The topic says it, i touch pretty much any vaccum hose conntected to the carb and it feels like I'm getting a small electric shock. (yes I have electric choke) Like taking a 9 volt battery to your tongue, only it's going through my hand, the same feeling though. (on another note, my winsheild wipers recently stop working completely, don't respond to the controls at all)

Is something not grounded properly? All I know is that the engine is tuned exactly where I want it to be, yet I'm still getting 9PMG with lockup. Could an electrical problem be stealing my coil charge and possibly giving me less than optimal spark? (enough to run, but weak enough that I'm not getting a good burn)

I dunno, it's the only possibilty I can imagine left, because everything else with the engine is right. I was very concerned witht he fact that my vaccum lines had a charge to them though.

Any ideas?

 

Rubber cannot carry an electric charge, your crazy!

 

StealthElephant, yes, a vacuum hose can give you an electrical shock, you have a bad plug or coil wire leaking spark into 1 of the vacuum hoses, check them to see if any of them are leaking spark.

 

I doubt you are getting shocked by the vacuum hose, what else are you touching? When you bend down, are you putting your hand on something to steady yourself. I also doubt that the shock is coming from a spark plug wire.

 

i don't doubt for a second that he is getting a shock from a vacuum hose, or that it comes from a bad wire.

 

And here I thought electricity took the path of least resistance. So much for physics!

 

"And here I thought electricity took the path of least resistance. So much for physics!"

it does,.. the laws of physics fully applie to this

 

If that were ALWAYS the case all the stupid people would die first in any kind of electrical incident

 

Denn, I'd like a plausible explanation then.

Razor, wish it were the case, unfortunately, they like expensive sneakers and boots. Too bad about the rubber soles. Poor trees have to pay the price there too.

 

ok Red Devil, here it is. although its not just plausible, its pure fact
vacuum hoses have carbon in them, as you know, carbon conducts electrical current, it conducts it the same way in a vacuum hose as it conducts current in a spark plug wire, only vacuum hoses don't have as much carbon as a plug wire does, so it has a much higher resistance.
you can have a bad coil wire leaking into a vacuum hose & when touching it get a pretty much continuous shock from it & the motor will keep on running & never miss a lick.

 

1. What hose would be on the coil to get this charge. (esp. on the car in question)
2. I'd more easily believe that it would ground strait to it's body rather than to a hose. Seen that a ton.
3. I think you are thinking old style hose.
4. I need to stop drinking now.
5. Why is the jerky thread still open?

 

1, i used the coil as an example, a plug wire can do the same thing.
2, normally it would, unless there isn't a good ground near.
3, newer hose seems to have more carbon in it than the old hoses had. they also don't last as long as the older hose either.
i use vacuum hose to find which cylinder is missing on DIS systems.
4, its not that late yet, so why stop? i haven't
5, it isn't now

so you know, i have gotten shocked by a vacuum hose on 3 different vehicles in over 35 years of working on cars, the first time was around 30 years ago(didn't hurt), the second time was around 87 or 88(on a DIS system & hurt like hell), the last time was 4 or 5 years ago(didn't hurt, but scared the **** out of me), so it is rare, but it does happen.

 

It doesn't hurt, but it there is def a slight electric current going through it.

When you say leaking spark do you mean I'll be able to visibly see a current arcing from the wire to the vaccum line if I were to pop the hood at night?

 

Hook up a multi-meter to it and see if your getting anything. This is crazy weird, unless your getting voltage off your coil.

 

without a scope there are 2 ways that come to mind you can use to find it if its a bad wire.

1, start it up & wrap your hand around each wire & then run your hand down the wires, if you get popped, you found it. you will need to check all of the wires. yes, if your normal, it hurts.

2, this would probably work best in the dark & the way i would do it. take a somewhat long screw driver & attach a grounded wire to it & run the screw driver along each wire where they are against any of the vacuum hoses & watch for a spark leak.

if you chose #1,..... please take vids,... & post them up somewhere

for those who think im serious about #1,.... its a joke.

 

Radiator hoses can carry electricity... I found that out with a multimeter one time by accident. I touched the ground probe to the middle of the hose, no where near the ends or any metal, and the positive probe to the battery and the meter read 12.xx volts.

yeah. i'm off topic, just saying I've seen rubber conduct electricity.

 

The electricity in the radiator hose only had to pass through the hose, after that the coolant is a good conductor.

 

to further back up what your saying there are mounts for the old vaccume tubes and when they arv due to teh carbon from the plastic will tend to arc again and again.

 

Even before I noticed my vacuum line was charged, my temperature gauge had been on the fritz. It would jump around like crazy, then go back to normal, then stop working, then jump around, then work normal.

If I do have an electrical leak somewhere could this be screwing with my temp sender which is screwed into the block? I'm just trying to piece things together.

It's really a moot point, because the engine is coming out again in 2 weeks during xmas break so I'm going to rewire everything but any thoughts?