distributor woes

[kiwitony]

Hi guys, returning from a swapmeet with a load of ford stuff behind, my 37 pickup started misfiring under load. I knew it was tracking inside the dissy cap but could do nothing on the road so limped home. removed the cap and sure enough tracking marks between 4 and 5 and 7 and 3 . This is a new cap,stock dissy ,12 volt normal strength coil. The brass sockets were the leads push in are nice and shiny on the cylinders that weren't playing up but black on the bad ones, is this a simple case of the leads not being pushed right in or happened because of the missfiring. I'll check the plugs but need to know how to test the leads. Testing the leads with a multimeter should I have any resistance? Thanks in advance. Tony.

[Bluebell]

Hi Tony, Carbon trace leads should be 10,000 ohms per foot and copper wire shouldn't have any. If I recall correctly.
I guess there's a thousand options these days.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by kiwitony

Testing the leads with a multimeter should I have any resistance? Thanks in advance. Tony.

Every thing has resistance, but it should be very low in a copper core spark plug wire.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Originally Posted by kiwitony

Hi guys, returning from a swapmeet with a load of ford stuff behind, my 37 pickup started misfiring under load. I knew it was tracking inside the dissy cap but could do nothing on the road so limped home. removed the cap and sure enough tracking marks between 4 and 5 and 7 and 3 . This is a new cap,stock dissy ,12 volt normal strength coil. The brass sockets were the leads push in are nice and shiny on the cylinders that weren't playing up but black on the bad ones, is this a simple case of the leads not being pushed right in or happened because of the missfiring. I'll check the plugs but need to know how to test the leads. Testing the leads with a multimeter should I have any resistance? Thanks in advance. Tony.

Typically black lead contacts show poor connections. Clean them up and try again , making sure you have a good connection. I am assuming this is a solid core wire....???

[RalphM]

Don't forget the Dielectric grease, it does help.

[kiwitony]

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Thanks Guys , I should have said good carbon leads.

[JSeery]

Carbon leads have a lot more resistance than copper leads. Not sure what your wires are, but they could be several thousand ohms.

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Tony, look at that cap real close on the out side where the snap clips hold the cap on. 5-4 --- 7-3 I think you'll find that carbon trace inside is shooting right through the cap against the snap clips. Walt