distributor shock

[buzzyb]

Hi can anyone tell me why I get schocked when touching the dist. cap when setting timing,is there a ground missing,the engine is grounded,but I still get shocked when I touch it,not touching any metal when doing so,I wear a rubber glove when I set the timing in order to prevent getting saped,does anyone have any info. on this.Thank,s Buzzy!

[124JOE]

leaking voltage may be moisture under the cap
loose or broken wires

hope this helps

[azruss]

getting your foot out of that bucket of water will help. Are you using an aftermarket coil or how power ignition system.

[RRoller123]

Leak at the cap is likely culprit. Coil wire insulation could be shot. The coil voltage is very high so you don't need to appear to be touching any metal. There is a path to ground through your fingers (and a painful path)!

[Ky2000]

A bad cap would be my first guess. The cap material should be non conductive, but a crack or moistore could leak the high voltage.

[DocGraphics]

X2 on a cracked cap, I've been thru 2, cracked one when I bought the lit me up & then noticed the replacement had cracked when that one lit me up too.

[buzzyb]

Thank,s new cap and wires are very good using a high voltage coil 40,000 .

Leak at the cap is likely culprit. Coil wire insulation could be shot. The coil voltage is very high so you don't need to appear to be touching any metal. There is a path to ground through your fingers (and a painful path)!

[buzzyb]

Thank,s I did check for cracks and this is also my 2nd cap. using a high voltage coil,40000,with block in dis.pent.

X2 on a cracked cap, I've been thru 2, cracked one when I bought the lit me up & then noticed the replacement had cracked when that one lit me up too.

[buzzyb]

Thank,s wires are good and can,t see any moisture anywere,or crack,s will check again.

leaking voltage may be moisture under the cap
loose or broken wires

hope this helps

[buzzyb]

using a block and 40000 volt pentroix coil,but I had no problem before with it,will check for cracks Again wires are good.

Leak at the cap is likely culprit. Coil wire insulation could be shot. The coil voltage is very high so you don't need to appear to be touching any metal. There is a path to ground through your fingers (and a painful path)!

[ventura ace]

I had this problem a few years back, and it turned out to be the wrong cap. The correct cap and the incorrect cap look identical on the outside, but there is a difference between these similar caps on the inside. The cap that I bought was for a different design rotor (for a different design distributor shaft) than mine. With the wrong cap, the rotor was about 1/2" lower than the contacts inside the cap, so the easier path of less resistance was through my hand when I held onto the distributor, and I would get shocked every time I grabbed it unless I used a very thick glove to insulate myself. The car surprisinglhy ran pretty well for several hundred miles this way, until all the arcing inside put a layer of carbon on all the contacts, and it eventually wouldn't get spark at the plugs any more.

Alvon