Hey guys, I am looking for a spark plug voltage tester with an lcd display that will give me a reading for my KV through my spark plug wire. My local mechanic showed me his and it was amazing. I could easily locate a failed plug wire from the rest. I looked on the internet to buy one and I can't find any for sale. This is really strange. I've attached one that is similar to the one I want. Again I can't even buy one. No one is selling them. If any of you guys have one to spare I really want to buy it. These tools seem to be hard to find for some reason. https://www.amazon.com/OTC-3141-Self-contained-Voltage-Tester/dp/B0002STSF8 out of stock Thanks, Nick Abrams
a google search shows that the Mac ET3141 was made by OTC. OTC is now owned by Bosch. i will call my contact there on Monday to see if one is still available. i work part time at an auto parts store around the corner from them now i want one too!
Do a search on EBay for "spark analyzer". There are some new and used analyzers that will read kilovolts.
Thanks for all the replies. Budget36, Thanks for trying I'll keep you posted. BJR, I know right! I hope this isn't a trend. Parts and tools drying up. It really is a great tool. 1-shot, and that's why cars of today will be terrible old cars. FiftyFive, Sun Machine? I'll look into that. Old tools are great! 36-3window, Wow I got lucky. That is great info. Thanks for doing that. Please let us know what your friend thinks. A normal KV reading should be 9 to 13 KV. Although its strange, the tool will always read a higher kv the closer the clamp is to the distributor. So when testing the spark plug wires you should clamp the tool in the same general area. When I used it on my MG, I found 3 wires were showing a similar reading. Around 11 kv. The final wire was showing 3 KV. I swapped wires and it still showed the same reading 3 KV. My spark plug was dead. I mention this because my original post made is sound like the wire was the culprit. I think it is still a useful tool to check spark. What I thought was a vacuum leak or bad carburetors was a simple spark plug. Chris, Spark analyzer. That's what I'm looking for. I'll look into it. Truck 64, Is that an old tool converted into a lamp?! So that's where they all went huh. woodbutcher, Good info. I'll let you know what i find. Oldmics, Haha you only play that game once. Thank again for all the feedback.
By the time you've researched this, found a tester, bought it, tested all your wires, you could have saved a ton of time (= money !), you could have bought three or four sets of new plug wires..! Mike
Naw...they were good tools, borrowed one once for an OT car...found a spot in the wire that I got high KV...i/e 15-16KV...bad wire...current the same...larger resistance (from bad wire) mean a bigger voltage jump. Ohm meter would never tell you that, would have to spend the dollars on a Megger, wasn't practical then, might not be now, dunno. Thing is, it's nice to have a tool to find the one bad thing in a system, than toss parts at the whole thing to fix it. May not use the tool daily, but nice to have it when you need it.
thanks for the backup Budget36. We have all have a drawer in our toolbox that is just for specialty tools. Some that I only find a use for once a year. But there what make jobs easy.
My dad just bought a Mercedes sl500. Runs ruff sometime, it runs fine. Plug wires for that are 280 bucks and that's a cheap set. Sure would like to test them before coughing up 280 bucks. Sent from my SM-G920V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
follow up......I checked today with OTC/Bosch and they are discontinued. I was told there is absolutely none available from them
I recall about 15 years or so, the one my neighbor lent me, was about 120$$, I wanted one, but just kept thinking they'd get cheaper, bummer, should have got one then.
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