Spark plug wires

[John Hofstetter <hofs@domain.elided>]

>Why does the coil wire not spark when I short it over the battery?  One of
>the sparkplug leads didn't spark, either... bad wires, or is this normal?
>
>the fun never ends...
>
>- -Tom

Tommy,
Do you have the radio suppression wires? If you do, they have very high 
resistance. I think the common test has to do with looking for around 20K 
ohms per wire in a good wire. (don't really remember the number but 20K 
came to mind) I'd be happy to look it up for you, if you'd like to know.

There are other kinds of radio suppression wires, but they are much less 
common. The best wires I've ever seen were sold for Mazda rotary cars. 
They had a solid wire core, but the outside of the plug wire was wrapped 
with a metal wire. Looked like a miniature version of flexible conduit, 
if you got inside the plastic covering that hid the whole structure.

I've seen at least two other kinds of suppression wire also, but you 
probably also don't have either of those. 

John H.