This may be a really really dumb question, but ill ask it anyway. I was driving home last night and ive burned thru some spark plug wires before and i thought that it was runnin a little rough and makin some noise that i have never heard before, so when i got home, i popped the hood in the dark garage to see if another wire had burned thru, but no dice with that. What i did notice is that where all the wires were connected to the spark plugs there was a slight flicker of light (very faint) as each was firing.

Now i know that there is obviously spark each time one of them fires in succession, but i never noticed that you could see a slight flicker of it. Is that normal, or is there something wrong with my wires? Let me know... this is a daily driver and i really cant afford for it to be breakin down, just thought i would ask cuz ive looked under the hood in the dark before and i dont recall seeing this happen.

 

Arcing is not normal and will make your car run like crap. It could be a defect in the insulation, or that the wires are too close to something metal, or to eachother.

 

well, its not on the wires... it is at the connection of the boot to the plugs. There is no arcs, it is just very slight flashes of light as each cylinder fires. So im not sure if that is normal... cuz these wires are actually quite new.

 

see if your spark plugs are loose, when I first bought my car the kid that had it before me didnt put them in very tight because they were all finger loose. Also check to make sure the boots are pressed all the way on the plugs.

 

Pull the boots and apply a thin coat of dielectric grease to the boots.

 

ive checked the tightness of the boots onto the plugs, that is fine, and the plugs seem to be tight in there, they are definitely not finger tight.

I heard that the dielectric grease pretty much just masks the problem? is that true?

If i do end up doing the wires again, which i am imagining that is what the problem is... what are good ones to go with? I dont want this happening again.

 

Dielectric grease is recommended, it's not a band aid.

 

but if the plug wires never came with it, then why would you need it? some plug wires dont come with that stuff.

 

Spark plugs don't come with antiseize grease either but you should apply some!

 

well, either way it didnt help...

actually i have noticed that i have to look really hard to see it now, even in the dark, but all the motor noise is still there. Could this possibly be a vacuum leak???

any thoughts?

 

ok, put on all new spark plug wires... Taylor 8mm wires, started it up in the dark, no change... still seeing the flash of light.

Any other ideas? Getting very frustrated.

 

c mon guys, i always get good help around here... i really want to solve this problem, it is my daily driver.