I replaced my coil about a month ago becasue the old coil I had was arching a large spark to the block. The coil I replaced it with now archs to itself from the plastic part to the metal sqaure mount. So I was going to send that coil back to MSD for a warrenty. For the time being I put a used stock coil, that as far as i know was good still, in the car. Well that coil is doing the same thing as the MSD. Is there anything other than the coil itself that could cause this.

Thanks
Dan

 

Check the cable from the coil to the Optispark.
How old is your Optispark?
Your plugs could be gapped too wide.

 

spark will go the easiest route, if ur plugs are fouled/gapped wrong the spark will be able to arch at the coil easier than sparking the plug.


like said above

also it could be a burnt/bad wire

 

The wires are brand new less than a month old and when checking them at night for an arch i don't see them. The opti has around 5000 miles on it too. I've never heard of the plugs being gapped too wide that will cause this, but it seems like something to check into.

thanks
Dan

 

im thinking you burnt a plug on the headers (it is very very common and has gone on noticed by a lot for a long time) Also may u have a cracked plug.

If all else fails you can bring it to a shop and them hook it up to an osiloscoop ( thats not how u spell it lol) and that can track down misfires.

 

Your right I've never heard of burning a plug on headers.

 

I have the same problem. My car has been stumbling more so i checked out my plugs and coil in the dark and the coil is arching from the main unit to the square metal housing. I can also see some light comming from the plugs but I thought a little was normal, is that true? Anyone else have more thoughts on this?

 

I noticed the exact same thing, my coil was arcing over to the frame. Replaced the coil wire. Problem went away. I did notice however that a little lite was coming from the plugs, I checked on several other cars and they all did the same thing. I still feel a a misfire once in a while. Along with a ticking sound coming from the driver side. Trying to track it down, either an exhaust leak, arcing wire, or RR noise.