Strangest spark leak I ever seen. Got my tank back in today. [what a PITA] Had to run a new return line and them darn tank straps never fit. Even 100% un bolted they barley reach. Got it fired up by priming the carb and I kept hearing a tick. Sounded like something was rubbing my fan off n on. And then I notice spark leaking out around the boot of my Kem wires. The strange part it was sparking into / onto my water hose??? The wire touches metal in 2-3 spots with no leak. But near the water hose spark leaks? The spark has to leak through the plug wire rubber, through the rubber in the water hose and then ground into the water. That is so fricking strange. It that is the easiest way to ground??? I grabbed a plastic bag off the ground and wrapped it around the wire and it stopped. Course it raining now and I can't finish.
If your wires leak externally like that, it is time for new wires. The insulation has degraded or been damaged by chemicals or heat. Antifreeze is a bad thing for ignition wires.... even worse than oil. Route them in a loom of some type that holds them above the heat of the engine. Mike
Not that unusual, I've seen ignition wires spark to water hoses on several occasions. How old are the wires? Probably need to be replaced. Jim Burek
When it comes to spark plug wires, age is more of a factor than miles. The insulation has a tendency to breakdown even just sitting there. What brand are they? Jim Burek
THey are a set of Kem 8 or 8.8s something like that. I found them laying around nib at a limo placed I worked. I was told I could have em. how long they laid around the shop, who knows. I could can will replace them if needed but a 2layer plastic bag stopped it. I guess I could check them for restiance and maybe if that one is high/ bad, I can used the left over good ones on my 6. what kind of ohms should I look for?
I will say I had a similar problem once with a accell coil and almost threw out $60 but it ended up being flaky plugs. I just like to make sure a part is bad or worth less before I throw money at the problem. Or in the trash.
Definately time for new wires. If you ever watch your engine run in pitch black (like on a dark night), you'll probably see blue fuzz all over the place. Since we are talking about strange spark leaks... In college, I used to park my Buick for a few months at a time between breaks (or during classes, depending on your perspective). One time I went out to fire up the car, and it was really running like total crap. So I tried to drive it, and it just didn't want to go that far. I shut it off and checked under the hood to see that I had forgotten to plug the coil wire back into the distributor!!! The spark was jumping almost two feet, and was somehow able to run. If I wasn't there I wouldn't have believed it, and I won't blame you if you don't believe it now! But it is true. -Bob Cunningham
I had the same problem on mine with MSD wires, with HEI distributor and an MSD box, If the motor got wet, the coil wire would ground on my upper rad. hose, awesome buzzing sound:Brow: I called MSD and they said its pretty common, something about the carbon used in the hoses, and maybe the water flowing thru it helps also. This only happened when I got the motor wet tho, no problems otherwise. Mark
