Date:         Fri, 13 Feb 2004 13:20:54 -0500
Reply-To:     "Daniel L. Katz" <katzd54@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Daniel L. Katz" <katzd54@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Finger Sparks

1. using dielectric grease is excellent. useful on distributor end as well
as sparkplug end and, of course, coil boot.

2. a good experiment would be to park somewhere realy dark, and look for a
blue glow, or possibly arcing, around wires/boots, including near both
distributor and plugs - this is bad. with an automatic, i do the test
under load with a helper keeping a firm foot on the brake while
maintaining a light throttle. it takes a higher voltage to fire the plugs
the greater the throttle, as would wider plug gaps, and this makes the
test more sensitive.

3. it is good practice to keep wires well separated in order to discourage
both actual arcing, and inducing sparks in other cylinders through
reactive coupling between wires.

4. it may be that little change is noticed doing those "hand sparks"
because the effect is masked by more serious related or unrelated problems.

5. generally, starting and high loads demand the most from the ignition
system. if she starts right up and doesn't miss on heavy throttle, then i
wouldn't be extremely concerned.

dlk

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 07:53:32 -0800, Mike D. <md03@XOCHI.COM> wrote:

>While investigating why my 85 runs poorly, I was making sure the
>spark plug wires were all seated properly, and I noticed that when I
>put my finger on the coil wire and left 1/8 in between my finger and
>one of the cylinder wires, a spark would jump across from my finger
>to the wire.  I could barely feel or see it, so I don't think it was
>a significant portion of the coil's output.
>
>This did not appear to affect the running of the engine at all.
>
>I had recently replaced all the wires  with the  "super premium" kind
>(from FLAPS).  I also put some dielectric gel around the boots when I
>installed it to keep water out.
>
>I live about 100 yards from the ocean, so it is very likely that
>there is a fine layer of salt covering every part of my engine.  In
>fact, the local utility companies routinely come by and wash the high
>voltage wires with distilled water to prevent noisy arcing that
>occurs from the salt deposits.
>
>So I'm thinking this is from the salt, but I would also be open to
>the idea the the wires I bought are crap, and/or putting the
>dielectirc grease on wasn't a good idea.  Stupid question:
>Dielectric grease is an insulator, not a conductor, right?