Shocking!

Hello All,

I have an 86 Maxima Wagon that I bought about two months
ago for a work beater. Pretty nice little car really, price was
right and no rust/dents and everything works.

My problem is this...

As with every car I purchase, I give it an "overhaul".

This consists of replacing all the fluids, belts, hoses, plugs,
plug wires, cap & rotor, etc, etc.

I have done this to my Maxima, but when I went to adjust the
timing, I got the equivalent of a 9v battery shock as I touched
the distributor to move it.

Like I said, I have replaced the cap & rotor, plugs & plug wires,
all with good quality components (I never use the cheap stuff).

I used NGK plugs - what the service manual calls for.

Has anyone ran into this problem before? The car seems to
run okay (a little sluggish and gas mileage is a little low).

I'm going to check ground straps this weekend.

The car has a little under 120K miles.

Thanks!
Scott

Hmmm. The thing is, most people here will have a 4th gen Maxima with the VQ engine which comes with a distributorless ignition and coilpacks directly over each sperk plug so we don't have to deal with a distributor and timing. However, its no surprise to me that you got a shock. After all, it is something like 20kV going through there. I'd suggest wearing some electrically insulated gloves to avoid the shock. Other than that, like you said, check the ground straps from the block/heads to the chassis.

Yeah, I kinda figured that not too many people would have a Maxima
this old, but thought I'd give it a try.

It's just a work beater... something to rack the miles up on while
the new cars (and toys) stay tucked in the garage.

As far as the shock through the cap goes... I'm an old hot rodder...
I have a 74 Nova SS with a 486HP 383 Stroker motor that uses a
modified HEI setup that puts out 50KV with no shock what-so-ever.

I'll do some more troubleshooting this weekend and let you know
what I find.

Thanks for the reply!

Scott

MMMM... 74 Nova SS :insert Homer Drooling Icon here:

And I forgot to mention that it's one of only 4,667 Novas
made with a factory 4-speed (Muncie M20) for 74.

Factory power disc brakes, power steering, A/C and it
even has factory tilt wheel to boot.

Nothing like rowing through the gears and hearing the
sweet sound from the exhaust!

Course... it passes everything but a gas station! :D

Scott