I went out in my pitch black garage and took a look to see if the plug wires were arcing. After my eyes adjusted there was a blue halo around every plug. Is this in anyway normal or does this mean the wires are bad? Ive hard arcing wires before it was very obvious when they were arcing....

 

i had that happen once. i was running some cheap autozone plug wires. i've run Taylor's on two different cars and been very happy with them. i'm sure the haters will post up but to each his own. were you having a problem with the car missing in 3rd gear. maybe i'm thinkin of someone else. but if so, i would be thats your problem.

michael

 

Yeah Ive been having an upper RPM miss in 3rd and 4th gear. They are MSD's but they have been taken and put back on 5 or 6 times so they have been yanked at alot.

 

my msd's do that at each plug to, right where u can see the white of the plug, u can see a little flicker/glow....

 

i haven't run the MSD wires but i'd be willing to guess thats not normal. if they have been pulled on and off several times they may be the weak link and the source of the stumble. probably wouldn't hurt taking the time to change them out.

michael

 

You're noticing it under high load situations (upper 3rd and 4th gear) which would point to the ignition or fuel. Sounds like ignition in your case and I've never heard of arcing being a good thing .

 

Ive never heard of arcing being good either. Just wasnt sure if this was acceptable.

 

The blue ring around the plug at the end of the boot is called corona discharge. It is not harmful and is not considered arcing unless you see a spark jump from the plug or wire to another metal surface. Sometimes you will see a dirty ring around the plug where the end of the boot comes. These are oil/dirt particles that are attracted by the corona that end up adhering to the porcelain. As an experiment, you might try adding some dielectric grease to the inside of your spark plug boot or even put a thin layer on the plug porcelain.

 

I knew there was something "normal" about this. There is some dielectric grease inside all of the boots. I orderd a new set of wires anyway, so I guess we'll see what happens.