Testing Spark Plug Wires

[dgaleno2012]

so if my RPMs go lower than before after i changed my spark plugs what could it be? a spark plug? the 4 were new.

[electronicstash]

Medic!!!!!!!!! LOL glove thanks for video

[masster64]

you call this testing ?

this is only measuring the resistance of wires with a 9V battery.

a REAL test involves using an ignition oscilloscope (engine running) or at least spraying water on wires and sliding a screwdriver connected to car's ground across them. if wires are bad you'll see small arcs jumping to screwdriver and idle misfire in sync. doing this test in darkness helps a lot.

and another thing: when you film a technical video, keep in mind we are not interested in your nose hair.

[luckymisselala]

i need a air sickness pill after watching this, but great info. :)

[acepeekaporn]

This guy reminds me of Owen Wilson.

[yorkermiles]

Very useful,thanks

[mxp2000]

Invest in a $10.00 tripod.

[automan54]

THE SPARK IS STRONGER AT THE COIL OR DISTRIBUTOR THAN AT THE SPARK PLUG BECAUSE OF THE RESISTANCE OF THE WIRE

[xgrapher]

Great movie... but were you on powder?

[midwestboarder]

Perfect! thank you!

[andrewthompson10]

Great movie, but have you thought of editing the movie?

[Med1aNoche]

Is this Chael Sonnen? So, this is what you're up to during your suspension.

[HOTRODRICO]

ARENT THEY SUPPOSED TO READ 0.00 IN ORDER TO HAVE PROPER CONTINUITY??? IF YOU HAVE NUMBERS LIKE 6 WHATEVER ITS OPEN CIRCUIT NO?

[automan54]

@HOTRODRICO .

THE ONLY TYPE OF SPARK PLUG WIRE THAT READ 0.00 OR CLOSE IT THAT IS A COPPER WIRE SPARK PLUG WIRE. MOST ARE CARBON ON FIBER GLASS SO THEY READ 2K TO 8K OHMS DEPENDING ON ITS LENGTH.

[HOTRODRICO]

@automan54 TRUE I DIDNT THINK OF THAT. YOU ARE CORRECT.. THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY AND TIME

[woottanggang]

Invest in a tri-pod

[The1965Ghost]

Lol "I'm putting a turbo motor in this car so I don't give a flying fuck about this piece of shit engine" That's what I heard in the beginning.

[MrGuillermo1020]

ok well i check my wires but mine came out between 2.21 and 2.29 does that mean there bad or im not doin it rite

[automan54]

@MrGuillermo1020 .

NO SOME WIRES READ A LOWER RESISTANCE BECAUSE THEY ARE SHORTER IN LENGTH OR BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY ARE MADE OF. A GOOD WIRE WILL READ 2K TO 7 K OHMS, A BAD WIRE WILL READ OPEN OR VERY HIGH RESISTANCE.

[hcocoro1012]

The video is fine, except that your moving the camera to to much, and is hard to see exactly what your doing, work on keeping the camera still. thnks.

[cobra96svt570]

another way is to spray water on them with a squirt bottle, while the engine is running and youll' see a spark/arc jump from the hole in the wire to the metalic engine. Or like he says, take a pair of channel locks, rubber handled, with some glove, make sure not to lean against the car, and while its running pull each one off one at a time and listen to the engine for any changes.

But the ohms meter is the best correct way.

I learned the hard way growing up, thats how i know. lol

[srp960]

You need a good camera man who can hold a steady picture and stay in focus.

[shadowcastle15]

i wasted my 5 minutes looking at his face...

[blacktahoe01]

@halosavage you should use seafoam on it that's gonna take care of the problems your having with your bike.

[cobra96svt570]

@blacktahoe01 im not to convinced on that seafoam stuff, ive tried it, and i think it made things worse. It mite work good on older carbureted engines, but it dosent work that great on efi.

[malkooth]

Great tech advice Mr. But some advice on your video shoot either get a tripod or a cameraperson. But anyway your video is damn good!

[darkertree]

instead of going through all this you can just replace them... lol

[journeyquest1]

Camara man pay attention.

[PegLegPeteProduction]

Not sure bout the camera work:P, but I know nothing about cars and you were able to allow me to trouble shoot mine misfiring. You r awesome.

[KawaTriple250]

@PegLegPeteProduction Thanks, this will help most of the time. I still do this pretty regularly. Never cars that don't have secondary wires or just the boot you might as well just replace that CNP. Slowly seems like DIY tricks are disappearing more everyday.

[pup101]

@KawaTriple250 Do you live around NY?? cuz ill take some of my spare time to go over and do the camera shooting for you xD ....... other than that this is great information

[halosavage]

hey, I have an old 1981 honda motorcycle, (silverwing 500). it was starting well ever since it stayed out in some heavy rain. it wont start anymore, has gas, has compression, so i tested for a spark. took out the plug, connected my positive, and touched it to the frame, i didnt see any spark, but the plug started smoking when i pressed the started button! I've never seen this before or heard of hit. it was smoking from inside the plug, Now i dont see how the rain could be connected to my problem

[KawaTriple250]

@halosavage I have no clue what you mean when you say positive. Are we talking positive to the frame?!?!

[halosavage]

no, touching the plug to the frame gives you your negative, but the wire that plugs onto your spark plug (usually says NGK on it) is what gives you your negative, isnt it?

[Placer]

Gloves is fine but not those. Those will heat up and give you new blue skin. Also the video wasn't professional,give him a break. Info was still there. And per foot it can reach up to 10 kohms btw.

[diseasedrealm]

This video could have been 1 minute long and to the point if you had just shut the fuck up and gotten your head out of the camera. Learn how to talk without saying "ahhh " "uumm" compose a thought then speak it with confidence. jesus christ."This wire could be fine could be bad" REALLY???? .

[camarocomputer]

Good info, except it made me dizzy lol

[jess568667]

This happened to my car. It was misfiring. We couldnt work it out. We then decided to replace the leads and sure enough, Problem solved

[marcomariaz26]

@Chevrolet8608 true enough, i work in an office and the office furniture causes cancer. we are a backwards people here in america for certain...

[breaktobroken]

Nice Mazda look like an early mx6?

[KawaTriple250]

@breaktobroken, You got it, '88 MX6 LX

[nagla626]

fail all problem in your vetilation upgrade :D

[miguelzepeda20]

can i have ur motor <============== ...

[Foose70]

Thats very informative, you should put more out there. Appreciate the tip!

[paulsnyder23]

actually the continuity in the wires should be between, 5000ohms-8000ohms. not 4000-5000

[jimdog1964]

Helpful vid. Good work...

[ringbolt9]

cool info man. thanks

[mrcokez1]

thank god you didnt do the "water" test..i hate it when people do that and rant as if its the right thing to do...thats why people who dont know about cars try to fix a car and end up hurting themselves or damaging the car further.. good video

[nuprincenj]

THANKS MAN.. REALLY

[Grannyhauenstein]

Whats with the rubber gloves, are you a surgeon? Your camera work makes me dizzy.

[KawaTriple250]

@Grannyhauenstein I don't like getting dirty. Oils after being used in an engine can cause cancer. Grease is nasty, and gloves are just easy to use. If the phone rings no need to wash up, just peel off the gloves and your hands are clean.

[Racr4Lyfe]

@KawaTriple250 Motor oil can cause oil...oh shit...I better stop what I've been doing then...hahaha! Thanks for the info!

[Racr4Lyfe]

@KawaTriple250 *can cause cancer* Is what I meant to say.

[rocalegi]

@KawaTriple250 no mames la verga

[ccjohncc1]

@KawaTriple250 I like the idea of the gloves but getting cancer? I think one would have a better chance of getting killed by a car while sitting in ones living room watching TV before getting cancer from getting some used engine oil on ones hands.

[gerard6ki]

They're nitrile gloves, mechanics use them because they dont puncture as easily as "doctor's" gloves.

[spike6464]

@Grannyhauenstein Nothing wrong with wearing gloves when working on a car.... I work on cars everyday and without gloves my hands would be a mess.

[KawaTriple250]

@shiftedx2

I'm not sure i understand what your getting at.

To test resistance you have to isolate the circuit. In this case its a wire.

[imupabove]

so if it reads 5,000 ohms its good? i got a multimeter, but its not digital. it does have OHMS setting on it though, theirs 2 ohms settings though: RX10 and RX1K. which one do i used?

[KawaTriple250]

i have no idea what the RX is for. Possible Resistance factor?

I would set it to 1K. Its about 5K Ohms for every foot for a good wire usually.  Another way to test them is to spray them with soapy water. If they are any pinholes the arc will jump between the water and surface. These two tests are by far the easiest and best methods.

[KawaTriple250]

I don't think you understand what i was doing.

I don't mean at the plug, i mean pull it off at the distributor. It won't build up the same amount of charge if its before the wire. Granted there's still some power coming out of the coil but its far less than when it hits the resistance of the wire itself.

Good trick you learned though. If i have to check for spark at the plug i just take the plug wire off and set it on a valve cover bolt.

[broncojoe12]

when you put the meter on ohms which number do you put it on

[KawaTriple250]

Well you would want high resistance.. so i guess whatever your meter reads.

I've see quite a few different numbers. there's usually a 2ohm, 20 ohm, 200ohm and 2000ohm and up. Sometimes it goes in 5's or whatever. You just want the thousands digit.

[dolphinsattack]

Granatelli wires are the best you can get, at 0 ohm.

[mykatamari]

Mine read from .35 to .56 OHMS!!!! NGK Hyper Silicone Power Cable

[KawaTriple250]

.35 ohms or 35K ohms.

NGK i would hope is low. I've heard some people tell me 4-5ohms per foot. I need to get some of that for my GT.

[mykatamari]

K ohms = 350 = less than 1000

[KawaTriple250]

Kilo is 1000.

but i assume you mean 350 ohms. The stuff i'm talking about is ultra low resistance.

[mykatamari]

just watch that video I sent you

[KawaTriple250]

I did, .35K is 350 ohms.

You don't have an auto-ranging meter so thats why its reading like that. Nice wires but those aren't what i'm talking about. They are made by accel.

[mykatamari]

ya, I heard those accel ones are REAL big money. I got these ones today for $93 with tax.

[xXwhygodwhyXx]

Dude if you have one bad wire then you should replace all your wires.

[KawaTriple250]

why?

If its a 5 dollar repair there's no need to spend 30 dollars more than you don't need. As said, if they have the correct resistance they are fine.

[KawaTriple250]

Not a problem, keeps you from getting zapped and makes you smarter than your buddies since you can use a multi-meter :)

You can also spray soapy water on the plug wires to see if the use the water to conduct themselves to the water.

[inkey2]

holy cow.....this video has bee "SO" helpful. I am having a problem w/my olds cutlass and I am trying to narrow down the problem. Thanks