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Ignition noise.

nfsus

Yeah its turned off, touch it
May 9, 2011
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Arkansas
It’s time to address ignition noise through a tune up. Chevy Astro with a 4.3. It’s for sure spark related. There’s resistor wires and resistor plugs available. I’m leaning toward resistor wires and standard plugs.

What’s your experiences?
 

I would go to a Chevrolet dealers parts department and give them the last 8 numbers of the VIN and say you need plugs and wires for it.
 
Resistor wires and plugs have been standard equipment on cars for many decades. Unless the resistors are going bad, there is no need to replace them ... or if it needs a tune-up anyway. Antenna too close to the engine bay? Power wires running near the distributor or coil? Diagnose before igniting the parts cannon.
 
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Resistor wires and plugs have been standard equipment on cars for many decades. Unless the resistors are going bad, there is no need to replace them ... or if it needs a tune-up anyway. Antenna too close to the engine bay? Power wires running near the distributor or coil? Diagnose before igniting the parts cannon.
No I’m not throwing parts. It’s 177000 miles and needs a tune up. And not all autos get resistor plugs or wires even though they’ve been around for years
 
No I’m not throwing parts. It’s 177000 miles and needs a tune up. And not all autos get resistor plugs or wires even though they’ve been around for years
Well, resistor plugs and wires became standard equipment and the mid to late 60s, and with the Advent of all the electronic equipment, breakerless ignitions and computers, you will not find a vehicle without resistor plugs and wires.
 
I agree with Greg about holding off on the parts cannon. Another idea is to consider not only where the coax is running but also what just happens to be in the vicinity. Most people think "ok, maybe its too close to the engine bay" but not too many consider the mufflers.

This probably sounds odd but sometimes you'll need to ground the muffler with braided copper wire since they can easily gather RF under the right circumstances. Doubly so if you're running straight pipes for whatever reason, those tend to be loud in volume and in RF.

Other sources can be the hood itself, the doors, the battery, etc. These should be fully grounded with braided copper - you can never have too many grounds in regards to RF. The more, the better. Promise.

Try removing the coax from the feedpoint on the antenna, itself, then (while leaving the coax plugged into the radio) turn the radios volume all the way up with the engine running. See if it still makes noise. This is to determine whether the noise is coming through the antenna, itself, or through the coax. It's a compliment to the above observation, basically.

Occasionally in traffic, I will pick up other peoples alternators / ignition sound. In example: I'm stopped in the turning lane and can hear people driving by at normal speed through the radio itself.

Again, don't buy anything YET. Sometimes it's more obvious than you think and is as simple as moving the coax or even the radio itself to another location, other times it requires a new alternator, new plugs, a multitude of things. If you do want to chump change your way with ideas, get braided copper or maybe even some of those cheap $1 clip on ferrite beads. Start there.

Good luck.
 
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Alright thanks guys. Here’s the thing it’s not my first rodeo. It’s bonded it’s grounded it’s scraped and strapped. It needs a tune up because of other issues not because the radio has some noise. But while I’m doing the tuneup I’m looking into advanced options to improve things.
 
Both resistor wires and spark plugs age.

Some resistor plugs burn out the resistor, leaving a spark gap inside of the spark plug.

I think (Chinese?) Autolites might be famous for this.

Old spark plug wires can leak interference.

Before high energy electronic ignitions, it was either resistor wires or resistor plugs, but not both.

These days, electronic ignitions might actually use both.

Some of the better spark plugs are made in Japan these days.

If the engine is old enough to have a distributor cap and rotor, those may be due changing and like everything else these days, aren't made as well as they used to be.
 
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