twist and pull.
your 84 originally had an early style dist cap where you just see a
smooth hole when you remove the plug wire from the cap.
85 and up there is a post in that same hole..
those are better........I usually upgrade an 84 to that style.

be careful about cheap spark plug wires ..sometimes the ends will pull
apart rather than unplug from the dist cap.
twist and pull carefully, engine off.
scott
turbovans
pmail me your ph # ..if you wish.
there is a small chance I could stop by next week.

On 8/24/2012 1:57 PM, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
> After changing the plugs on my 1.9 I initially thought that the engine
> was missing. Exhaust smelled rich, engine was wobbling when idling and
> it didn't sound quite right. So I thought to unplug the cables, one by
> one, to see if I could find the missing cylinder.
>
> I wanted to unplug them at the distributor end, it being easier to get
> to that the sparky ends. But I could not get them to budge. Ignition
> wires not being inexpensive, I didn't apply full force, but instead
> moved to the harder to get to plug ends.
>
> Turned out that none of the cylinders were missing, the engine smoothed
> out fine.
>
> But my question is: is there a secret to getting the wires loose from
> the dizzie? Does a fellow just haul away 'till it busts free?
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
> Bend, Ore.
>