The purpose of the ignition system is to ignite, or fire, the spark plugs in order to generate power to run the engine. Most vehicles built prior to 1974 use a non-electronic distributor ignition ...

Distributors used to be a fixture on car engines, but they were replaced by coil packs somewhere in the 1980s. Here's why ...

The distributor has two jobs: to house a switch that tells the coil when to send a spark, and to send that spark to each individual cylinder in the correct order. The distributor shaft is spun by the ...

The intermittent stalling problem was solved by replacing the distributor. This is the sequel to troubleshooting my ‘86 Dodge Aries that defied logic and baffled my mechanic. To be sure, electronic ...

No Ford engine project is complete without a properly functioning ignition system. This system has the important job of delivering the spark to the required cylinder at precisely the right time. Any ...

The ignition system has always been the weakest link in the combustion engine cycle. Belgian-born engineer, Jean Joseph tienne Lenoir, invented the stationary gasoline engine back in 1860 and he used ...

If you have a classic, vintage, or otherwise old car, you've probably heard of the distributor that it features. It's part of the ignition system that transfers current from the battery to the ...

How does spark plug timing work? An explanation of automotive ignition systems. Ignition coils, distributors, and firing intervals all play an important role in ignition. Note: The cylinder order from ...

Automotive ignitions systems have seen many transitions over the years. Historically, the designs have matured from a magneto to today’s coil-over-spark plug designs. The progression follows the ...

Heat initiates the internal combustion process. Diesel engines utilize the temperature buildup from extremely high compression (pressure) to ignite the air/fuel mixture, with a little help from glow ...

The ignition system’s job is to ignite the air-fuel mixture in a gasoline engine. In addition to the spark plugs that spark in the combustion chambers, the ignition system consists of an ignition coil ...