I am really sick of dealing with this ignition crap! I took my car to a GM dealership, and he said I had a slight miss. So, at idle, it ran really choppy. Then we got out on the open road, and he floored the crap out of it. The miss disappeared. So, we came back, and he told me to look at getting a little fuel out of my program, and also change out the plugs, as they probably have carbon tracks. He joked and said his eyes were burning as there was so much extra fuel being flushed through the system. I just replaced the opti and brand new msd 8.5 superconductors about 2 weeks ago. They have prolly 150 miles on them both. So, it can't be that. Oh and new coil too, MSD, installed same time. I noticed the last ones were glowing between the end of the plug boot and the hex of the sparkplug. There was no real arc per say, but it was more just glowing background looking. Anyone else had this problem?? I am really getting sick of this problem. 4Th set of wires and coil, third opti. REally getting anoyed. Is there any way to prevent this carbon track crap? I have been unsuccessful in finding anything promising. I use a crap load of dielectric grease too. THanks, oh and I use GM stock platnium plugs, supposedly the best for our cars. Please help!
~Cody

 

This is your problem right here....

"I use a crap load of dielectric grease too. THanks, oh and I use GM stock platnium plugs, supposedly the best for our cars."

Did you know that Dielectric grease does conduct electricity at high voltages an frequencies? Dielectric grease stops direct current but does nothing for alternating current.

Find a kick-*** dictionary and check for "Dielectric" and "Permittivity"


A Dielectric Material is a non conductor of Direct Voltage.... However when it comes to Alternating Voltage there is a problem... The Dielectric material stores energy... when you switch the volgate the opposite way... The Dielectric has to discharge the energy and recharge with the other polarity energy to store it..... at that moment its conducting alternating current...

Think of a capacitor... it conducts energy till its fully charged... flip the voltage polarity and there will be an inmediate discharge and then begin to charge the other way...... conducting electricity in between...

Capacitors are used as direct current filters for High frequency speakers too... they do conduct at certain frequencies...


Its also called "polarization"..... read more about the effects of dielectric materials and alternating current.


I made the same mistake and coated the spark plug wire boots with Dielectric grease and I screwed everything up... Trust me.. I learned my lesson... take a course of electronics.. who ever decided to sell dielectric grease only got to read the first page of an electronics book.... ya know the one that say.... Dielectric material is a poor conductor...

except when exposed to high frequency alternating voltage/current.


The light show you see around the ceramics is high voltage Ionizing the air around the area... Like a Pre-spark or... for lack of better words... a mini voltage leak. By using the Dielectric grease you are by-passing the Protective boots and sending electricity all the way out to .... the area where you rubbed all the grease to. It took me forever to clean the boots and I still think they arent cleaned right.

Marvin

 

Dielectric grease isn't supposed to conduct electricity,it's supposed to keep oxidation away from the connection so it can make a good connection and stay that way. I use it so the boots don't stick and have used it on Vertex mags and the plug boots with no ill effects. I have also seen the factory computer techs on the cranes I work on use it on the computer cards for the machine computer and that's up to 2000 ton's. If anything was bad with it,for safety reasons they would not use it on the cranes electronics and possibly cause death and destruction.

 

Who told you that? Did you do some research on Dielectric materials and how they are used in todays electronics?

 

hmm, did I open a can of worms? I was told to put it on so the boots don't stick to the plugs. also it helps keep corrosion out. So, I shouldn't use it now? Is that the problem? I know I didn't get it all down the plug, but I used a good share of it squirting it into the boot, then pushed it on the plug.

 

Just what I have seen and done with it. Don't need research I use it on auto connections (weather pac) plugs and anything else I want to say connected and not oxidize.Been using it on wires and connections for over 35 yrs and it works for me.


Just happen to have a tube of the FOMOCO stuff here and I will quote:
"This product is to provide a high voltage seal of secondary ignition wires on Ford products"

Now, are ya saying that the Ford engineers don't know what they are talking about-------
Maybe you need to do the research.

 

Very hard to answer this question is...(yoda accent) because the electric properties of Dielectrics are frequency dependent.. and the more you use the more the properties change.

I do believe its good to keep corrossion away.. I believe its good to apply at the tip of the sparkplug for a good conection to the wire... unfortunatelly I dont have hard date about how good or bad it maybe.

What I can tell you... I loaded that grease on my wires and sparkplugs and my car choked from the start... I cleaned it the best I could and then It worked so so... I swapped the spark plugs for non - grease-tainted ones and the car ran as it was supposed to. Thats when I decided to do some research on Dielectric materials... why they are expensive... why it was a contradiction when it comes to preventing electricity flow.... I even thought I had purchase the wrong grease... but it all made sense after some reading.

The one clue that became aparent to me is that its called "Dielectric" ....because ceramics are used to insulate the electricity but they are never called Dielectric material.... I new there was a diff and there was more to it to Dielectric materials than just to keep electricity at bay.


Marvin

 

Now, are ya saying that the Ford engineers don't know what they are talking about-------
Maybe you need to do the research.


I already have. Dielectric material is used in capacitors of all voltages to keep ****Direct current**** at bay... but they do allow for alternating energy to transfer across the Capacitor. Its used in just about any electronic device in all forms.. to store or as filters... used in parallel they store energy.. used in series the filter lower frequencies..

I bet you knew that when you read that label. Listen someone is telling lies here and its not me. Maybe there is more than one type of Dielectric grease .... and if it completely stops the flow of electrical energy at al frequencies.. then it has been mislabled and it should be called insulating or something else. I know you new that too.


Have a nice day


Marvin

 

so you are thinking I should just clean it ALL off, get some brake cleaner and crap, and get it all off, then when the new plugs are in, just put a little bit on the tip of the plug and slide the boot on and call her good? I want to make sure so I don't do this shat again in another month, or when it comes out of storage next summer.
~Cody

 

Ya can put MUD on the porcelain from the metal part to the plug wire and it will miss fire. Never said to completely cover the porcelain,just in the boot with a "Q" tip.

The FOMOCO stuff is "Silicone Dielectric Compound" That's it's name......

 

k, so to aide in the prevention of carbon tracking, don't soak the damn wires and plugs in die-electric grease? hmmm, interesting. lol. k. Anything else that will help keep this crap from f*ing with my happiness again?

 

Gap plugs at .035.

 

So Mr. Wizard, what is the frequency of a stock ignition system at the plugs?????

BTW the dielectric material is not the reason a capacitor acts like a short to higher frequency current. The current NEVER jumps the dielectric barrier unless it's compromised in some way.

 

well, isn't it the purpose of a high voltage ignition, such as ours, to allow for a bigger gap, so you get more spark and a better burn? I don't want to make the spark smaller and therefore create a crappier burn. Just a thought...

 

Use your common sense.
If it is missing ya got NO burn,if ya narrow the gap and it fires ya got a GOOD burn.Any burn is a good burn,it's all the same.
As I have said the wider gap is for pollution not performance-- gap the damn plugs at .035 and be done with it and platinum plugs are only so the would go a long time without changing them. Ya can use a regular plug and change them once a year and be better off.