I'm so sick of dealing with this BS... After I went from SLP headers to hooker LT's, I burnt one of my taylor wires. I installed MSD 8.5 cut-to-fit otvc wires and a brand new Jason cromer opti-spark. I got these pretty trick centerbolt valve cover billet looms and everything. I got them all routed and squared away very very cleanly. Plugs had less then 300 miles on them so they didn't get changed.

I get major arcing on all the plug wires from the wire itself to the accessory bracket, the oil dipstick, and pretty much any place it comes near metal. The car backfires every 30 seconds to a minute, and it runs, but you can tell something is up with the ignition, even at idle. What could be causing this? When I did the wires, I made sure all of them were plugged in. I used dielectric grease on the plug end and the opti spark end and on the coil wire. There are theories I have came up with:

-The power wire that goes from my alternator to my battery runs very close to the spark plugs wires and it is meant to be an audio cable. Do you think that can make the wires arc because my old taylors were routed away from them and they never arced. Would shielded cable do the trick?

-The plug wires run close (not as close as the alt wire) to the coil harness. They do not touch or anything, they just run close.

-When you make MSD cut-to-fit wires, do you have to use dielectric grease when you crimp the conductor? The instructions didn't say to and to me that seems like it would make it easier to slide out.

Is there any crucial things to remember when doing otvc MSD wires? Please enlighten me if you have any insight.

 

If you have billet looms, ditch them. Silly to use metal to hold a spark plug wire.

 

It has nothing to do with the looms. The spark plugs run next to metal from the factory man. In fact they run right against the engine block... Plus, the wires only come in direct contact with the plastic wire holders.

Anybody else have any ideas? It was arcing more on the passenger side if that helps.

 

Plugs gapped correctly? May be bad luck with wires, they actually can go bad with inproper storage conditions.

 

ttt for ya.

 

My OTVC wires run next to the alt. and I have no arching at all.....I have the Taylors on, not sure what could be the cause....maybe you have some of the wires in to wrong terminal???

 

That sounds similar to what my car did when I mixed up 2 wires. Check to make sure all the wires are going to the right cylinder.

 

I just double checked the wires and they are all correctly routed. The driver's side does not arc noticeably, it is only the passenger side. I unbolted the two valve cover bolts that hold the loom on and held it away but it still arced like crazy.

Anybody?

 

If you used too much dielectric grease on the plug it will do that. The grease is an insulator made to seal the boot to the porcelin. If its packed with grease the spark has no where to go but out the jacket.

 

I had the same wires and billet looms and had no problems at all. I didnt like the red look, so I converted to black taylors. I used wd40 to help lube the connector to slide the wire in. No dielectric grease here.

 

The dilelectric grease is not overapplied as I have done it before on my car and many others and the way I apply it was successful.

That's quite a bit weird. It seems like the spark is having trouble getting to the plug because the passenger side is arcing like a ****. I have no idea why, especially since it is only the passenger side... I'm about this close to ordering some taylor 8mm and wiring them like I had them before under the headers. Anybody know why I could be getting this problem?

If it makes a difference, I installed a brand new opti spark with the wires. I don't think it has anything to do with the arcing because the opti is delivering a spark, however the spark would rather arc to everything than fire my passenger bank spark plugs...

Another thing I just though of... the last plug on the passenger side is the only one that has a lot of blue-colored activity around the plug. I don't know whether it is arcing, or a corona, but it's the only one. I may check that last wire just to make sure it is crimped right, but would that have an effect on the other wires???

 

as much as everyone loves the msd 8.5 wires i have had a lot of trouble with them like arching etc... i bet a lot of these so called opti problems are really only wires. just my opinion.

 

I wouldn't be surprised either... 2 and a half years with my taylor wires used and abused and not one singly freaking problem until I put my LT's in and burned one. Now I install fresh MSD 8.5's otvc and they friggin arc like pieces of ****. Those wires are preventing me from driving my car, something I haven't been able to do in almost 3 months.

 

After narrowing down my problem, it was found to be my NGK spark plugs... What happened was those little screw on caps where the plug wire actually makes the connection to the NGK plug came loose. A few of those caps came loose for some reason causing the bad connection and hence the arcing. I changed to autolite plugs and the car is running great!!!

So the moral is, if you have arcing from the wire or the coil and can't figure it out, check your ngk plug caps.

 

NGK=No Good Kind