Does Your Ford Have a Faulty Ignition Coil?

Most drivers aren’t familiar with the ignition coil, but this component plays a vital role in your engine. Ignition coils boost the power of the spark plugs and enable them to ignite the fuel-air mixture to produce combustion. As your Ford dealer, we’d like you to know some signs that you have a faulty ignition coil.

 

Damaged Spark Plugs

A spark plug is attached to each engine cylinder, and it ignites the compressed fuel-air mixture in the cylinder. A spark plug only produces 12 volts of power, which isn’t sufficient to ignite the fuel-air mixture. An ignition coil connects to each spark plug, and a coil produces 50,000 volts of power to boost the strength of the spark plug and enable it to ignite.

Spark plugs will eventually wear out or become damaged, and this affects the attached coil. An ignition coil connected to a damaged spark plug will overwork to compensate for the failed plug. This situation can cause the ignition coil to fail and the contents of the cylinder won’t ignite. We can easily test the spark plugs and coils, and we’ll replace any damaged ones we find.

Backfiring

Backfiring will occur if the contents of a cylinder don’t completely ignite. Fuel and air mix in the intake manifold and are then drawn into the cylinders. As we’ve seen, the spark plug will use the power from the ignition coil to ignite the mixture. This produces combustion, and the combustion process will repeat and allow your car to move.

A damaged ignition coil won’t supply power to its spark plug. Without this power, the cylinder’s contents won’t ignite. The hot, unburnt fuel in the cylinder will be ejected into the exhaust system. When unburnt fuel molecules touch the hot tailpipe, they can explode with a loud bang and a billow of black smoke. Backfiring can also occur for other reasons, and our technicians will need to examine your engine to identify and repair the cause of the problem.

Poor Acceleration

The combustion process will continue in a rhythm as long as your engine is running. When you step on the gas, you expect your car to smoothly and quietly increase speed. If you feel that your engine is struggling to accelerat  you could have one or more damaged ignition coils.

Worn or damaged coils reduce the power available to ignite the cylinder contents, or they may supply power intermittently if they’re failing. In either situation, the lack of constant and consistent power will cause a delay in combustion and reduce your acceleration. We’ll investigate, and once we’ve repaired the problem, your car will accelerate smoothly again.

If you experience any of the above signs, call us at Chestatee Ford.

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