Good Morning. Time for..

[George N Lake Ozark]

The Jelf Report. Morning Edition.
Steve was wiped out after yesterday’s travel. Not long in distance but car was running horribly with numerous stops to figure it out. Steve got here (LakeOzark) around 6:30 pm. Ate and crashed at 8:30 pm and got a good 12 hour snooze.
This morning the timer was replaced and found the cause by accident . #1 spark plug cable crispy from the exhaust manifold and rubbed down to the wire by a head bolt. So we moved the cable away from the manifold and tapped the heck out of it. Running on all four now and happy engine now. Steve’s happy too. Around noonish we’ll head over and pick up some new plugs from O’Rielly’s and install. And wait for New ordered tire to arrive. End of report.
“And that’s the way it is .” Walter Concrite

[George N Lake Ozark]

[TXGOAT2]

Well-done insulation becomes a good conductor. I've had a number of sprk plug boots on later V8s become carbonized after long use. They can look good still give you a good shock if you grab hold of them, and the worst ones will allow a spark to jump from the end of the boot to the plug body under load, especially if the exposed plug insulator isn't clean.

[George House]

While at O’Reille’s, get a hot patch kit for that muffler you’re a good friend George N Lake Ozark.

[Wayne Sheldon]

One of my favorite longtime diagnostic tricks is with flashlight in hand, in very dark time and place, hood open and engine idling. With flashlight on, find where you need to look, then turn flashlight off. Look all around the ignition wiring! When you see any flashing or running lights around the wires, turn the flashlight on to see where the problem is. It is amazing how often a punky running engine will have electrical leak-down from the ignition wires breaking down. And how often running lights all along the wires doesn't cause totally dead cylinders! (One does need to be aware that there are some resistor wires that do light up slightly by design and therefore that glowing in those cases is not an indication of problems?)

Take a break, enjoy visiting while waiting for the tire.
Thank you George for the updates!

[BigBen]

One of my favorite longtime diagnostic tricks is with flashlight in hand, in very dark time and place, hood open and engine idling. With flashlight on, find where you need to look, then turn flashlight off. Look all around the ignition wiring! When you see any flashing or running lights around the wires, turn the flashlight on to see where the problem is. It is amazing how often a punky running engine will have electrical leak-down from the ignition wires breaking down. And how often running lights all along the wires doesn't cause totally dead cylinders! (One does need to be aware that there are some resistor wires that do light up slightly by design and therefore that glowing in those cases is not an indication of problems?)

Take a break, enjoy visiting while waiting for the tire.
Thank you George for the updates!

I've used this trick as well, especially if it is rainy or damp when you do it, looks like a light show under the hood!

[TXGOAT2]

Ignition wires can produce "corona", which is a faint, flickering glow. It may not indicate a fault, though if localized, it could indicate higher than normal voltage at that point, perhaps caused by too much gap at a spark plug. Shorts are usually indicated by a blue spark, but leaky wires can show orange or red sparks, or no visible sparks at all. In very humid conditions, some leakage may be unavoidable when the engine is first started, but it should show little or no leakage once warmed up and dried off.

[Atomic Amish]

I was sitting at my kitchen table on Friday doing homework. Since I live off the railroad tracks, noise is nothing to be concerned with.
However, as I was sitting there, I heard something that sounded... different. I didn't think too much of it, at first, I thought it was just a train sitting waiting for the line to clear. Then Steve opened the door and I realized it was his T sitting in the driveway! He told me about the muffler issue and it clicked.

Damn kids and their hot rods.