Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting WTF!!! LIGHTNING STORM UNDER MY HOOD!!!

Well guys I know why my engines knocking.

I knew that one of the plugs in the front of the engine was arching. I changed the wires and the plugs have less than 1000 miles on them.

It was dark outside and I was toying around under my hood trying to figure out what was causing the knock when my friend told me to stop reving the engine. He told me to look at the rear of the engine near the firewall.

I looked, and to my amazement there were little sparks arching off of the plug wires everywhere. They were arching to the intake and they were even arching to the other wires!!!


This is the second set of wires Ive tried and I still have the same result.

PLEASE HELP!!!

It is amazing to watch and baffles my mind as to what could be causing this phenomon. I have never heard of or seen anything like this.

Im stumped

As always thanks in advance guys.

take pics!

I wish I could but I dont think a camera would capture it and my camcorder sux.

wouldnt that be the wires?
get some new ones

Bad wires.

What brand were they?

I used Autolite Professionals from Advance Auto parts.

Steve

Ive used AutoLite Pro's and I have Motorcraft in there right now but I still get this arcing.

Were the conditions under your hood wet? Moisture may be a posibility.

You still have the braided ground going to one corner of your coil pack yes?? Loosen that up & re-tighten it to be sure you've got a good connection. Check for any minute cuts or scuffs on those wires.

If you're still getting arching, what plugs are you running & did you double check the gap before installing??

It's possible that the coil itself has a crack causing the arching or is dirty enough that it might cause this.

A good description from Magnecor:
a failed or excessively gapped spark plug, a cracked or condensation-laden (inside) distributor cap or a cracked ignition coil tower can cause arcing that seems to come from the ignition wires. Any of these problems causes spark energy to find it easier to induce itself to the outside of the cable jacket and/or boots, as well as arcing over the inside of moist distributor caps and coil towers in preference to jumping the spark plug gap. Also, the distributor cap and/or coil could have been damaged (cracked or burnt) by failed conductors in the previous ignition wires burning back inside the cable insulating jackets or by failed solid resistor connectors used on European ignition wires.