Pow'r Max Plug or wire???

[nighteye 0]

Went out to Rototill tonight and When I started the Onan, It seemed to be missing a bit. I reved it up a little and it quit firing on one side all together. I pulled the wire off the plugs one at a time to find out which side and found it was the right side. Then the wierd part. When I was putting it back on, I found that it would fire when the wire was about a half inch from the plug, but would,nt fire when it was on the plug. I ended up using some trusty duct tape to hold it that half inch away to get the job done. It ran like a top. I have never seen this and wonder if someone would know what was up. What is happening here. When the going gets tough the tough use duct tape.

[Greenhorn 0]

Sounds like the plug went bad, firing out the side.

[JimS 1]

The plug is starting to foul. Holding the wire away from the plug makes the ignition develop a higher voltage in order to jump the larger gap. This higher voltage is then able to fire the bad plug. Mechanics have used this trick for years to get fouled plugs to fire.

[nighteye 0]

Sure enough, You were right. I put a couple new plugs in and it fixed the problem . I tried a couple of Splitfires in there and tomarrow I'll try it out on another garden and see if I notice anything different. Thanks for the new knoledge. Ken

[jlasater 250]

Typically just running a good NGK or Nippondenso plug is more than adequate. Splitfire's and their ilk don't run any better.

[nighteye 0]

The walmart down the road had em on clearance for $1.19 last winter so its worth an experiment.