Re: ARCING IN DISTRIBUTOR sensor assembly ?
It's a bit complicatd to understand, but the pulse pack sends a small current through the sensor circuit. That creates a magnetic field around the sensor. The lobes of the rotor passing by interrupt the magnetic lines of force that exist, and that changes the current flow, which the pulse pack is able to detect. I believe the word is "reluctance", but forgive me if I got the wrong word.
Anyhoo, it would not cause distributor arcing. Too much resistance in the secondary circuit (plugs, wires, rotor, air gap, etc) will definatly cause arcing. The rule is "Electricity follows the path of least resistance". If there is less resistance across the arc path than across the air gap, down the wire, and across the plug gap, that is where the spark is going to go. Please realize that attempting to do a spark test with too wide a spark gap will create that increased resistance, causing arcing in the cap.
