Servicing Ignition System

Ignition System is maintenance Free. All have parts that deteriorate, wear and sometime fail.
Various inspection test and services are performed on the ignition system to help prolong normal
engine operation. Many of these procedures are the same for both contact-point and electronic
ignition system.

When performing ignition system service look for the Vehicle Emission Control Information
(VECI) label in the engine compartment the VECI label has the specification and tune-up
instruction for the engine in the vehicle. The information includes firing order, how to set
ignition timing, recommended sparkplug, and spark plug gap.

The purpose of the ignition system is to generate a very high voltage from the cars, 12 volt
battery and to send this two each spark plug in turn ignition. The Fuel-air mixture in the engines
combustion chambers. The coil is the component that produces this high voltage.

Fuel, air, and ignition must all be present for the engine to turn. The ignition system is designed
to monitor and control the ignition to make the vehicle run smoothly. The purpose of the ignition
system is to:

 Step up Voltage
 Ignite the air fuel mixture

Changing technology has made major advancement in many parts of the ignition system over
time some component were elimination, others were added while others stayed pretty much the
same. The tree ignition system generations that will be describing later in this chapter are:
Conventional Ignition (CI), Distributor Ignition (DI), and Electronic Ignition (EI). The
following are common ignition system components:

 Battery - Is the source of electric power when the engine is stationary. It also
supplements that power from the generator when it is not turning fast enough to produce
12 volt.
 Distributor Cap and Rotor- tor director the flow of high tension current from the coil
through the rotor arm, and distribute it to each spark plug in turn.
 Ignition coil/Coil Packs/coil-on-Plug(COP)- the coil consist of a metal casting
containing two sets of insulted wire winding on a soft-iron central core the collapse of the
magnetic fields generated around the primary winding produces the HT current in the
secondary winding which goes through the distributor to the spark plug.
 Spark plug- the rill current from the distributor passes down the central core of the spark
plug then produces a spark as it jumps the gap to the side electrode. This ignites the fuel
air mixture in the cylinder.
  Ignition Module- an Ignition Control Module(ICM) is a computes that controls the
ignition coil or the ignition coil firing times the ignition control module is the heart of an
automobiles ignition system, because it regulates spark generation within the engine.
 Spark Plug Wires- spark plug and ignition coil problems were the third-leading cause of
check engine light.
 Power Train Control Module (PCM)- a power train control module abbreviated PCM,
is an automotive component, a control unit use on motor vehicles. It is generally a
combined control unit consisting of the engine control unit and the transmission control
unit.
 Crankshaft and Camshaft sensors- a crank sensor is a electronic device used in a
internal combustion engine, both petrol an diesel to monitor the position or rotational
speed of the crankshaft. This information is used by engine management system to
control the fuel injection or the ignition system timing and other engine parameters.
 Knock Sensor- the knock sensor is located on the engine block, cylinder head or intake
manifold. This is because its function is to sense.
 Maintenance of Ignition System- the complete or partial failure of an ignition system
was the most common cause of vehicle breakdown in past. This could have been
prevented if the recommended maintenance activities have been reduced, like breakdown
due faulty adjustment. Nevertheless more complicated and sophisticate systems
incorporation extra devices also increase the risk of breakdown unless a high level of
quality control of the component is issued. Since maintenance tests of breaker less system
require special techniques the conventional Kettering system is considered first.

Contact Breaker
Burning of the contact surface takes place due to constant use over a period of time which
increases the electrical resistance in addition pitting and piling of the contacts change the gap,
which alters both the due angle and the ignition timing lock of servicing the contract causes poor
engine performance, high fuel consumption and difficult starting. Also low secondary voltage
along with incorrect timing of the spark, increases the exhaust emission to check the condition of
the contacts the voltage drop across the contacts is measured with the connected to earth and to
the LT coil terminal (normally marked) which is connected by a lead to the contact break. The
allowable voltage drop varies with the make of distributor. The typical maximum limiting values
are the ignition coil is a high voltage (low current) transformer that converts the vehicle 12 volt
power supply to the 25-30,000 volts required to jump the gap of the Spark Plug, thus instigating
combustion.
How Ignition Coil Works
With the development of engine management ignition coils have undergone a complete redesign
gone are the traditional oil/asphalt filled, barrel shaped coils , now virtually all manufacture in al
shapes and sizes. They are smaller, lighter and more efficient but regrettably they are not always
more reliable.

Although they appear completely different they still rely on faraday’s laws of electromagnetism
to generate this high voltage.

When a voltage is pass through the primary windings.

(From the battery (+ve), via the ignition switch, through to ground (-ve)) a magnetic field (Flux)
is interrupted (switched off) the magnetic field collapse, this generates a voltage in the secondary
windings. This generates or induced. Voltage is dependent upon te ratio of the windings (Primary
to Secondary). The designed of the coil and how quickly the voltage is turned on and off.