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

[B Hower]

Why not make up a T from stiff wire with a connector on one end to connect to distributor, on a second end to spark plug, and a third end ( from an old plug wire ) to touch ground or not at will. Thus electronic ignition would never see an open connection to ground.
 
IMHO this should work and it could be made up using the plug wire in question as the major link to either the spark plug or the distributor ( your choice ).
 
Bud 3400 

--- On Sat, 2/20/10, Thomas Tornblom <Thomas.Tornblom at hax.se> wrote:


From: Thomas Tornblom <Thomas.Tornblom at hax.se>
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] more evidence I'm a not much of a mechanic...
To: "Christopher Kimball" <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
Cc: asajay at asajay.com, "Pantera List Serve" <detomaso at realbig.com>
Date: Saturday, February 20, 2010, 10:11 AM


If you can poke a piece of grounded stiff wire beneath the plug wire 
boot in either end, effectively grounding the wire, that would be the 
best option. This stresses the high voltage components of the ignition 
system the least.

Christopher Kimball skrev:
> 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?

This is actually the worst thing you can do. The induced power in the 
coil will then have nowhere to go and the voltage will rise 
dramatically, potentially arcing in places you don't want that to happen.

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Chris

Thomas

> 
> 
> 
> 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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