By igniting the fuel inside your car’s engine’s combustion chamber the ignition system of your car works to deliver optimum power in the piston stroke while at the same time discharging the least amount of emissions.


Even though they may differ in configuration, all ignition systems work in the same style, they develop a miniature energy field which they transfer to another energy coil that is higher which finally injects the energy into the coil wire which is the main ignition system, the distributor cap and rotor, plug wires then the spark plug.     

Apart from a few differences here and there depending on various manufacturers, all ignition systems operate on the same principle of utilizing a low voltage trigger system which is called  the crankshaft position sensor (CKP) or the camshaft position sensor (CAS). The ignition module then intensifies to about 12 volts the initial low voltage of between 1.5 to 3.0 volts and then transfers it to the most important side of the ignition coil. By advancing and retarding the original trigger signal, the engine control module manages the ignition timing. If you have an old car this task is performed by points, condenser and a vacuum advance.

 
The ignition coil is made of two coils of cable which are wrapped around two iron cores and acts as a step up transformer, therefore its secondary coil does more turns than the primary coil. The secondary coil is wound with numerous thousand of turns of a thin wore as compared to the primary one which has just a few. For this reason it can cause the generation of over 40,000 volts of power to be produced by the car battery.   

The crankshaft position sensor and camshaft position sensors generate an electric signal whereas the engine control module uses a computer system to calibrate the spark timing. For those ignition systems that have a coil for every plug, which is known as Direct Ignition system, they come without any plug wires in the system but individually controlled ignition coils. It is the number of cylinders that the engine has that determines the number of coils or spark plugs. 

Relationship between the coils and the sparkplugs

It the battery that supplies the initial electrical energy required to run the ignition system, and this battery is usually automatically recharged by the alternator during any vehicle’s normal operation. The problem of a low battery is that it may not be strong enough to start the car even though the engine may be cranking,  because the vehicle’s voltage is most likely below 12 volts. The ignition system may also malfunction if any of its components is not at par at any given moment. You need to ensure that your car’s ignition is tuned up always so as to avoid the let down of a failing ignition system.

How your sparkplugs work

You may want to check the efficiency of your ignition system if there are telltale signs such as the engine misfiring under power. The challenges you may encounter with ignition system failures can easily be located by scanning the engine control module even for what remedies may be required. To keep your ignition system at full throttle you will need replace the spark plugs, distributor cal and spark plug wires where necessary as often as possible. The task of changing the spark plugs and wires can easily be done by any ordinary Joe.