What does a bad coil have on engine performance?
This high voltage arcs across the electrode in a spark plug, causing ignition. Bad or defective coils can adversely affect engine performance in a number of ways. A weak coil that has lost its ability to supply enough voltage to fire all of the spark plugs in a consistent manner can show itself in a rough or stumbling idle.
How to troubleshoot an automotive engine high idle?
The troubleshooting procedure for high and low idle conditions are similar, which are included in the following: Step 1 – If the check engine or service engine light soon has illuminated retrieving the diagnostic trouble codes could lead you in the right direction of what the problem is, or is related too.
What can a high output coil do for performance?
This is called ignition spark saturation. So installing a high output coil on a standard compression engine gains nothing. If it has a carb. replace it with a higher performance one or better yet a fuel injection kit. You will get an appreciable increase in power with either and possibly fuel economy with fuel injection.
Which is more reliable coil pack or distributor?
Generally speaking, coil packs are much more reliable than distributors, because there are no moving parts and because they fire much less often than a distributor. Coil packs usually create a better spark, which in turn produces better combustion and horsepower in a car’s engine.
Why do ignition coils drop off at 5000 rpm?
Davis says that the OEM coils were notorious for drop off above or about 5,000 rpm. That might be ok for a half-ton pickup that never sees more than 4,500 rpm, but on a muscle car, especially one that’s been modified, losing voltage means lost engine performance, and not being able to take advantage of the engine’s potential modified or stock.
This high voltage arcs across the electrode in a spark plug, causing ignition. Bad or defective coils can adversely affect engine performance in a number of ways. A weak coil that has lost its ability to supply enough voltage to fire all of the spark plugs in a consistent manner can show itself in a rough or stumbling idle.
How do you test a small engine ignition coil?
Lay the ignition coil on a work surface. Set the dial on an ohm meter or multi-meter to 20k ohms. Insert the positive lead on the ohm meter into the end socket or the metal hoop on the spark plug wire. Put the negative lead of the tester onto the metal armature portion of the ignition coil.
How many amps does an ignition coil use?
We know that a typical small engine ignition coil uses between 3 to 5 amps. By using the above mathematical formula we can determine that the bad spark plug ignition cable caused between 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 volts to be generated by the ignition coil!