<VV> Weird ignition trouble

[Sethracer at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/20/2006 1:48:32 PM Pacific Standard Time,  
dmonasterio at megared.net.mx writes:

The thing that does make no sense to me is: why engine shutted down 
twice  at dissconnecting number one wire with Pertronix II, damaging it ? 
This  has been an usual testing I used for years to check how well is every  
cylinder working.
BTW, coil is matching  Flamethrower with straight 12V. source.

Any toughts  ?... thanks in advance for every neurone working on this.

Daniel



Daniel - I cannot emphasize enough that it can be death to an  electronic 
ignition system to remove an ignition wire without providing a  ground path for 
the firing of that cylinder. Somebody mentioned the firing to  ground another 
way and the stress it puts on the ignition. I have seen worse  than that. If 
the coil fires, the spark has to go somewhere. It can jump from  the rotor to an 
adjacent cylinder - one with a path to a plug and then to gound  - bad, but 
not too bad. Worse, however, it can jump from the rotor to the  Pertronix 
module inside the distributor cap. What would a nice 30,000 volt shot  do to that 
electronic part? I think you may have found out. By the way, any  "inside the 
distributor" module is subject to the same possible failure.  If you do need to 
test the firing, put another (old or new) spark  plug into the boot on the 
end of the wire and ground the threaded portion  on the motor. Then watch the 
gap to see if it fires across it.  - Seth  Emerson