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ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 09 May 2010, 17:58
by xpress
top left spark plug furthest away - 6.11
top right furthest away - 5.90
coil - 6.8
bottom left nearest to me - 6.39
bottom right nearest to me - 6.50

i noted that the leads were a bit fussy trying to get a reading with the probe stuck into the spark plug end of the leads - the ceramic, is this something to worry about?

i have a new set of ht leads sitting around. i guess these are the readings cold without the ht leads been used. they might break down under load. trying to work out if these ht leads are past their best or a good set.

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 09 May 2010, 18:30
by jamesc76
Would help if you put whats setting the multimeter is on?? And what are you trying to actually do?

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 09 May 2010, 18:35
by xpress
setting was 20 kOhm

leads should be within certain tolerances and you can test with multimeter.

ignition lead coil to cap 2k ohm +/- 800 ohm
ignition lead cap to plug 6k ohm +/- 1400 ohm

around six is fine and all within a 500 ohm tolerance but i thought the king lead from coil is supposed to be around 2? in which case six is far too high but i am thinking the length of this king lead might make a difference to the resistance it has if same length as the others then they might all be around plus minus six kOhm? can anyone confirm?

:S

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 10 May 2010, 20:39
by jamesc76
Ahhhh makes more sense now, I would have thought if you line testing ht leads for resistance they should be very very low figures!

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 10 May 2010, 20:49
by toomanytoys
King lead (coil) is a bit high.. but ought to work.. could be that it has a "resisted" connector on it too... all others are even enough though

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 01 Aug 2010, 14:49
by sjmtlewy
Just done this check on mine as they looked at bit old, its running slow and I was suspicious about the 15K labels on the leads. Results were "interesting"..

King - 2k ish
Plugs - 8k, 12k, 18k & open circuit!

But the funny thing is, the plug on the open lead is definitely firing. I pulled the lead off with the engine on and you could hear a definite change as the cylinder stop firing. I can only guess the voltage is arching across a gap somewhere.

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 01 Aug 2010, 19:17
by CovKid
I'm not entirely convinced that a multimeter can give an accurate analysis of the useability of leads since things are very different with a few thousand volts compared to a pp3 battery or whatever powers the multimeter. AngeloEVS is probably the best guy to talk to on this.

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 01 Aug 2010, 20:16
by sjmtlewy
I'm getting new ones regardless, as half the ends are falling off anyway.

Re: ht leads reading with multimeter .. replace?

Posted: 01 Aug 2010, 20:21
by kevtherev
so you didn't really need a multimeter to tell you that it's time for a new set.. :D