Date:         Fri, 13 Feb 2004 17:26:02 -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

as a p.s.:

wire looms and separators are best if made completely of insulating
materials, such as plastic. metal usually works fine as long as the wires
are top notch, but this is just asking for trouble.

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?