Spark plug boot arcing 76 johnson 135

[derek4325]

This is in relation to my last post but I thought it would make a good fresh topic. So I had a bit of skipping with my 76 johnson 135. At this point I decided to replace all the coils. They are all the Sierra replacement kits with coil, wire, spring and boot. And on top of that I replaced all the spark plugs with the proper factory recommend plugs. I ran it and it's worse now then ever before. Ran it at night and there is lightning bolt arcing from the end of the boot, down the spark plug to ground. This is occuring on both the top and bottom cylinders on the port side of the engine. I'm lost. Any ideas? Thank you. Derek

 

[derek4325]

I just find it odd that it is only happening on the port side of the engine. I can't believe there is a grounding issue. Or I find it hard to believe anyways.

 

[interalian]

Try cleaning the porcelain on the plugs and use some silicone dielectric grease inside the boots.

 

[F_R]

Try cleaning the porcelain on the plugs and use some silicone dielectric grease inside the boots.

Yep, smear some dielectric grease inside the boot. But if it has been arcing very long, it may have formed carbon tracks along the path of the spark. In that case you will have to replace the boots again.

 

[bruceb58]

If your spark plug is fouled or the gap is too large, this will happen. What do the plugs look like?

 

[derek4325]

Update.... didn't have any dielectric grease however I did happen to have a roll of plug wire laying around so I replaced the plug wires again. I also used the boots that were on the motor before. Did the trick. Engine runs great now. So long story short. I'm not happy with Sierra products right at this moment. I'm not sure if it was the wire or thhe boot but actually every cylinder was arcing from the bottom of the boot. Put all new wire on and the original boots (until I get new ones at least) thank you all for the support.

 

[Fed]

You may have contaminated the sparkplug insulators with dirty/greasy/wet fingers and once the arcing starts the best way is to go new everything all at the same time so you don't finish up chasing your tail.
Manual suggests OMC Triple Guard grease on ribbed section of sparkplug insulators & the opening of the rubber boot, pretty precise instructions.
Don't be surprised if it starts breaking down again because your plugs are probably contaminated, at the very least they are now a 'weak' point.

 

[derek4325]

You may have contaminated the sparkplug insulators with dirty/greasy/wet fingers and once the arcing starts the best way is to go new everything all at the same time so you don't finish up chasing your tail.
Manual suggests OMC Triple Guard grease on ribbed section of sparkplug insulators & the opening of the rubber boot, pretty precise instructions.
Don't be surprised if it starts breaking down again because your plugs are probably contaminated, at the very least they are now a 'weak' point.

New plugs on the way for that very reason. Along with dielectric grease. Not the OMC type but hey. I guess I can consider this a lesson learned. I have never had this happen to me before on any of my other motors. Maybe it's because I have just been lucky or maybe it's because all my other motors have a magneto ignition and this is my first one with the stator/ power pack combo.

 

[Fed]

I learnt my lesson nearly 50 Years ago the hard way $$$.
I was called in to fix a concrete saw, the place had about a dozen 3 phase plug in saws plus four 30A wall outlets.
What started off as 1 shorted plug finished up as 12 shorted plugs and 4 shorted wall outlets.

I was young.