Ignition Systems - Explained 

So glad to hear, thanks for watching!

@evanreidel22 Yes, this is something I failed to address in the video; it's geared with the camshaft, so as the camshaft makes it's full revolution, the distributor also makes one full revolution.

David Schwimmer's voice with Aston Kutcher's looks?

Just came back to this for the throwback feels when I discovered this channel during my mech engineering freshman year ❤ miss the simple videos without the whole RU-vid gimmick

Fuel doesn't like to ignite unless it's reached a good high temperature. For diesel, this is even more true, so it can be useful to warm the block up before attempting to start (using the battery).

(part3) the firing order is also important, because it smooths out the forces on the lenght of the crankshaft. Remember that each powerstroke is a controled explosion, so each piston is hamering on that part of the crankshaft where its mounted, so you must spread the "hamering" equaly over the length of the crankshaft. so 1234 would not be good, because then you would to much load at once at one side of the crankshaft, so first 1, then 3, then 2 then 4. get it?

I Nurhendratmoko, from Indonesia, is currently running the LPG Engine project. Ignition system used for 4 pieces of spark plug, I divide from the current into the primer coil, it takes 4 pieces of coil to power the machine, but the flame of each spark plug is more perfect. Thank you, hopefully this correction is not considered negative for the predecessor ignition of the existing system.

how does the distributer stay at the right speed so the spark plugs go off at the right time?

@ThePustr117 Close, it's actually driven by a gear connected to the camshaft. The camshaft and distributor rotor will rotate at the same speed.

My life is better and more enriched because of you, buddy, and what you do here! Love it!

ignition coil or ignition coil pack have primary and secondary winding as well. To produce 22,000V from 12V of the battery.

I've been doing an A-level project on the car engine and your videos have been extremely useful and have helped me to understand all the processes. Thanks! :)

The rotor is geared to the camshaft. Not sure of the voltage range. The firing order is selected so that the forces on the crankshaft are as even and smooth as possible; in combination with the flywheel it allows for the engine to stay relatively stable and not shake much.

@smtbbo Timing is a topic all in itself. The crank angle to ignite the fuel before top dead center is critical in power and efficiency, as you have mentioned; I just wanted to keep this video fairly straight forward.

Correct, minor correction is the pistons are moving up and down, rather than the cylinders (as I'm sure you knew). The engine needs to heat up the air enough, and have a good balance of air/fuel to ignite the mixture.

There is some overlap between each cylinder and the next, so it would be more like 1.5 cylinders in each stroke, if that makes sense. Meaning one cylinder starts firing before the last cylinder is finished firing.

@PirateXzibit They're made of materials capable of withstanding the heat, and they're shaped specifically so they don't absorb heat well. Yes, they're quite present during combustion.

Very good explanation. The ignition system consists of an ignition coil, distributor, rotor, plug wires, and spark plugs. The older system used a points and condenser system in the distributor. These days this is all handled by ECU (the brain of car engine). For more detail on the ignition system, visit Hs-tronic. Please keep sharing your knowledge with us.

Not sure what you're asking. Are you asking if a V12 will start (turn the key) faster, or something with regards to combustion instead? The engines will start in relatively the same amount of time. The V12 cylinders do not fire faster, there are just more cylinders firing, thus more frequent power strokes.

Yes, the spark plug is only needed for the power stroke, and it takes two revolutions of the crankshaft for each power stroke to occur (each cylinders power stroke). With a 4 cylinder engine, this would mean 4 power strokes for every 2 revolutions of the crank, 1 power stroke for each cylinder.

I'm not sure what you're asking. If the cylinders are moving and firing, then the engine is running. If you're referring to when you start your car, and it doesn't start, it just means your power stroke is non-existent. Your starter motor creates the 4 strokes of the engine, but you don't successfully ignite the air fuel mixture, so your car doesn't start.

The coil wouldn't be on the spark plug. It would be on the wire leading to the spark plug, superb vid man

Oh man, the Teggy! Definitely a staple of old school EE!

@sgtpepperaut Correct, they get rid of the ignition coil and each spark plug has its own. Then the ECU is responsible for timing.

Thanks. HEI is high energy ignition, and it's when the coil is included within the distributor. Pretty old though don't think it's around anymore.

Not necessarily, but it likely does as it sounds like it's newer, distributors have been phased out except for in small (non-automotive based) engines.

Yep, I noted this on my video replacing a distributor cap. I've added a note to the description.

I have seen almost all of your videos now and you are really good at explaining all these complicated things in an easy way. I have a lot of respect for you. And I don't know why but it does not surprise me that you drive a Honda Integra :)

lol I was wondering during the video if you had caught that. One thing to note when talking about the fireing order on a engine is look to see where your belts are. That will tell you where cyl #1 is. but for the V design or boxer (my car subaru) you want to look closely at the air intake from the front of the engine. The cylinder that is closest to the front is cylinder number one. But I do enjoy watching your video's. You do a really good job at explaining the different system's of a car.

When explaining it on your integra you have the cylinder numbers backwards. The number 1 cylinder is on the timing side (driver side) which correspond to the numbers seen on the spark plug wires. The firing order works out to be the same though, you are just starting out 2 strokes behind TDC: 4-2-1-3. Just might be a little confusing for other integra owners (like me :D). Love your videos. Keep up the good work!

Josh I have watched several of your videos. You do an excellent jobs of explaining complex engine functions. You are very knowledgeable; however, your ability to teach others with your detailed whiteboard drawings is your best gift. Keep firing on!

Can you explain how this would look from a V perspective (as in a V4), like which cylinders would move with which other cylinders? Also, what would be the firing order for a V6 and bigger engines?

The tension wire connects the ignition coil to the distributor.

The battery. The alternator is simply used to recharge the battery (or maintain its charge).

This is assuming you have a 4 cylinder engine, and those are the strokes cylinders 2, 3, and 4 are one while 1 is in the power stroke. And the rotor passes the spark along to each cylinder.

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

What is really cool right now is the laser ignition system they are working on right now. This would be leaner mixture, cleaner exhaust, and theoretically better fuel milage.

I will have a video eventually on power generation, this will basically explain it. Nothing up yet though.

Wow 10 years ago! Great stuff man, you always kill it!

I certainly try to with my newer videos.

@Nicosh1471 You're welcome, glad I could help!

Nice vid, man. Good to see real world example too.

Oh my bad, I have trouble reading. Direct ignition doesn't have a distributor, and each spark plug has it's own set of coils. The ECU controls the timing and tells each spark plug when to fire.

It's geared with the camshaft to rotate together.

You are very welcome, thanks for watching!

Very welcome, glad you learned!

You essentially disconnect power to the spark plugs, so the cylinders can no longer fire. With diesels you cut fuel.

I been teaching for 8 years on US ARMY Reserve, and Let's me tell you. "You are Great Instructor"

Your videos are awesome man you explain things clearly and know exactly what you're on about. Anything i've wanted to know about cars i've been able to find on your channel

They can be different, google search it and it will show you the many various options.

It's geared, directly or indirectly, to the camshaft.

Regulated by the camshaft, which it is geared with. (1:1)

Yes or perhaps not all of the cylinders are firing yet, which would cause the start to be a little shaky.

Yes haha, I actually noticed this when I was replacing my distributor cap. And then I was like, wait a minute, pretty sure I said that wrong in my ignition video. Good catch haha

nice explanation. understood everything. Greetings from Serbia.

I would like to add that another reason for use of individual coils would be a longer dwell time and therefore a greater voltage. One of the main reasons for that newer oem cars do this is so that they can run a leaner mixture and achieve better mpg. my 2 cents.

Could be built of a system with 2 rotors on top of one another, with wiring going out accordingly - interesting question.

This really helps in my vehicle technology module in university, Great videos man!

Yeah I was talking about turning the key starting the engine type starting. But thanks a lot for your help!

Hey Jason, love the videos. You're series has really helped support me through my mechanic training thus far. But I'm having a real problem with calculating firing order on 6 cylinder engines. Are there any hack methods to working out which piston is doing what in any particular cycle??

When you turn the engine off does the distributor go back to the 1st cylinder's contact point so when you start the car again it start firing at the right order (1,3,4,2)?

Good idea! I will add that to the list.

I would be (and I'm sure others) interested in an explanation of Capacitor Discharge Ignition systems. They are mainly used in bikes, outboard motors and other smaller high revving engines, but they are starting to make an appearance in high performance cars these days and there are not really any good videos out there explaining the difference to an inductive discharge system. Any chance we can one day see a video on CDI?

(part2) Now when you have a 1 cillinder motor, like a bike, the engine vibrates heavy, because the powerstroke is always at one point. so with a 2 cillinder, there's a stroke every 180degrees, a 3 cillinder, at 120, a 4 cillinder at 90, and so on, so the more you divide the powerstrokes ,the smoother the enige runs. (see part 3 for the firing order)

Please do an in-depth video on ignition coils; specifically on what the industry calls "performance" ignition coils. Where (if at all) does the "performance" part of a ignition coil come into play?

do a video on just wires! the different types and why distributed resistance wires (old school type) have such high resistance! This is something I personally never really understood. Good chance to talk about EMF and radio frequency interference

I would like to add, that some distributorless engines have just 2 coils to reduce production costs. They fire 2 plugs at time - one is fired at exhaust phase.

the voltage's go from battery voltage to about 40k. think of the ignition coil as a vary compact tesla coil. to answer your other question the engine needs to be balanced in order to make any kind of reliable power for you to move down the road. In the front at your crank pulley you have a harmonic balancer to help with this and at the back of the engine you either have a flywheel or a flex plate pending what transmission you have.

It's so cool to travel back in time to these videos, you've made so much progress! I can't say well done enough! ❤️

Can you explain DIY ignitions sytems?

You sir have good taste in cars. Integra (any year) is one of the most reliable and easy to work on quasi-sub-sports cars I've ever driven and loved. I would prefer a '91 to '95 NSX just for sheer enjoyment but the teg is in that uncanny valley of just useful enough as an everyday car and still fun to drive. Need to do a suspension job though. Mine's all mushy after 20 years (still original and fine like wine) but stopping power and body roll is a reason to take corners with a light touch. But damn, they run like a top if you take care of them. They do not seem 20 years old or 200k miles in the slightest except for the tape deck and the seals slowly starting to go ;) Love the videos!

Your videos are fantastic, you'll be a great engineer and professor (hopefully you will as you are great at explaining)!

If it had a distributor, you would simply have a circle with 6 contact points leading to 6 cylinders, rather than four.

Many thanks for this explanation. Good work mate!

@rooney9213 Magneto is simply a generator for devices that don't use the typical battery to coil system. VVT is currently on my list of videos to make, thanks!

Thank you for your effort. With you, Mohamed, I have an interest in engines with internal combustion. I have an idea about a engine in my imagination that I want to study and achieve.

that was very helpful iam starting off in the automotave trade in i knew very little about the ignition systems of a car thank's man

Loving these vids, thanks so much for making these!

Was born in Charlotte, but now I live in Raleigh.

This has been extremely helpful. Appreciate it.

a valve opens and air mixed with gas is sucked in by the piston going down, when it's al the way down, the valves closes and de piston goes upward and compress the air and fuel together, then when the piston reaches the top, a spark ignite the compressed air and fuel, and bang! An explosion is pushing the piston hard enough to go 2 rounds, and there's the spark again and everything starts over again. And each cillinder does the same, so they need their own spark. (See part 2)

Loving you're videos!! Never found videos that are so short and quick so informative! Also, I still have some questions if someone can help maybe? Thanks in advance if you can!! :) What turns the rotor in the distributor? Is there a driver circuit, driving the Ignition Coil? Or it wired straight to the battery? What voltage range does the Ignition Coil run at? What is the reason for the engine firing order needing to be balanced?

very good vid, just make sure you explain timing as well, because it does play a big role in making power

thank you for the video . I really liked it . before this I had zero idea how ignition system works...

i love your videos! ive learned so much man thank you for your time.

You're welcome!

3 millions subs Congrats

These videos are brilliant... appreciate the effort!

This is how my auto teacher explained it, never forgot it ;) 1. Suck 2. Squeeze 3. Bang 4. Blow

hey could you please talk about the different kinds of plugs? copper, gold, iridium...etc. also performance wires.

Thanks for watching!

More advanced ignition system, maybe? Perhaps a type that can turn the engine a LOT faster than modern-day starters can? I'm only guessing, but seeing that its an LP700-4, it would make sense to have a more efficient start-up sequence.

Yes

Nice explanation! has anyone ever told you sound like David Schwimmer?

@asianxxgrace Glad I could help!

thanks so much for all these wonderful videos.

Good lord I love these videos

Please can you do a video explaining spark plug gap and how to determine what gap to set for your car? Thanks

You should do a video on ignition timing and how to adjust it for different applications like for racing for example that would be cool

the plugs them selves no. But you could have a timing issue where your distributor is out of sync with your cam shaft. Your piston's don't cause an engine to be out of balance either. It's to do with ignition timing.