Dizzy external spark against pipe

[burnzdog]

Hi all,

2.1 DJ petrol

Slightly odd one and need some help to understand. Yesterday I started my van up and it sounded terrible and felt like it was misfiring. Had been running up to this point (Well no issues with engine) when I look at the engine I could see the air pressure regulator tube which sits just off the distributor was touching the edge of one of the HT leads, causing a spark and in tern making it misfire. The tube that comes of the regulator as you can see is very close to the distributor so Im not surprised its manged to touch the distributor. What I am not sure about is why it decided to arc against a rubber tube?!

Is there a bigger problem here or would this be expected if a cable physically touched the HT lead?

Thanks

diz

IMG_20191117_105853912.gif (109.97 KiB) Viewed 1233 times

[Aidan]

sounds like the insulation on the lead has broken down

the Beru leads made wherever they are but not in Germany are shocking (no pun intended) quality

[Cecil]

The rubber tube will have some dampness on it this time of the year . Rubber hose then becomes a conductor in the eyes of thousands of volts from the ignition system.

[HarryMann]

Both the above apply I'm sure.
Nothing strange. New bit of tube from ?? and maybe new HT lead but more air between them important

[Mr Bean]

Just browsing posts in a rare moment of inactivity and having recently experienced a similar problem, It occurred to me that this kind of breakdown could result from a non connected lead laying in close proximity to a grounded part to provide a conductive path via/through a weak point in the insulation for the extremely high voltage. Damp conditions could exacerbate (spellchecker caution) this situation.
We all know though, that powering ignition with HT leads disconnected can cause damage to ignition systems.