My 1988 Nissan 300zx was already misfiring at high speeds so I figured changing the spark plug wires would fix the issue because rats chewed them but the car still ran on all cylinders. So I went and got new wires and started to change them out after each one I tested it out and after the third one I think one of the cylinders stopped working and it made my car sound like a motorcycle. I replaced the spark plugs last year and the rotor and rotor cap could this be a coil problem or something? Also the spark it’s making is a dark orange. Any suggestions would be appreciated I don’t necessarily have the means right now for a mechanic thank you
I also put all the old wires back on to see if hat would make it work again and it didn’t its still doing it
Are you sure you installed them in the correct order? Are you sure you didn’t damage the terminals INside the distributor cap? Are you sure you got the sparkplug end on properly?
If you can answer yes to all these questions, I’d change the distributor cap and all the spark plugs next.
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Ok so I should change all the spark plugs and the wires again?
Dark orange spark is too weak. Is that at the end of one or of all the plug wires? I would test the coil and its connections.
Sounds like a motorcycle = loose or blown out plug letting compressed gasses out?
I said it sounds like a motorcycle because it was missing a cylinder
I replaced the plugs last year to so they shouldn’t be bad my next guess could be the coil and the orange spark was between the distributor cap and the plug wires. I realized tonight that a screw is missing out of my distributor cap and is a little loose on the bottom could that affect anything, also there is no corrosion because the cap and rotor is fairly new as well as the plugs.
Update I tried to drive it to work it’s running worse like one of the components are deteriorating or something.
Suggest to remove the spark plugs and at least take a look at the tips, and double check the gap. Does one look different than the others? If they appear to all be ok, put them back in, then replace the distributor cap, ignition rotor, and (if you have any doubt about your new ones you already have) the plug wires. If it is producing an orange spark after that, let us know. You may have a problem with the igniter and/or coil. I presume you are looking at the spark as it appears on the tip of a spare spark plug when you hold the body of the plug against a metal part and crank the engine. If so, it should appear bluish-white, not orange. Definitely not dark orange. Dark orange means there’s likely something amiss with either the spark plug, the spark plug wire, the dist cap, the ign rotor, the igniter, the coil, or the ignition system primary voltage. It’s not uncommon to effect a fix to the ignition system only to have the symptoms get worse. This is b/c the high voltage parts are worn and when you disturb them it creates more gaps for the spark to jump to places it is not supposed to be jumping to. You can sometimes spot a spark jumping to an unwanted place by watching the engine compartment as the engine idles in total darkness.
Thank you sir I will look into these and keep that in mind my next step will be to look at the spark plugs and should I switch the old wires to the new ones I bought because after I tried the first time is when it started having all these issues