Mike, I have had the situation where the wires to #1 and #3 plugs were toast
at the connection to the plugs, but the wires to #2 and #4 were like new.
This has happened even with Bosch wire sets.  Also, take a look at inside of
distributor cap.  Let us know if it is carbon tracked.

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Diehr" <md03@XOCHI.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: Help diagnose Cinco

> Aha! The smoking gun has been found.
>
> Step right up folks, it's "test your knowledge" time.
>
> To recap:  Old van with 150k miles, was running fine, suddenly lost
> power and wouldn't start again, about 10 miles after a fillup.
> After towing to a gas station started once, then immediately died
> after about 1 second.   Sounded normal when it cranked.    Wouldn't
> start again.
>
> At first, thought a hall sender problem, replaced distributor and re-
> aligned the distributor gear which was installed improperly by the
> PO.  This turned out to be a red herring.
>
> Afterwards, still no spark on the #1 plug (as measured by a timing
> light on the #1 spark plug wire).  Spark observed, however, when
> connected to the wire between the coil and the distributor.
>
> So here is today's super stumper question:
>
> Why would there be spark at the coil wire, but not on the #1 spark plug?
>
> 20 points if you get it here.
>
> Hint 1: It's NOT one of the obvious answers:   The Distributor, coil,
> hall generator, hall sender, and all wiring is new and functional.
> 10 points if you get it now.
>
> Hint 2: Although the #3 spark plug looked a bit black, it was in
> otherwise good condition.   I had not as of yet pulled the #1 plug.
> 5 points if you guess it now.
>
> See here for the smoking gun:   http://xochi.com/vanagon/Plug1.jpg
>
> So for the next question, what happened to cause this?
>