Help with sparking ignition wire!!!
 

I have a question related to this discussion. So I'm headed into my late 20's and am an Electrician by trade. Started learning the trade when I was a kid, going to work with my grandpa's company whenever school was out, and even started and worked full time for him starting the summer before my Jr/Sr year in HS (I graduated a year early,) and have worked for a few different companies since then. I had no older male figure in my life growing up besides him, but he only knew electrical for the most part. Not much of anything else. Because of that, I've pretty much always had to learn by teaching myself, how to fix everything and do all the work that came up over the years (my family would also NEVER hire professionals of anything. Always had to either know somebody, figure it out for yourself, or just go without whatever the situation was at any given time.) So, I know a decent bit about many different trades & skills, that I have mostly taught myself over the years. This includes mechanical work. Ever since I was 17 I have always fixed my own vehicle. Now I seem to have become the family mechanic (or really the family handyman.) When it's something new, I research the internet, study the area of the vehicle that I'll be working on, and figure it out. I haven't failed yet.
I just want you to keep all that in mind when you read and possibly reply to my question below.

So yesterday, my smallest truck started doing the same thing as what happened to the guy from this threads original post. The "Check Engine" light also started to come on and blink last night. It's a 2005 Ford Ranger, 5-Speed, with the medium sized factory engine (just the regular V6.) I haven't had it long so all the parts being used are still pretty much factory standard.
When I had a second to look under the hood late last night, I could tell it was coming from the engine, but I couldn't figure out where or what exactly was the issue...
UNTIL I SAW SOMETHING ELSE!!! I had this truck sitting in my 2nd driveway around the side and back of my house where the only light back there is a flood light on a motion detecting sensor switch. Right before I was about to close the hood, turn it off, and give up, my flood light happened to go off from lack of movement. When it did, I was looking down and around my engine and saw 2 small lighted sparks. Upon further investigation, I seen that these 2 sparks are coming from one of my ignition wires. Where the wire feed turns at a 90 degree angle, is where the 1st spark location is. That specific spot is sitting right next to/on the metallic side of the engine. Me being an electrician, my first thought was that tge insulation had a open knick in it and that is what was causing that. The 2nd location was just about 4 or 5 inches further down on the same wire, right there almost where the wire is terminated into the spark going into and feeding the engine. Because of that and my initial thought process on the 1st location, I thought the same thing with this one. I figured there was an open knick in the wires insulation right there at its termination.

Heres what I'd like to know...
(1) Could it be a knick like I 1st thought or no? And if so, would just insulating those 2 small spots fix my problem?
(2) Is my ignition wire actually bad and need to be replaced (Because it's only that one wire sparking and none else.) And if that's the case, have all my ignition wires gone (or are going) bad and need to be replaced? Or just that 1 wire?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, can somebody HELP ME out and give me some information? Everything I find on the internet has people saying all kinds off different opinions, solutions, and ideas & none of them either make much sense or are described well enough...
Thanks in advance for any and all help/advice that anybody may or may not offer up!
God Bless!

With regular points and coil ignition (Kettering ignition), the secondary voltage produced from the coil is dependent on what is needed to jump the spark plug gap. Thus, a larger plug gap (or other secondary resistance i.e. broken conductor wire, bad/dirty wire connections, etc.) can increase the voltage requirements. If the secondary system insulation is suspect, voltage will leak to ground as needed and a spark plug misfire is the result.

Same with later CDI and related ignition systems, except voltage output is higher. This is a plus in the spark creation area, but can also be a bummer when the high voltage energy recognizes an easier path to ground. Make sure insulated system parts are doing their job.

Here's an excellent article on the basic ignition types and a discussion of performance-related operation:

https://www.jetav8r.com/Vision/Ignition/CDI.html

Sherwood

With regular points and coil ignition (Kettering ignition), the secondary voltage produced from the coil is dependent on what is needed to jump the spark plug gap. Thus, a larger plug gap (or other secondary resistance i.e. broken conductor wire, bad/dirty wire connections, etc.) can increase the voltage requirements. If the secondary system insulation is suspect, voltage will leak to ground as needed and a spark plug misfire is the result.

Same with later CDI and related ignition systems, except voltage output is higher. This is a plus in the spark creation area, but can also be a bummer when the high voltage energy recognizes an easier path to ground. Make sure insulated system parts are doing their job.

Here's an excellent article on the basic ignition types and a discussion of performance-related operation:

https://www.jetav8r.com/Vision/Ignition/CDI.html

Sherwood

Just get a piece of vacuum hose with enough diameter to go around the wire. Split it lengthwise and fit it over the wire. Should act as an insulator on that wire. I wouldn't replace them all unless you start to notice sparking on the other wires. If you really want to spend money, go ahead and buy a new set as your original set is now 15 years old.

911pcars
thanks for posting the URL, a good descriptive article.

jackofalltrades
I think you and i were raised in the same environment. In the old days when a mechanic found a plug wire that was shorting to ground he would cut the correct length of wire from a 100 ft. roll and make the cheap repair. Of course this was before solid state ignition systems.

My background was in electronics from old tube theory, transistors, integrated circuits, to digital.
When my friends have electrical problems with their cars quite often I will ask them if they have clean engine and battery grounds.

Poor grounds can cause a variety of intermittent electrical problems.

When the current jumps the gap on the spark plug it makes its way to engine ground which then has to find its way back to the battery. Current takes the least path of resistance so worn out plug wires will arc to ground especially when ground wire connections are rusted or corroded.

Lash

Many guys forget the ignition system is a system composed of multiple parts needing attention prescribed by the maker at their recommended intervals. So if you delay replacing plugs and go for another 50K miles expect to replace items that wouldn’t normally need replacement. Coils and plug leads will be stressed to failure. Another issue is “upgrades” that are in fact downgrades. Factories aren’t leaving power or economy on the table in the ignition department.

Before I changed to Electromotive XDi crankfire ignition, I used an MSD system for several years with no problems. I believe that the key is to find/use a proper plug wire set. I used a homemade set that used new Beru connectors and well insulated wires. With the XDi, I am using the Clewitt wires (dual plug) with no issues.

To be clear I was speaking to the guy with the 2005 vehicle. Nothing wrong with a well installed MSD or the like but one interesting fact from Neil Harvey over in the engine rebuilding forum. He states the measured combustion pressure from the Bosch CDI system as the highest of all the ignition systems they tested. Not too bad for something that was introduced on road going 911s in 1969.