How do you know if a spark is getting to your spark plugs?

You can do several things

1) You can touch the spark plug wire while someone turns the engine over; a shock means it is getting juice

2) You can remove the sparkplug wire and let it rest as near the spark plug as possible. Have someone turn the engine over and watch for a spark to jump from wire to plug. Blue = good, yellow = weak.

3) You can remove the spark plug, leave it plugged into the wire, place the plug on solid metal (engine block, intake manifold) then turn the engine over. Watch at the electrode part of the plug; blue spark = good, yellow = bad.

Remember - if you are touching either the plug or the wire when the engine is turned over you are going to get a nice healthy jolt. Not life threatening but not fun either

There are a couple ways to find this out. The easiest way is to remove the plug from the engine, connect it to the plug wire, then hold the tip against the engine valve cover to ground it and have someone turn the key while you watch for spark. you could also lay it in your hand but it will give you a good zap if it is working.

Make sure your battery is fully charged and you have gas in the tank. These are two other common reasons the car may not start in the winter time.

that when you pull the plug wire off, put another plug on the wire, ground the plug on top of the engine and have someone crank the engine while you see if the plug is sparking.