This paper reports the contamination performance of two distribution arresters (new and used ones) tested under three different contaminant conditions - clean fog, ESDD (equivalent salt deposit density) level (A, B, C, and D), and kaolin contamination conditions, and their leakage current, total leakage current, and component of the resistive leakage current were measured in order to diagnose arrester deterioration. The 3rd harmonics was larger than 5th and 7th ones for the arrester under the clean fog, and as the ESDD contamination level was applied, 5th one became relatively larger than 3rd one. Therefore, these results indicated that the resistive leakage current could be used for the diagnosis of the arresters.