Coil or spark plug wire(s)?

Tiny
NDOWENS
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  • 1994 HYUNDAI SCOUPE
  • 4 CYL
  • MANUAL
I have a 1994 Hyundai Scoupe, non-turbo 4-cyl. My car started stalling one day while waiting for road construction workers let us go through. After on the way back from work to home, it seemed to do a little better, until the car got warm. Tonight, my dad and I looked under the hood in the dark, and I was looking at the coil and thought I seen a little bit of a blinking "light" and my dad seen it too and I looked at it again, then he noticed the spark plug wire(s) sparking blue, though I don't know if it is just one or all 4 wires. What do I need to check or fix?
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 7:10 AM

12 Replies

Tiny
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The coil and leads are leaking voltage, replace them all.

Mark (mhpautos)
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 10:15 AM
Tiny
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I know most of the sparks were going through the spark plug wire(s) to the spark plug, looked like a consistant flow of blue sparks as well if this helps anymore.
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 6:49 PM
Tiny
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Any external shorting is not acceptable, replace the coil and leads.

Mark (mhpautos)
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 9:36 PM
Tiny
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Thanks for your replies. Sorry I am not a car kind of person. I am more of a technology person. So by leads you mean the spark plug wires?
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 9:41 PM
Tiny
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Yes, leads refer to High tension leads or spark plug wires, High tension leads is the correct term.

Mark (mhpautos)
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 9:46 PM
Tiny
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Thank you :)
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 9:47 PM
Tiny
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Hmm also to note, it idles rough when cold, and today and last night while it was still cold it stalled. Tonight I didn't see blue sparks, I just seen tiny orange/red sparks going from one plug to the other. Most of the time I seen it around the 3rd cyl, sometimes at the 2nd, and 4th. All were the tiny sparks, though I could see the sparks sometimes in the middle of the wire.
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Friday, December 3rd, 2010 AT 2:30 AM
Tiny
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Same problem, change the leads, this will fix it.

Mark (mhpautos)
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Friday, December 3rd, 2010 AT 5:36 AM
Tiny
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I replaced the plug wires and coil wire with Napa's Beldon Max Wires and it still stalls. Though I havent got the chance to look to see if there is a voltage leak or not, havent had time to day. What else should I look at if I can't see any voltage leaks?
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Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 AT 7:53 AM
Tiny
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Clean the throttle body and the IAC check that the base idle is ok and that there are no vacuum leaks.

Mark (mhpautos)
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Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 AT 8:48 AM
Tiny
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I pulled the lead wire off the spark plug and took out the spark plug out and put the wire back on and got my wife to tell me what color it was when I crank it. When I did, it shot her in the face even though she wasn't very close to it. I asked her what color it was and she said it looked like it was "blue and turned pink or orange" Though I would of course think it was blue and orange. If it is changing colors, could the coil be going bad? I set the plug on the front of the car on the metal frame above the radiator, if it matters.

Thanks
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Monday, January 17th, 2011 AT 5:53 AM
Tiny
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I still am not sure if the coil needs to be replaced or not.
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Friday, January 28th, 2011 AT 1:42 AM

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