[knight hawk]

How can I tell if the coil wire is any good ? I think it's one of those carbon wires. And I'm not too good at reading a ohm meter, when I put it on a battery and tested with a test lite, It showed no continuity

[boothboy]

Pull a plug wire off and use it in place of the coil wire. If it starts you have a bad coil wire. If it doesn't you look somewhere else.
BB

[vicrod]

To test a wire that operates at 30,000 + volts would be difficult. Just replace it.
Why do you need to test this wire?
Explain the trouble you are having in detail and we may be able to help.

vicrod

[cmoritz]

You could try spraying some soapy water on them, the soap helps the water stick to the wire,..then rev the engine a little and look for a lite show around the wires..

[knight hawk]

I did just that, tried another wire, then it worked, so made a 'new' wire from some left over universal wires kit I had. BUT, why can't you check continuity in wire that conducts 30000 volts ? It would just make it easier to find, I think

[vicrod]

According to the SAE standard J2031 which is a standard for high tension ignition wire, the DC resistance of ignition wire is 500 ohms per foot.
However, the resistance check does not help determine how the wire will perform at it's rated voltage.
If any physical damage has occurred, aging or contamination that allows energy to escape through the insulation to ground and depending on how much leakage occurs the resulting spark energy can be greatly reduced.

vicrod