Another idea I had when diagnosing my motorcycle ignition problems:

I hook my timing light up to each individual plug wire and check for a consistent strobe effect. If it's missing you'll easily be able to see it in the light flicker.

Chris