[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
A white or blue spark should be seen. Yellow to orange means low coil energy and you should replace it. The clicking sound you hear is the spark bridging the air gap...a normal sound. There's no need to test for spark at the plug end. How old are the spark plug wires? Have you measured their resistance? Is the distributor cap clean? I've seen my cap 'leak' spark energy from the #2 plug hole (under the boot), across the cap, across a fuel line that was touching the cap, and dB8 on the fuel pump. Scary! Run the engine at night when it's *dark* and look for any glowing of the plug wires or around the distributor. You should see NO light -- anything that glows (generally a dim, bluish light) indicates insulation failure and must be replaced. To check the wires for proper insulation bend them. If you see any cracks in the insulation then you have the potential for an electrical leak and should replace the wire. On cause of burned points is a coil with no resistor. Bosch coils for our cars have an internal one. If it should go bad (?) it may allow an over-voltage and stress the points. It is possible that you just have a set of bad points. Just some thoughts, Toby Erkson air_cooled_nut@pobox.com <-- Please use this address for email '72 VW Squareback 1.6L bored and stroked to 2.0L, Berg five-speed '75 Porsche 914 1.8L, R.I.P., ORPCA member '95 VW Jetta III GL 2.0L, P-Chipped, Jamex sport suspension Portland, Oregon, http://www.pobox.com/~toby_erkson/ > -----Original Message----- > I can hear a small clicking sound when I break the contact (cap to > wire). Shouldn't I see a big spark? > I also tried disconnecting the spark plug end and touching it to > ground. How does this work, the lead is up inside the insulator. I'm > a little nervous around sparking things... > Lastly, would a this problem have caused my points to burn > themselves up? ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org