Charlton wrote:
> Steve,
> Run a jumper wire from ground to the blade of a plastic handled screwdriver.
> Hold the insulated handle and approach the distributor with the blade. I
> suspect you'll see the spark jump a gap where the leakage is occurring. You
> might have to try this in relative (gotta see what you're doing, though!)
> darkness to see the spark, but given the jolt you got, you might see this
> electrical arc even in fairly bright light.
> Duncan
Hello Duncan:
Thanks for the tip. I got a couple of others along the same line (one guy said
to be sure to wear rubber shoes!!) and I'm going to try this in the next two or
three days. I installed another new dist. cap and rotor last night as the parts
store service manager I showed them to looked at the old rotor (which had carbon
on half of its tip only) and said the rotor could have contributed to my jolts,
and that the rotor color should be uniform, and not fouled by carbon. Plus, the
"old" rotor was only a few weeks old. The parts guy said the carbon could be
evidence of a bad dist. cap, which by itself could be shocking, or the rotor
itself could have been defecctive out of the box. Of course, I don't want to
grab the new cap either without knowing that there's no more juice there, so
I'll try the screwdriver tips first.
A couple of other listers have mentioned that, with the high voltage ignition I
have in now, it could be that a bit of residual voltage is not unusual or
evidence of a defect.
I'll post the results to the list, or Jane can post my obituary if I get the
same surprise too many more times!
Regards.
Steve Sage
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