ismalley:

Re: meter readings

Inasmuch as you were using scales for Kohms (thousands of ohms), the numbers displayed on the meter represent that number of thousands of ohms, i.e., 22,300 ohms,and 139,000 ohms! Those figures are way above the actual resistance of 4700-5000 ohms which is typical of spark plug internal resistance. Technique counts.

After you converted to a "non-resistor" configuration, you should have used the 200 ohm scale to more properly gauge the result of your efforts.