I was being a doofus and...

Canary94GT · Sep 30, 2011

the other day I was trying to check if a noise on the stang was coming from a particular cylinder, so I pulled off a wire from the dizzy cap and held it there for a second, then ZAP, it shocked me.

I saw the bolt travel from the dizzy terminal to my index finger tip. It caught me by surprise, it increased my heart beat and there was a slight sense of tingling in the tip of my finger. But herp derp makes sense since the current was just following the path of least resistance, ie me.

This is now 2-3 days later and I'm fine of course.

But I'm wondering how many volts/amps do you think hit me with the bone-stock ignition setup?

Also, anyone else been shocked (electrically ) while working on a car?

VibrantRedGT · Sep 30, 2011

Guess you found out the hard way you had plenty of spark.

DanG · Sep 30, 2011

Canary94GT said:
the other day I was trying to check if a noise on the stang was coming from a particular cylinder, so I pulled off a wire from the dizzy cap and held it there for a second, then ZAP, it shocked me.

I saw the bolt travel from the dizzy terminal to my index finger tip. It caught me by surprise, it increased my heart beat and there was a slight sense of tingling in the tip of my finger. But herp derp makes sense since the current was just following the path of least resistance, ie me.

This is now 2-3 days later and I'm fine of course.

But I'm wondering how many volts/amps do you think hit me with the bone-stock ignition setup?

Also, anyone else been shocked (electrically ) while working on a car?

I've been shocked pretty good by the distributor years back when setting my timing. I had a timing light powered from the + battery terminal, and had it grounded to the shock tower. After I used the distributor wrench to loosen the distributor hold down bolt, I started to turn the distributor when it hit me. To this day, I'm not even certain what caused it, but the force pushed me back immediately, and I saw black for a few seconds. Same as you, heart rate was fast and I felt kinda jittery for a few minutes afterwards.
I noticed the distributor cap was cracked after this happened, which I 'm not sure if the electrical shock caused this, or if it was previously cracked and that is where the shock came from.
I had an MSD box and a blaster coil on the car at the time. Not sure if this intensified it, but WOW!!!

I've also been shocked by the battery when loosening the + cable hold down in the trunk. I suppose this was having an inadequate ground at the time, but it still didn't feel good. I could feel the electrical pulses climbing through the ratchet.

ProKiller · Sep 30, 2011

thankfully i've never had this happen to me. i've been shocked plenty of times with AC but never DC. 110 a lot and 208 a couple times.

My dad did get hit pretty good at the coil when we were using the starter to crank over the engine to get it closer to TDC. he just about went through the wall he jump back so fast. i don't think i've ever seen him move so fast.

Last5.0 · Sep 30, 2011

Yeah, you're a doofus.....should have just had one of the neighborhood kids help you by holding the wire

Canary94GT · Sep 30, 2011

VibrantRedGT said:
Guess you found out the hard way you had plenty of spark.

LOLOLOLOLOllOLollolOL0L0LOllol

DanG said:
I've been shocked pretty good by the distributor years back when setting my timing. I had a timing light powered from the + battery terminal, and had it grounded to the shock tower. After I used the distributor wrench to loosen the distributor hold down bolt, I started to turn the distributor when it hit me. To this day, I'm not even certain what caused it, but the force pushed me back immediately, and I saw black for a few seconds. Same as you, heart rate was fast and I felt kinda jittery for a few minutes afterwards.
I noticed the distributor cap was cracked after this happened, which I 'm not sure if the electrical shock caused this, or if it was previously cracked and that is where the shock came from.
I had an MSD box and a blaster coil on the car at the time. Not sure if this intensified it, but WOW!!!

I've also been shocked by the battery when loosening the + cable hold down in the trunk. I suppose this was having an inadequate ground at the time, but it still didn't feel good. I could feel the electrical pulses climbing through the ratchet.

Yeah I bet you the MSD setup intensified it. Otherwise it's weird you saw black and I didn't. The MSD setup must carry more current or something.

We're both very lucky that ignition systems carry very little current and just an high amount of volts because current is what kills.

ProKiller said:
thankfully i've never had this happen to me. i've been shocked plenty of times with AC but never DC. 110 a lot and 208 a couple times.

My dad did get hit pretty good at the coil when we were using the starter to crank over the engine to get it closer to TDC. he just about went through the wall he jump back so fast. i don't think i've ever seen him move so fast.

It's crazy what the shock can do to you. But what's scariest is that if shocked by a certain amount of amps, it can freeze you and make you unable to let go of the wire that is shocking you.

Last5.0 said:
Yeah, you're a doofus.....should have just had one of the neighborhood kids help you by holding the wire

Damn you're right, there's a kid next door that annoys the heck out of me with his dirt bikes and would have been a perfect candidate!

Chythar · Sep 30, 2011

Canary94GT said:
It's crazy what the shock can do to you. But what's scariest is that if shocked by a certain amount of amps, it can freeze you and make you unable to let go of the wire that is shocking you.

Had that happen to me years back when I was a kid. Wasn't car-related, though; was visiting some relatives in Wisconsin, and we decided to go swim in a nearby creek. Had to cross over a cow fence to get there. On the way back, I found out it was electrified. I was still wet from the creek when I put my hands on the wire to climb over it. Felt this pulse or "thump" in my body every second or two, and I could NOT let go. Someone knocked me loose, and except for feeling a bit shaken I was fine.

Canary94GT · Sep 30, 2011

Man that's terrifying and NOT good that you were wet!

Btw, I felt like I was on a wild goose chase trying to follow your cobra conversion threads!!

toyman · Sep 30, 2011

IIRC the rule of thumb is 50k volts per inch of spark through dry air.

revhead347 · Oct 1, 2011

The stock coil is in the neighborhood of 20,000 volts. Of course it's very low current. I've had this happen about a million times before, but now I am numb to it. Usually getting shocked is a sign of cheap wires. I've never had a set of my Accel 8.8s shock me. If you don't like getting shocked, you can get a set of rubber gloves at the Home Depot for about $4.

Kurt

Canary94GT · Oct 1, 2011

Well it wasn't through the wires, it was from the dizzy terminal that I took the wire off of

Chythar · Oct 3, 2011

Canary94GT said:
Man that's terrifying and NOT good that you were wet!

Btw, I felt like I was on a wild goose chase trying to follow your cobra conversion threads!!

Eh, I should have kept them all in one thread; but that's 20/20 hindsight for you. And I was a city kid at the time who didn't know what a cow fence was. Ah well, if it fried any brain cells I certainly haven't missed them. Probably lost more brain cells when I went out drinking in college.

I was being a doofus and...

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Apparently my ex-husband made that mistake.

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