Checking the spark plugs on my 93 turaus. The back ones are hard to reach and impossible to see. One wire did not feel right on but loose. Drove it and it missed and missed worse and worse. Got home worried - a blown head gasget? Big bucks? Rechecked the plugs discovered i had put one wire on the exhaust manifold stud next to the plug corrected this and engine purs. Was any spark getting to the cylinder?
No, the spark is traveling only between the wire end and stud. Don’t feel bad about it; I did this on my Sable one time while performing some maintenance but caught it before starting the car up. The wire just had not felt right when I installed it and discovered it on a double-check.
no… no wire no spark
HA!! Well, I’m glad you found that before you melted the wire boot to the exhaust manifold.
That kinda reminds me of what I did once… story time
When I first got my current car, before I had a car alarm installed, I wanted to do something to prevent its theft-- so I decided to disconnect the coil wire from the ignition (a MSD), and just hang the wire by the lip of the boot on the terminal. Well, two days later I decided to go to Wal Mart. I hopped in the car, fired it up and drove 15 miles to the store. Haulin’ butt the whole way without so much as a hiccup out of the engine. It wasn’t till I got in the parking lot that I was like, “hey…didn’t I disconnect the distributor the other day?!?..” Sure enough, that wire was still disconnected! I guess that speaks well for MSD. Their wire boots are deep, and that spark must have been arcing a good two inches the whole way there.