plug wire arcing

So I heard this ticking noise and couldn't figure out what it was until it got dark enough and then noticed the arcing near the top of the plug boot to the engine. Other than applying some stop arcing goop sold at the local autoparts store, what should I be concerned about. Am I just treating the symptom of some bigger problem?

 

Stop-arcing goop---no toolbox is complete without it!

You either have a hairline split in the plug wire, or the plug wire is not "screwed" tightly enough onto the plug cap boot....yes, there is a brass (?) wood-screw like stud inside the plug boot, and its pointed end literally pieces the center core of the plug wire during installation of the cap boot onto the plug wire.....hence you truly do "screw" the boot cap onto the plug wire.

You want to make sure there is good electrical contact----by making sure that the boot cap is screwed tightly onto the plug wire, making good, healthy, happy electrical contact between the two, so as to make big, blue, happy-ending spark at your plugs.

Probably wouldn't be a bad time to test the secondary resistance of your coils (with an ohmeter) to make sure that things are up to snuff with your coils (should be 12,000 ohms +/- 20% at 70-degrees F, and WITHOUT the boot caps installed), and you can also test each plug cap individually for proper electrical resistance (for some brilliant reason, it's not listed int he service manual, but I believe it's 5,000 ohms +/- 10%)

 

great stuff there Len, thanks! I don't like to make assumptions when dealing with stuff I know little about. I'll dig a little deeper with the info you provided as a guide.

Thanks again,

Tweez