When do i need a new ignition coil

Does your car exhaust smell like gasoline or release black smoke? If so, your vehicle is backfiring, or releasing unused fuel through your exhaust system. Vehicles backfire for a number of reasons, including faulty or worn ignition coils. Backfiring can be a danger to your safety, so have a body shop inspect your engine to determine whether your ignition coil needs to be replaced.

A failed ignition coil could be eating away at your gas mileage. When this occurs, your vehicle is using more fuel to make up for the inadequate transfer of power between your battery and spark plugs. When your engine misfires, you could experience vibrating, a loss of power, decreased fuel economy, or a rougher ride while driving. Other times, it may feel like your vehicle is stalling or about to break down. An engine could misfire for several reasons.

Other times, your vehicle will stall or shut off. Anytime you notice your check engine light, schedule a maintenance appointment immediately. There could be several mechanical problems with your engine and only an experienced professional can diagnose the exact cause.

Our team of certified technicians at Norm Reeves Volkswagen Superstore in Irvine can determine the cause of your engine troubles, so contact us or schedule an appointment if your vehicle is performing erratically.

For immediate assistance, call Your email address will not be published. Open Today! Sales: 9am-8pm. Every spark plug has its very own ignition coil. Like every car component, ignition coils could also fail. Are you already seeing signs of coil damage?

Then the answer is yes. But if not — then that won't be necessary. In this article we will learn more about the other scenarios that should help you determine if you should have those ignition coils replaced with the spark plugs. First of all, what is an ignition coil? Ignition coils are electrical components on the engine. Because a vehicle's battery produces a low voltage current that is insufficient to ignite the fuel and start the engine on its own, ignition coils are required.

The ignition coils solve this difficulty by converting the battery's low voltage current into a much higher voltage current. Simply put, ignition coils allow a spark to be produced for the car to start and run. Coil-on-plug is the most common type in modern vehicles, with one ignition coil directly linked to each spark plug. A central coil pack or individual coils with wires leading to the spark plugs are used in some cars. A smaller number of automobiles have two ignition cassettes, each powering half of the spark plugs, or one coil per two spark plugs.

Although most ignition coils are long-lasting and dependable, a faulty coil can cause under-hood havoc. An automobile cannot run smoothly until high voltage is applied to the spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture. The majority of coil failures are caused by secondary winding problems.

The thin lacquer insulation between the two windings can erode with time. The windings are sometimes no longer shielded from the earth. Heat and vibration are the most common causes of coil difficulties. Because of faulty windings or improper connections inside the coil, a sudden failure is possible.

Hard starting, repeated high-speed misses, or a steady decline in ignition system performance are more common symptoms of coil difficulties. Coils can be checked with an ohmmeter most coils will read around 8, ohms or a Sun machine's tiny scope.

By placing one probe of a cheap test lamp on the metal container and the other on the primary and high-tension terminals, all coils with metal housings can be checked for grounded windings. The windings are grounded out and the coil is faulty if the tester lights up or you witness sparks. Many service manuals propose temporarily replacing a suspected bad coil with a known good one. Can I replace just one ignition coil? Yes, you can. However, you should always keep in mind the following recommendations to decide whether to change one or all of them.

One coil pack is for two engine cylinders, and you should only change the particular pack that is faulty. There is no way one defective coil pack is going to affect the others. If you change only the defective one, there is less chance that others will follow suit. In fact, it will be a mistake to replace the coil packs that are still in good shape and running without any problem.

Old coil packs in a working condition are better and more reliable than unproven brand new ones. Coil packs are reliable and likely to last the lifetime of a vehicle.

If anyone goes bad, there is no need to change all of them. However, if one pack starts malfunctioning after the odometer has around 75, miles, you should replace them all. How often should you change coil packs? No need to change them until they are showing symptoms. Some repair shops may suggest changing all coil packs when one becomes faulty. In that case, ask the mechanics regarding the reasons for changing each one.

Follow their advice if that seems logical. If you cannot afford to replace all of them, at least change the ones that are in a cluster or really hard to access. The repair shop can ask for higher labor prices for removing those coil packs. However, coil packs are easy to access in most vehicles.