The Perils Of Cheap Ignition Coils

　　Ignition coils are essential for gasoline engines, even before they were used to power horse-less carriages, and they are still essential today. Their function is to provide high-pressure sparks, which are used to jump over the gap on the spark plug and ignite the gasoline and air mixture. Without a suitable ignition coil, a spark ignition engine will not be feasible. They also work very hard-a typical spark plug fires eight times per second.

　　Although older vehicles tend to have one coil to power all spark plugs, recent cars have multiple coils, and most designs today are equipped with a dedicated coil for each spark plug. Over time, the coil will degrade and fail, causing a misfire and subsequent engine management lights to light up. It is not a wise idea to continue driving the car because a misfire can cause gasoline to enter the catalytic converter, causing expensive components to overheat and melt inside.

　　Longer coil life

　　High resistance is the enemy of ignition coils. Ignoring routine maintenance and not replacing the spark plugs on time, not paying attention to the contamination of oil/water around the ignition system components, and not replacing other worn ignition system components (such as high-voltage cables and distributor covers/rotor arms on old cars) will increase the coil Voltage requirements. In the event of a fire, the suppressed energy in the coil will be released in the form of heat, thereby reducing its life expectancy.

　　Prioritize quality over cost

　　We encountered low-quality alternative coils entering the market, especially in the online market. Although low-end coils can cause misfire and difficulty in starting, using them can have more serious consequences. Since the coils are controlled by the engine management computer (ECU), they rely on the flyback voltage fed back after the spark plug "ignites". Unfortunately, these voltages may be too high and damage the ignition driver of the ECU, and therefore damage or destroy the ECU in the process. Therefore, you should buy from a brand that directly supplies the car manufacturer, or from a reliable parts supplier that provides OE quality parts, that is, parts that meet the same specifications specified by the car manufacturer.