The ignition system is a glutton for punishment. As the miles rack up, the distributor wears out, the coil gets abused, and the spark plug wires melt. The steadfast ignition system only gets attention ...

The purpose of the ignition system is to ignite, or fire, the spark plugs in order to generate power to run the engine. To do so, the battery sends current to the ignition coil. Then that high voltage ...

Engines need spark plugs to burn their air/fuel mixture, and the spark plugs need a jolt of electricity to do their work. Older cars with conventional distributor-based ignition systems did it by ...

Ignition problems can be infuriating. They always seem to pop up at the worst time and because they are hard to visually spot they can be difficult to find the source and correct. Adding to 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 ...

The demands for better emissions and fuel economy in the mid 1970s necessitated leaner fuel mixtures. These leaner mixtures required greater voltage and more spark to ignite. This challenge led GM ...

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 ...

The Mopar electronic ignition system introduced in 1972 was cutting edge in its day. While everyone else was using the ancient points-type ignitions, Chrysler scooped 'em all with the electronic unit.

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 ...

Ignition system technology has taken a number of twists and turns over the past 50 years. Matthew Beecham talks with experts from Delphi and Denso about the latest developments both on the OE and ...