Ignition Coil Problems, Symptoms and Solutions

　　Think you may have a problem with your ignition coil? In this blog, we will introduce common ignition coil problems, symptoms and solutions to ensure that your vehicle is working properly.

　　There are several possible symptoms of ignition coil problems. If your car encounters any of the following problems, there may be a problem with the ignition coil on your hand:

　　Engine misfire

　　Rough

　　Car power drops, especially when accelerating

　　Poor fuel economy

　　Difficulty starting the engine

　　Check whether the engine light is on

　　Exhaust tempering

　　Increase in hydrocarbon emissions

　　The smell of gas coming from the exhaust pipe

　　Fuel leak

　　What is an ignition coil?

　　Before we take a closer look at any possible ignition coil problems, it will be useful to know a little more about what an ignition coil is and how it works.

　　Ignition coils, sometimes called spark coils, help start car engines. It is an important part of the ignition system.

　　The battery voltage of a car is low (12 volts), but it takes thousands of volts to start the ignition of a spark plug. The ignition coil is basically a small transformer that converts the 12 volts from the car battery into the required thousands of volts. Without the energy provided by the ignition coil, the spark plug cannot produce the spark required for combustion. Without burning, your car won't start at all!

　　In this blog, we will discuss a single ignition coil, but most engines have at least four ignition coils, sometimes combined into a coil group. If there is a problem with the ignition coil of the car, it may affect the performance of the car. This is why it is important to be alert to the symptoms of ignition coil failure, we will now introduce these symptoms in more detail:

　　1. Difficulty starting the engine

　　Difficulties in starting a car engine may indicate a problem with the ignition coil. As mentioned above, most modern engines have multiple ignition coils. If you have several broken ignition coils, you may experience ignition failures and difficulty in starting the engine. Of course, there are many different problems that can make the engine difficult to start, so the difficulty of starting the engine alone is not enough to confirm the ignition coil problem.

　　2. The engine stalls or stalls

　　If your engine stalls or stalls when idling, suddenly stopping, or accelerating, there may be a problem with the ignition coil. Misfire—the noise that sounds like a cough or splash, or it feels like a violent shock or strong vibration—means that one of the engine’s cylinders is not properly ignited.

　　When the engine is under stress, it is more likely to misfire and produce emissions. This is why increased emissions and gas odors in the exhaust are symptoms of ignition coil damage. As with the difficulty of starting a car engine, there are many other problems that can cause misfires. You need to troubleshoot these problems before you can finally determine that the problem lies with the ignition coil.

　　A faulty ignition coil can also cause the car to stall, because a faulty coil can cause irregular sparks from the spark plug.

　　3. Poor fuel economy

　　If you find that your car's mileage is less than usual when the fuel tank is full, it may mean that your ignition coil is broken. This happens because when your spark plug does not get enough power (due to a malfunctioning ignition coil), the system will try to compensate by injecting more fuel. This also means that fuel leakage may be a sign of damage to the ignition coil.

　　4. Check the engine light

　　The check engine light is intended to tell you that there is a problem with the engine. If you experience an ignition coil problem while driving, your engine check light will find it and turn on. You should never neglect to check engine lights, but like the other symptoms we have discussed, check engine lights can be caused by various engine problems.

　　The easiest way to understand why the engine light is on is to perform an OBD-II (on-board diagnostic) check. The mechanic will be able to run the OBD-II check for you, or you can use the OBD-II scanner to run your own OBD-II check. Codes P0300 to P0312 indicate misfire, and codes P0350 to P0362 indicate ignition coil problems.

　　Type of ignition coil

　　There are many different types of ignition coils that you should be aware of when trying to fix ignition coil problems. For example, the following are three different ignition coil types:

　　Coil plug (COP)

　　Coil near plug (CNP)

　　Coils per cylinder (CPC)

　　The most common system with multiple coils is Coil-On-Plug (COP). Each cylinder has an ignition coil, and each coil is connected to a spark plug. If the COP does not have enough space, perhaps because the spark plug protrudes from the cylinder head, you may have a CNP setting. In this case, the coil will be connected to the plug via a short plug wire.

　　Depending on whether you are using a COP or CNP system, you must check the ignition coil in different ways for problems.