Your extremely lucky that you didn't kill yourself. That coil puts out about 30Kv. You should never test it that way- ever. They make a proper tool for testing that is safe and reliable means of testing for spark along with even measuring it's output amplitude and peak to peak.

Now, as was stated, the gap is way off. Second, the Accel coils are notorious for being complete rip-offs / garbage. Third, Champion plugs are also not so good.

Champion has a history a mile long and, in the beginning, they did make a very good plug- when it was Champion. Well, they, like others, were bought out and, ever since then, many have been complaining of quality control issues. MISFIRE is very common with their plugs.

Not too many years ago, we had to dig around through a whole box of those things just to find 8-good ones using a scope. They were junk back then and, from my experience, they are still producing garbage.

Now, the Bosch plugs are also junk. Especially the platinum 4-electrode jobbies.

Autolites are good and NGK- Vs are even better in my experience. I would run either one of those gapped to the standard .035". I would not jump to a 55 mil gap based on the output of a standard ignition coil - especially coming from Accel.

Now, if your Accel coil is a CAP-based system that runs 40-50Kv- yes, then, it would be safe to say a wider gap could be employed without inducing timing issues.

But, if it's the off-the-shelf coil that simply bolts on where the old one was- leave the gap set to OEM spec. I run MSD in conjunction with cap over plug and, I'm only gapped to 40 mils. A gap of 55 mils is huge- that's 20 mils over OEM spec.

If you've got oil on your plugs, one of two things may be occurring:

1. Valvetrain / Head issue or

2. Bad oil rings- blow-by.

Now, since you already stated that you've got 115 psi, that's actually on the low side since, OEM spec says, anything <100 is out of spec, that's an indicator. I've got 137K and testing ~140-160 psi minus the two rears (7 & 8) which are around 120.

I would run another pressure test and, run it on a HOT engine- not cold or warm but, fully warmed up. If there's an issue, it will show on a HOT engine.

After that, if it tests good, look at the valvetrain and see what that presents after removing the covers.

CM

 

Thanks kenna. I'm currently running a non-fouler on spark plug #5 and I'm still fouling plugs. I regapped all of my plugs to 0.35 and she's still idling rough as hell. You can hear it missing while driving. I'm also getting lifter knock at idle as previously mentioned. My theory is the the plenum is blown (oil residue on plug) in conjunction with a lifter that isn't pumping up and a bad valve seal. Is there any way of testing which lifter is bad? This problem only started after I changed from ****ty plugs the bosch +2's to champion 71's copper. When I go to tear into the motor, should I get new intake bolts?

 

You MUST replace the intake bolts. They are NOT re-usable.

Do a compression test. Post your results.

 

plus depending on what you read and according to dodge tsb's they were the real problem with plenum gasket failure since they were too long and bottomed out before applying proper sandwiching pressure to hold gasket in place...

 

That would be the plenum plate bolts.

 

Your right I didnt read carefully...Thanks

 

Hey, its Tuesday, second monday of the week, and following a holiday weekend......

 

I'll make sure to pick up a set of intake bolts and I might as well do a pcv valve while the intake and valve covers are off. If I was to shorten the bolts to the plenum pan and replace the gasket or put lockwashers and locktight on the bolts and a new gasket i wonder how that would work?