[DeTomaso] more evidence I'm a not much of a mechanic...

[Christopher Kimball]

That's exactly right--I don't want to pull the plugs since that's such a royal pain in the rear.  If I did pull a plug, it would be no problem, since then the ground would be easy; the plug casing grounded with the wire still hooked up would simply let me see the spark plug sparking its little heart out...

The problem with the signal sensor you mention is that it only shows the power, not whether or not the plug is firing.  I'm pretty sure the electronic ignition is not the problem.  Once I figure out which cylinder it is, then I can pull the corresponding plug and see what it looks like.

It seems as if I just take off a plug wire and make sure it doesn't touch anything, that shouldn't hurt anything, should it?

Thanks,

Chris



Sincerely,

Chris

> Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:30:02 -0800
> From: asajay at asajay.com
> To: detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] more evidence I'm a not much of a mechanic...
> 
> Jack, the trouble is he doesn't want to pull the -plug-, just the 
> wire.   I'm not sure how I'd do that with an MSD.
> 
> My dad used to have this cool little gizmo.  It looked like a pen but 
> was actually a spark detector.  You held it next to the plug wire and it 
> would flash in time with the energy going to the plug.  Something like 
> this would at least tell you there is spark going to each plug.
> 
> Have you tired pulling the plugs to inspect them?  Sometimes just 
> looking at the plugs will tell you what's going on.
> 
> Asa Jay
> 
> Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
> & Shelley Marie
> Spokane, WA
> ******************************     
> http://www.asajay.com   ***   http://www.teampanteraracing.com
>   
> 
> 
> 
> JDeRyke at aol.com wrote:
> > In a message dated 2/19/10 6:28:19 PM, chrisvkimball at msn.com writes:
> >
> >   
> >> when you say I should run the spark plug wire to ground, do you mean that 
> >> once I remove the wire from the plug I should actually run the spark plug 
> >> wire directly to ground, and that won't damage anything? 
> >>
> >>     
> > Attach a ground wire with an alligator clip to the ground lug on the plug 
> > base so the plug works normally but is outside the engine. Otherwise, the 
> > built-up energy in the MSD and coil will have no place to go .... until it 
> > punches a hole in a circuit board to ground inside the box. Good luck- J DeRyke
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