I teach high school auto shop and I'm always looking for technically accurate videos that are school appropriate. Your channel has nailed it thank you very much!
hey man, keep doing what you do. it's getting more and more rare now to see auto shop programs in high schools nowadays, and it makes me happy to see people like you still wanting to inspire that passion in younger generations
As a retired engineer; and car collector; I must say that your videos are probably the absolute best on RUclips! You have a great ability to easily explain complex mechanisms and principles and I always learn something new.
.. uhhh, that's a negative there, home slice. In ADDITION to breaking down and easily explaining complex things, his accent and his calm and quiet, comedic demeanor add even MORE value. If you have a hard time hearing him, you could try turning your speakers up... or maybe it's that time of year to clean your ears. Once those landfill listeners of yours are clean, if you can't understand the words coming out of his mouth...try inserting the q-tip deeper. If you can make it to the other side, you're doing great.
I learned all this back in the 70s and 80s when Cars were a more important item in my life. Its very generous of you to put it all together in one package, starting with Mechanical Distributors. Your vocal presentation makes it easy to remain focused on the material and not your person. Thank You that. You have a new sub.
Thank you glad you liked the video. I doubt we'll bee seeing monster type coils on OEM anytime soon as these really only become necessary when you start pushing the performance, stuff like 150-200 hp per cylinder. So they wouldn't really give any additional benefits on a stock oem engine, plus they're kinda big and bulky so not that easy to fit in modern crowded engine bays. But in the world of tuning, these things can completely change an engine.
@@MaFTB GM LS engine ignition use exactly the same technology (but not brand). And it performs with superchargers (factory) and aftermarket turbos, highest stress point for ignition. Arrangement allows for physically bigger coil, more, heaver winding's. Independent dyno testing has not found improvements with after market coils on these engines
Another excellent video packed with great information, clearly explained and easy to understand. Thank you, D4A! You definitely have the best automotive engineering & mechanics channel anywhere!
It is worth noting that for direct coils you need to tell ecm camshaft posision, basically using the same sensor as crankshaft position sensor but on camshaft or camshaft wheel. Only then it will know on what stroke each cylinder is and fire every other revolution.
It can operate with only crank position sensor. ECU can start the engine on wasted spark mode and then guess the cam position as there are only two options. If that causes misfire (engine speed drops) the guess was wrong and cam is the other way around. This also works for sequential fuel injection. Just start with patch injection and guess to switch to sequential.
I'm really impressed with your ability to convey technical information in such an easy to understand way. I didn't understand why a "smart" coil (AEM) would be better than a COP setup on my 4AGE race engine, but I do now! Thank you.
ECU can actually control ignition timing on individual cylinders on any system if there's enough sensors and spark is controlled by ECU. There are actually some cars with wasted spark system where ECU does have control over individual cylinder ignition timing.
I *may* (cough cough) have replaced my RX-8 OEM coils with those monstar coils... (cough).. I guess they're a good fit for rotaries since they are high rev lovers and also, unlike reciprocating piston engines have to literally fire for every single cycles. (Might still be overkill.. But at the same time.. There's nothing overkill on rotaries if you want to keep them alive)
should have downgraded to the RX 7 FC turbo - system with 4 full size coils . Never have issues, that is overkill... BTW they fire twice every work stroke with a 0.. 20 ° difference. There is a leading and a trailing one.
@@heikopanzlaff3789 RX-8s are everywhere and often sold for dirt cheap because people didn't want to maintain them properly. RX-7s are not as common due to the same issues as the RX-8, but also due to being hamstrung by American regulations, the notion that foreign vehicles were worthless (which was a root cause of the 240SX extinction event), the destruction of thousands of functional cars at the hands of Cash for Clunkers, and of course due to sports cars seemingly always being equipped with an 'aggressive SUV/pick-up driver magnet' that turns them into accordeons.
An ignition coil is rated for kv(1000v) voltage potential, actual kv used to fire the plug is measurable on a scope.& more potential can help in high rpm air/ fuel/ spark advance ratio uses.. Your STD coil for early point sys rated @20kv⚡ HEI coils @40 - 60kv .⚡⚡ ( @miliamp flow) Most modern coils rated@ 60 to 90 kv& up however@ 90 kv&+up ( MULTICOIL pack) & coils potential exceeds the 1amp or better rate and can injure or kill you. Use a spark check tool for any diagnostic test for a no spark condition on modern computer controlled engines. Not the old method-hold plug wire to block for 20- 40 kv rated coils. ⚡ most of your old coils are rated in miliamps.1amp @90kv+ and above can cause human heart stoppage.( +ruin your day )A coil must completely discharge voltage during firing stroke before recharging,-points closed ( dwell) or HEI distributor pickup do this In milliseconds (voltage over time) (dwell affects base ign. timing) Coil packs use wasted spark theory.on the matched cylinder to crank( fire stroke/ exhaust stroke matched reciprocating cyl) most individual coil per cyl. fire like a std coil & are computer controlled .(ECM) Hope this helps . Make sure all battery leads clean and engine/ chassis grounds secure. Make sure aftermarket stereos are on clean fused 12v source, not ANY computer (ECM )related circuit or the car will fire and surge sporadically to the music beat.( poor driveability)
Coils don't "charge up" like capacitors do. That's sloppy language and doesn't really describe what's going on. Coils generate a primary magnetic field when current is run through them. The larger the current, the larger the primary magnetic field. The primary magnetic field is limited by saturation of the iron core, but that's a separate discussion. The reason coils take time to fully "turn on" the primary magnetic field is due to Lenz's Law. As the current and primary magnetic field increase, a secondary magnetic field is induced that opposes the primary field. That also induces an opposing electric field which pushes against the electrons flowing through the primary coil. So as the current is increasing the electrons have to fight against this induced electric field. This slows down the acceleration of the current, which prevents it from instantaneously turning on. It has an effect very similar to mass in mechanical systems, the heavier something is the slower it accelerates. In the case of a coil it's called inductance. The greater the inductance, the greater the induced electric field pushes back against the electrons that are trying to accelerate through the coil. So a bigger coil is "heavier" and "harder to accelerate" because it has more inductance than a smaller coil. Anyways back to the ignition system. Eventually the primary coil finally reaches full current and primary magnetic field. At this point, the secondary coil, which overlaps the primary but isn't physically connected to it, has zero current but full magnetic field running through it. It's when the primary current switches off (but not instantaneously, again due to Lenz's Law) and the primary magnetic field starts decreasing, Lenz's Law causes an induced electric field to form in the secondary coil. But now instead of slowing down the electrons like what happened in the primary coil, the electric field pushes against the electrons in the secondary coil and accelerates them. So current only flows in the secondary coil when the current in the primary coil is (gradually) turning on or off. Since the secondary coil is connected to the spark plug, this is ultimately what causes the electrons to jump across the spark gap. Now, a spark plug does have capacitance, so current running through the secondary coil causes the electrons to build up at the edges of the spark gap before they generate enough voltage to jump the gap and form a spark. So the spark plugs actually do "charge up". But not the coils. So this might cause you to ask, if a more powerful coil is "harder to accelerate" because it has more inductance, then why the hell would you want it?! Doesn't that just slow things down? Increased inductance leads to greater magnetic flux for the same amount of current running through the coil. If inductance is like "mass" that makes electrons harder to accelerate, it also gives them more "magnetic flux" which is like the electromagnetic equivalent of momentum. So when the electrons are charging up the spark plug, they're not bumping into it like a scooter in a parking lot, they're slamming into it like a semi truck on the highway. That's why you get a bigger spark when the coil has more inductance. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lenz%27s_law
Oh yeah, I get this is a "noob" video... But I felt somebody should give a more detailed physics explanation in the comments in case somebody wanted to dig deeper. Hope it makes sense for somebody. If it's too wordy for some they should just look up Faraday's Law and Lenz's Law on Wikipedia.
Very good presentation of this topic as usual by Driving4Answers. to add something: 1. the wasted spark coil has not it lighter as the distributor coil, there are two coils (in a 4-cylinder) but they have to fire twice as often. 2. there are some CoP engines where two CoPs are fired simultaneously, like in a wasted spark system, they do so to avoid needing a camshaft sensor (and two switching transistors). 3. a ground comment: the coils, even the CoPs) have 1 high voltage terminal and 2 low voltage. It means that the HV is "ground" through the low voltage positive terminal, which makes the spark return path going a long loop, essentially the loop closes at the battery. That makes dangerous to disconnect the battery when the engine is running since the 20,000 V will split between the plug and elsewhere, very bad for the electronics unless good overvoltage protection is built in the ECU. (Old mechanical systems had no protection and could burn alternator components). All this for saving a screw-terminal for grounding the HV at the coil.
Aww man, after your last video I was hoping we'd be getting some sweet sweet diesel content. But now you cover the least diesel topic imaginable! It's all good D4A, still love your channel!
There will be some stuff on diesels here and there in the future, but I'm a spark boy through and through so petrol will still account for the vast majority of my content.
@@d4a I'll forgive you, but seriously an "Iconic Engines" on the Mercedes OM606 and Cummins 6BT would be so sick! I think those are two engines even sparky bois can appreciate Also if you ever are bored, go check out two-stroke diesels and how they work. Supercharged and turbocharged. Very fascinating
A detail worth mentioning is that the ignition coil is basically a transformer. But transformers need a varying voltage applied to the primary coil in order to work. AC transformers rely on the alternating nature of the power coming in and don't need more than input and output coils wrapped around a core to work, but DC power is a little bit trickier. As explained in the video, there's a switch that cuts off power and lets the EM field around the primary coil collapse, turning back into electrical power on the secndary coil. That's how you vary the voltage in a DC-DC transformer. The transistors in more advanced setups are the switches in the more advanced setups. The output voltage is dependent on both the size ratio of the coils (both in number of turns and area covered) and the switching speed. As also explained in the video, switching the coil too fast causes the primary coil to not "charge up" enough, so the voltage outputed by the coil goes down as frequency goes up. All the spark solutions here use this same principle, the difference is that, as the video also explains, the more advanced options use individual coils that free up time for them to charge. Maybe they also use capacitors to speed up the charge cycle, I've never took one apart, but a 20kv capacitor with any meaningful charge capacity would be enormous.
One disadvantage with the distributor is also that the timing lead is static in distance, not time. When igniting the fuel mixture in an engine, you always want to ignite it leading with time, as the time from when you send voltage to the spark plug, and the fuel excerting downwards pressure (where you want the piston at TDP) is always static (for a specific mixture). The distributor leads with distance instead, meaning that it will at higher RPMs, lead with shorter times (meaning the spark will come a tad too late) and at lower RPMs, it will lead with longer times (meaning the spark will come a tad too early) (Think carefully now - at higher RPMs, it will take shorter time, for the distributor to travel from point A to B). This is a big disadvantage. Thats why smarter, electronic spark systems are created,. so the engine can adjust the lead times based on RPM and fuel mixture. This is also the same reason fuel injectors are created, and also why it exist electronic valve systems (camless engines) where the ECU controls the valves completely independent of the rotation of the engine. Also the reason the crank position sensor has one teeth missing is not to create a changing magnetic field - remember that the wheel has teeth and is not smooth - and will make pulses anways thus creating a changing magnetic field. The reason the missing teeth is there, is to give the sensor a absolute position reference - like a "zero". The missing pulse is intepreted by the ECU as passing of a specific position, and the ECU can zero a counter. For each pulse from the sensor, the ECU increases the counter by 1. When the missing pulse is encountered again, it zeroes again. Thus the ECU constantly "recalibrates" itself, so even if the engine would happen to come a little bit out of sync, for example due to electrical interference, its instantly recalibrated next revolutiion. Note that a ABS sensor works in the exact same way - but it doesn't need a missing teeth, because it don't need to know the absolute position of the wheel - it only needs to know the speed (pulses/second), thus it doesn't matter if the ABS loses a pulse or two, because it will not become desynced.
Not if one wheel is only missing teeth you go fast enough the abs computer registers an issue due to speed difference on all wheels whilst your not apply brakes it will turn it self off
@@james2hackett870 If your car is MISSING teeth on a sensor-disc for ABS you got some other waaaaayyy more serious issues - not the least of which is the lack of intelligence to even dare driving such a deathtrap.
Most distributor systems include some mechanism to advance the spark as rpm rises. Of course these crude vacuum or fly-weight operated mechanisms can't compare to a computer doing the job...
@@nerd1000ify very true, but one of the few benefits of a distributor is that, with the proper knowledge and almost no tools, you can set and adjust timing on the fly. It will never be as accurate as a computer but because it is mechanically linked, as long as the distributor is stabbed correctly its going to be more or less correct. And those are the two (very slim) benefits I can come up with. Less computers and (with proper knowledge) very cheap on the fly adjustments.
I enjoy your videos and I think you would appreciate criticism, you are lacking some information.. #1 A coil is not an igniter an igniter or igniter is an ignition module(ecu responsible for coil timing) #2waste spark systems can add the benefit of simplistic reliability to a sequential fuel injection system by reducing the need for hardware such as a cam position sensor. The ignition module (igniter)can monitor the current flow through the waste coil secondary circuit and determine which cylinder was up for compression based on which direction (polarity) the coil fired. Since the exhaust cylinder has less charge density a lesser voltage will always be required to jump the gap. When the companion cylinders switch roles again the differences in voltage can be read a voltage direction and polarity. #3 there are coil near plugs and coil over plugs with or without an integrated igniter module. #4 you didn’t mention ion sensing ignition systems which can sense spark knock and even air-fuel mixture within each individual cylinder eliminating the need for oxygen sensors and providing cylinder basis combustion monitoring. Cheers and keep up the good work.
you stated why the disturber is the best in the beginning. It's mechanically linked to the engine. no computer needed. no bullshit ECU or extra stuff that's expensive to replace when it breaks. I did the plugs cap and rotor in my small block chevy, and it cost me 97 dollars. most of which was the AC Delo plugs. compared to an LS engine where a coil can be upwards of 150$ for one. I will stick to the old school stuff. carbs, pushrod, and disturbers!
Screw the old unreliable stuff. Too many moving parts that fail. You need to put new ignition parts on your small block every year or two. Nothing wrong with computers, they almost never fail. And you can drive an LS engine for 300k+ miles and 15+ years without replacing a single ignition coil. And in a rare occasion when you do, they are not $150. Rockauto sells them for $56 (Acdelco) or $18 (aftermarket).
OEM parts are best to use because you're vehicle was made to run efficiently with those parts I did what you're saying to do and put aftermarket parts on and nothing will last as long as an OEM part trust me I already tried
@@PTTrue-mu5rq yeah the only after market parts that I would trust is performance parts, like holly and msd. But I agree OEM is the best and no matter the parts store. They all got parts for a small block Chevy or ford
@@artementy if you think old stuff has too many moving parts look at a new double over head cam v8 that’s to many moving parts and a mile of timing chains. The old stuff may be less fuel efficient but it’s more reliable even when is not taken care of that good. And cheep after market stuff is just asking to be stranded on The side of the road. OEM or performance only, in my opinion. And I only change the ignition parts because I did not know the last time they had been done. I won’t have to change them for years. They hardly ever fail if you maintain them.
Your videos are super informative on all technical levels - from materials, to engineering, to actual practical applications. Thank you, I just started supporting you through patreon.
Accidentally very early it seems :| Very interesting topic since the last time i dived into that was on a 2 stroke with 74cc :D Nice to see how the stuff works on a proper engine. Like out before watched the video again... no regrets >:D
nice video. one small correction, the coil is not the ignitor, the ignitor is the switching device to shield the ecu from the relatively high current and noise primary circuit. systems like the honda distributor or earlier nissan CoP use this setup. ign-1a coils(aem smart coils) have built in ignitors and can be directly controlled by the ecu.
Personally I'm waiting for a tuning company to make an ignition system that commands the sky to deliver actual goddamned lightning bolts down to your sparkplugs for the hottest and most reliable spark possible.
So just to ad in some confusion- The earlier Hemi 5.7 had coil on plug that was also wasted spark with plug wires. Two plugs per cylinder, opposite sides paired, with eight wasted spark coils mounted on the plugs. Later hemis had cop wasted spark, with one coil over the two plugs. Ford 6.2 uses a similar setup, but with the coil mounted over the upper plug, and a wire to the lower plug of the same cylinder. GM LS type engines use a coil near plug setup with a short plug wire. They're pretty beefy coils, I've had engines run just fine with no center electrode and just a bit of the ground electrode.
I always thought higher pressure necessitated higher voltage/amperage I never thought that that greater air/fuel density created a higher insulation condition
Didn't you just contradict yourself? More atoms in the gap mean more atoms to ionize which you surmised in first statement. Higher pressure = higher atomic density.
you do great videos. Looking at those aeg units, the writing on the side reads 103mj. That's milli joules of energy. Back in the 80's common cars with Bosch based coil/ignition systems could generate 1 full joule of energy, enough to kill. But also enough to fire lean burn engines with long spark duration, at least as long as the new style AEG unit in the video. It's been too long . . but I remember typical spark wire resistance was around 5k ohms, and engines didn't misfire until plug-wire resistance increased to 10x that. The plug-wire resistance changed the rise time and the shape of the wave form. The actual firing voltage of the plug is mostly influenced by engine conditions not plug-wire resistance, eg timing, compression, and especially lean mixture. A fouled plug would have zero volts across it. Note manufacturers also moved to resistor type spark plugs, increasing resistance in the plug circuit. The big advantage I can see is accurate timing for each cylinder. Mechanical distributors always had a variation of several degrees between cylinders. I hope this adds to your video, cheers.
on the verge of going from MSD DIS2 up to those monster coils... can't wait... Just for a bit more info... those AEM coils, are actually knows as IGN-1A's . Every one just re-badges them... AEM, Haltech, Holley, Accel, ProEFI.... etc...
He must be some kind of psychic, I had trouble with ht leads yesterday (not the obvious problems) and although I've fixed it today, this was reassuring to watch 😁.
Thx! That was actually helpful for the distributor rebuild i'm doing. Also, the way you explained how current and voltage work is way better than anyone i've ever seen.
maaan could listen to you talk for hours, proper keeps you engaged the way you use your voice and full of stuff i want to know/didnt know i didnt know!!! ty dude more money your way
I can remember back in 1980's raising the bonnet ( hood ) at night with the engine running and it was like a firework display... I replaced the HV cables next day.
Very well done. I am an electrical engineer and car enthusiast and you did very well with the electrical portion of your lecture. Accurate and simple explanations.
Toyota, Honda and probably others used a "hybrid" of wasted spark and CoP for a time on some 4- and 6-cyl engines -- half of the cylinders had a coil on the plug, and the other half were fired by the same coil via a wire.
My 01 GMC Yukon already has a factory ignition system similar to that Monster coil system, each cylinder has its own fairly large coil and each spark plug wire is the exact same length as short as practical. The 5.3 Vortec is basically a LS motor, not as much power but that can be changed easily, the other thing is these motors are basically bullet proof!! Mine has over 340000 Miles on it and it still runs great?? I will be leaving it stock for longevity who knows I might get a million miles out of it. Maintenance is your car's best friend.
Excellent video explaining the differences. I think I've had all the set-ups over the years :) My Astra had the coil-overs and it did break (old 2nd hand car) and was a fair bit more expensive to replace than a couple of spark leads :) Interestingly (at least to me) is that my HSV seems to have the Monster Coil near plug from factory - no idea the voltage but it certainly has eight blocks and a short lead to the plug. [GM's LSA motor]
Could you possibly do an episode about ignition controllers? I'm specifically looking for something affordable, but smart enough to run sequential CoPs. If needed they could be CoPs wired as wasted spark as it's not a terribly high revving engine, but I would prefer sequential to keep wear on the CoPs down to as close to factory as possible.
YEEEES! A video on the history + development + features of the b204/b234 engine would be great and you (D4A) could also describe the somewhat unique SAAB T5/T7 engine management system with its ionic knock-sensing too. :) (done via DI cassette sending ~60v across the spark plug during non-spark time to determine if the engine is knocking without a dedicated knock sensor)
@@mbsnyderc They'd routinely hit 5500 to 6000rpm, that's not exactly slow. And I could get 10L/100km on the freeway. Admittedly I swapped the factory 4 speed for a Toyota 5 speed steel case gearbox. The trick is to keep the points well lubed and gapped.
@@johno9507 of course distributors work, they were used for a long time. But technology advances, and generally when technology evolves its to improve the tech not make it worse. A single distributor would not be able to handle 7500-8500 rpm, and our modern systems are designed to be more efficient and reliable. No more moisture in the distributor cap, or maintenance on the points, etc. This is a big reason why we have cars that start first try in the freezing cold. Better fuel systems, ignition systems, etc.
@@SGcomputing To be honest I've had more trouble over the years with coil on/near plug ignition systems in everything from my (Australian) LS1 powered HSV Clubsport R8, Ford Falcon 4.0ltr XR6 Turbo, Ford Falcon 5.4 XR8 to my Volvo S60R than I had in my old 1978 GM Holden 5ltr V8's. I'd leave for work at 4:30am and even in winter one press of the accelerator pedal to activate the choke on the Quadrajet carburettor and she'd start first time every time. And now instead of replacing one coil, you have to replace 8 of the buggers...and for what, so I can rev out to 6500rpm instead of 5500rpm.
Well, with lots of old cars you have expensive and hard to find parts, and need to go to more expensive specialty shops to have them repaired. A distributor has not only failure costs where you need to replace parts, but maintenance costs aswell to keep it working. With a modern coil on plug system, you save fuel costs with more efficient combustion, there is no maintenance at all, and they very rarely fail and when they do are usually very easy to replace and aren’t all that expensive, typically.
@@Martink9191 just had a coil on plug die last week. They get heat soaked. Thought it was going to be expensive since its an audi a7 but i got a coil on plug for $30 and did the labor myself easily in 10 min
Thank you once again thank you for sharing that knowledge and I learned a lot about that I learned all the time with your videos thank you thank you so much I'm grateful for all the videos that you show me about knowledge about engines and everything else
I'm working on a restomod project for a car that came with the old distributor system. See, I knew there were downsides to that old system but now I know exactly why that is. Good work man.
Hi, hi. I really love your work. A lot of things are much clearer for mr because of your content. I was wondering do you plan to make a video about LPG conversions and their applications?
One undisputed pro of the good old distributor is cost and a +/- the lack of computers to an extent. If the car starts running rough, you look at the rotor and rotor cap and you find a bit of corrosion that you scrub off and on the road again you are. With an electronic its always look for engine fault codes or switch coils around and then replace the coil or sensor thats gone bad. Usually one coil costs more than a distributor+rotor+plug wires together :D ps. I've had 2 cars with distributors (-86 mercedes 300E and a -97 Volvo V70 T5), never any problems with them. With all my other cars with coils in them I've had to change at least one per car during my ownership
I've always wondered how these newer ignition setups work. Now I understand the Subaru engine I'm working on has a Wasted Spark setup. I grew up on Holden red motors, so this tutorial helped so much. Love the other videos too.
@@chrisbenn8691 Not a problem, glad to help. I use a Subaru EA81 engine on my microlight with a timing wheel on the pulley using a Hall Effect sensor for the timing, it also controls the fuel injectors on a group fire basis, all controlled by a programmable ECU. Fun fact, they made one that was turbo charged so there was a dedicated injector head.
8:07 The wasted spark needs only a small proportion of the voltage because it jumps the gap at about 1 bar pressure in hot gas. The spark used for starting the combustion is made at about 10 bar pressure and takes most of the energy of the coil.
2001 land rover Freelander 2.5L KV6 is a bit of a weird case then. One side has coils directly on the spark plugs, the other side has short coils with leads to the spark plugs.
All is great except advert for monster coil. Good for those who do not care about cars, just power even at the expense of the life of the vehicle. Car manufacturers did not use those monster coils for good reason. However, excellent as always explanation of various systems existing in the cars.
Damn wish you woulda went over plasma ignition too like from Blue Phoenix. It's really interesting I think, like the Advanced Corona Ignition System from Federal-Mogul. Good vid anyway though👍
Good work. As others have said, I learned and enjoyed. Though, of course, spark ignition precludes excessive compression, and what's the point of doing something non-excessive?
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Monster coil: bit.ly/d4ahocoils
COP:
amzn.to/3efickY
Wasted spark: amzn.to/3jMXQRh
Distributor: amzn.to/3kIoewS
Spark plug wires: amzn.to/2TJylFO
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8:00 would a V-6 need 2 packs as well or are you referring to a inline 6?
@@stuffhappensdownsouth9899 A v6 usually uses 3 dual spark coil packs, they fire 2 cylinders per pack, instead of 4.
Clever promotion video... Block..
@@Frosty_Saiyajinthx
@@stuffhappensdownsouth9899 Cheers
I teach high school auto shop and I'm always looking for technically accurate videos that are school appropriate. Your channel has nailed it thank you very much!
Just be sure to do your own research and correct the things that are incorrect that he doesn’t go back and correct
hey man, keep doing what you do. it's getting more and more rare now to see auto shop programs in high schools nowadays, and it makes me happy to see people like you still wanting to inspire that passion in younger generations
I agree
I hope this could be translated to Spanish
I use the misfires at high rpm with a distributor as a rev limiter!
"Sounds like your engine is about crap out!"
"Nah man... Rev limiter..."
best rev limiter is the valve float smh ;D
@@karoliskazlauskas1213 lmfao l was gona post that
@@karoliskazlauskas1213 Best rev (and speed) limiter is to put an egg on your dashboard.
nah, redlimiter on a twostroke when you dont have one, yes i mean actualy out accelereting the exploding gas with the piston, keeps a smooth rpm too.
A topic about which I needed to know nothing more than I already did. So, of course, I watched and learned more. Thanks.
Same !
This is almost irrelevant to what I was searching for but good information and well delivered so I watched to the end, Keep the revs up👍
The clarity and conciseness of this channel's content continues to confound critics and competitors.
Well said.I thought I knew all that I needed, but guess what,A LOT THAT I DIDN'T KNOW
As a retired engineer; and car collector; I must say that your videos are probably the absolute best on RUclips! You have a great ability to easily explain complex mechanisms and principles and I always learn something new.
Yep, he just needs to talk clerarer and stop whispering.
@@miljororforsprakpartiet290 😂😂
.. uhhh, that's a negative there, home slice. In ADDITION to breaking down and easily explaining complex things, his accent and his calm and quiet, comedic demeanor add even MORE value.
If you have a hard time hearing him, you could try turning your speakers up... or maybe it's that time of year to clean your ears.
Once those landfill listeners of yours are clean, if you can't understand the words coming out of his mouth...try inserting the q-tip deeper. If you can make it to the other side, you're doing great.
@@williamvoor2425pp
L😊l
I learned all this back in the 70s and 80s when Cars were a more important item in my life. Its very generous of you to put it all together in one package, starting with Mechanical Distributors. Your vocal presentation makes it easy to remain focused on the material and not your person. Thank You that. You have a new sub.
Well spoken and well defined uncle. Experience will forever be the best tutor... Respect MR DRAGO
Information on a topic I never thought about. And I was engrossed the entire time. I wonder how long until we see monster coils as a oem.
Thank you glad you liked the video. I doubt we'll bee seeing monster type coils on OEM anytime soon as these really only become necessary when you start pushing the performance, stuff like 150-200 hp per cylinder. So they wouldn't really give any additional benefits on a stock oem engine, plus they're kinda big and bulky so not that easy to fit in modern crowded engine bays. But in the world of tuning, these things can completely change an engine.
My 17 year old LS1 has OEM coils setup the same as the monster colis?!
You wont.
@@MaFTB GM LS engine ignition use exactly the same technology (but not brand). And it performs with superchargers (factory) and aftermarket turbos, highest stress point for ignition. Arrangement allows for physically bigger coil, more, heaver winding's. Independent dyno testing has not found improvements with after market coils on these engines
This channel is so underrated!! You should have 1M + subs. Great informational video
Another excellent video packed with great information, clearly explained and easy to understand. Thank you, D4A! You definitely have the best automotive engineering & mechanics channel anywhere!
It is worth noting that for direct coils you need to tell ecm camshaft posision, basically using the same sensor as crankshaft position sensor but on camshaft or camshaft wheel. Only then it will know on what stroke each cylinder is and fire every other revolution.
they could be run as wasted spark
@@fuzzy1dk thats exactly what I meant:)
It can operate with only crank position sensor. ECU can start the engine on wasted spark mode and then guess the cam position as there are only two options. If that causes misfire (engine speed drops) the guess was wrong and cam is the other way around. This also works for sequential fuel injection. Just start with patch injection and guess to switch to sequential.
@Retired Bore You totally missed my point
@Retired Bore Ok. Then I misunderstood you.Sorry
I'm really impressed with your ability to convey technical information in such an easy to understand way. I didn't understand why a "smart" coil (AEM) would be better than a COP setup on my 4AGE race engine, but I do now! Thank you.
Cop will be fine on non boosted engine, motorcycle engines that rev to 17,500rpm use coil on plug
“You have to reach for something like this.” Then video gets interrupted by a Frebreze commercial. Lmao. The timing was perfect.
i just use adblock. much cheaper
@@pieterpretorius1014 I use u block works a treat.
Undoubtedly the best explanation I have ever seen comparing the different ignition systems....Bravo!
As a retired electrician, your ohms law graphic, cracked me up!
Do you have any channel to suggest ?
I want to learn electricity
@@yacinealg152 GreatScott
And now I know what the crank position sensor on my Land Rover Discovery 2 does. 😄
Thanks! 🙏
Awesome video as always, ive heard the wasted spark system mentioned before, never knew exactly how it worked, really clears it up :D cheers man!
It’s never a wasted day as long as you learn something. Thank you 🤓
ECU can actually control ignition timing on individual cylinders on any system if there's enough sensors and spark is controlled by ECU. There are actually some cars with wasted spark system where ECU does have control over individual cylinder ignition timing.
I *may* (cough cough) have replaced my RX-8 OEM coils with those monstar coils... (cough)..
I guess they're a good fit for rotaries since they are high rev lovers and also, unlike reciprocating piston engines have to literally fire for every single cycles. (Might still be overkill.. But at the same time.. There's nothing overkill on rotaries if you want to keep them alive)
should have downgraded to the RX 7 FC turbo - system with 4 full size coils . Never have issues, that is overkill... BTW they fire twice every work stroke with a 0.. 20 ° difference. There is a leading and a trailing one.
@@heikopanzlaff3789 RX-8s are everywhere and often sold for dirt cheap because people didn't want to maintain them properly. RX-7s are not as common due to the same issues as the RX-8, but also due to being hamstrung by American regulations, the notion that foreign vehicles were worthless (which was a root cause of the 240SX extinction event), the destruction of thousands of functional cars at the hands of Cash for Clunkers, and of course due to sports cars seemingly always being equipped with an 'aggressive SUV/pick-up driver magnet' that turns them into accordeons.
An ignition coil is rated for kv(1000v) voltage potential, actual kv used to fire the plug is measurable on a scope.& more potential can help in high rpm air/ fuel/ spark advance ratio uses.. Your STD coil for early point sys rated @20kv⚡
HEI coils @40 - 60kv .⚡⚡ ( @miliamp flow)
Most modern coils rated@ 60 to 90 kv& up however@ 90 kv&+up
( MULTICOIL pack) & coils potential exceeds the 1amp or better rate and can injure or kill you. Use a spark check tool for any diagnostic test for a no spark condition on modern computer controlled engines. Not the old method-hold plug wire to block for 20- 40 kv rated coils. ⚡ most of your old coils are rated in miliamps.1amp @90kv+ and above can cause human heart stoppage.( +ruin your day )A coil must completely discharge voltage during firing stroke before recharging,-points closed ( dwell) or HEI distributor pickup do this In milliseconds (voltage over time) (dwell affects base ign. timing) Coil packs use wasted spark theory.on the matched cylinder to crank( fire stroke/ exhaust stroke matched reciprocating cyl) most individual coil per cyl. fire like a std coil & are computer controlled .(ECM)
Hope this helps . Make sure all battery leads clean and engine/ chassis grounds secure.
Make sure aftermarket stereos are on clean fused 12v source, not ANY computer (ECM )related circuit or the car will fire and surge sporadically to the music beat.( poor driveability)
@@heikopanzlaff3789 RX7's of all gens are now skyrocketing in prices, RX8's on the other hand are still low on prices...
Coils don't "charge up" like capacitors do. That's sloppy language and doesn't really describe what's going on. Coils generate a primary magnetic field when current is run through them. The larger the current, the larger the primary magnetic field. The primary magnetic field is limited by saturation of the iron core, but that's a separate discussion. The reason coils take time to fully "turn on" the primary magnetic field is due to Lenz's Law. As the current and primary magnetic field increase, a secondary magnetic field is induced that opposes the primary field. That also induces an opposing electric field which pushes against the electrons flowing through the primary coil. So as the current is increasing the electrons have to fight against this induced electric field. This slows down the acceleration of the current, which prevents it from instantaneously turning on. It has an effect very similar to mass in mechanical systems, the heavier something is the slower it accelerates. In the case of a coil it's called inductance. The greater the inductance, the greater the induced electric field pushes back against the electrons that are trying to accelerate through the coil. So a bigger coil is "heavier" and "harder to accelerate" because it has more inductance than a smaller coil.
Anyways back to the ignition system. Eventually the primary coil finally reaches full current and primary magnetic field. At this point, the secondary coil, which overlaps the primary but isn't physically connected to it, has zero current but full magnetic field running through it. It's when the primary current switches off (but not instantaneously, again due to Lenz's Law) and the primary magnetic field starts decreasing, Lenz's Law causes an induced electric field to form in the secondary coil. But now instead of slowing down the electrons like what happened in the primary coil, the electric field pushes against the electrons in the secondary coil and accelerates them. So current only flows in the secondary coil when the current in the primary coil is (gradually) turning on or off. Since the secondary coil is connected to the spark plug, this is ultimately what causes the electrons to jump across the spark gap. Now, a spark plug does have capacitance, so current running through the secondary coil causes the electrons to build up at the edges of the spark gap before they generate enough voltage to jump the gap and form a spark. So the spark plugs actually do "charge up". But not the coils.
So this might cause you to ask, if a more powerful coil is "harder to accelerate" because it has more inductance, then why the hell would you want it?! Doesn't that just slow things down? Increased inductance leads to greater magnetic flux for the same amount of current running through the coil. If inductance is like "mass" that makes electrons harder to accelerate, it also gives them more "magnetic flux" which is like the electromagnetic equivalent of momentum. So when the electrons are charging up the spark plug, they're not bumping into it like a scooter in a parking lot, they're slamming into it like a semi truck on the highway. That's why you get a bigger spark when the coil has more inductance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lenz%27s_law
Yes, it's sloppy and inaccurate, but it's close enough and this is a video about automotive engineering for noobs, not electrical engineering
I understood it only because I studied electrical engineering. But yes, it's true.
Oh yeah, I get this is a "noob" video... But I felt somebody should give a more detailed physics explanation in the comments in case somebody wanted to dig deeper. Hope it makes sense for somebody. If it's too wordy for some they should just look up Faraday's Law and Lenz's Law on Wikipedia.
But of course, Lenz's law doesn't apply to metric engines, so it isn't enforced.
Very good presentation of this topic as usual by Driving4Answers.
to add something: 1. the wasted spark coil has not it lighter as the distributor coil, there are two coils (in a 4-cylinder) but they have to fire twice as often. 2. there are some CoP engines where two CoPs are fired simultaneously, like in a wasted spark system, they do so to avoid needing a camshaft sensor (and two switching transistors). 3. a ground comment: the coils, even the CoPs) have 1 high voltage terminal and 2 low voltage. It means that the HV is "ground" through the low voltage positive terminal, which makes the spark return path going a long loop, essentially the loop closes at the battery. That makes dangerous to disconnect the battery when the engine is running since the 20,000 V will split between the plug and elsewhere, very bad for the electronics unless good overvoltage protection is built in the ECU. (Old mechanical systems had no protection and could burn alternator components). All this for saving a screw-terminal for grounding the HV at the coil.
Aww man, after your last video I was hoping we'd be getting some sweet sweet diesel content. But now you cover the least diesel topic imaginable! It's all good D4A, still love your channel!
There will be some stuff on diesels here and there in the future, but I'm a spark boy through and through so petrol will still account for the vast majority of my content.
@@d4a I'll forgive you, but seriously an "Iconic Engines" on the Mercedes OM606 and Cummins 6BT would be so sick! I think those are two engines even sparky bois can appreciate
Also if you ever are bored, go check out two-stroke diesels and how they work. Supercharged and turbocharged. Very fascinating
Just discovered your channel, immediately subscribed! Great presentation style, very clear, easy to follow, and good level of humor! Amazing job dude!
Was just looking up to buy some plug coils and I saw this, very helpful
This guy is good. Covered all the important facts and history in a very understandable and concise way.
This is my favorite RUclips channel, i have recommended all my friends to watch his videos.
Are you serious?,so am right to be here?,I mean am in Kenya but am I lucky to be watching this?
A detail worth mentioning is that the ignition coil is basically a transformer. But transformers need a varying voltage applied to the primary coil in order to work. AC transformers rely on the alternating nature of the power coming in and don't need more than input and output coils wrapped around a core to work, but DC power is a little bit trickier. As explained in the video, there's a switch that cuts off power and lets the EM field around the primary coil collapse, turning back into electrical power on the secndary coil. That's how you vary the voltage in a DC-DC transformer.
The transistors in more advanced setups are the switches in the more advanced setups. The output voltage is dependent on both the size ratio of the coils (both in number of turns and area covered) and the switching speed. As also explained in the video, switching the coil too fast causes the primary coil to not "charge up" enough, so the voltage outputed by the coil goes down as frequency goes up. All the spark solutions here use this same principle, the difference is that, as the video also explains, the more advanced options use individual coils that free up time for them to charge. Maybe they also use capacitors to speed up the charge cycle, I've never took one apart, but a 20kv capacitor with any meaningful charge capacity would be enormous.
I love your videos mate, they should be used as additional training methods for apprentice mechanics. Very interesting and well presented too.
Just found your channel. Newer mechanic. Love it.
One disadvantage with the distributor is also that the timing lead is static in distance, not time. When igniting the fuel mixture in an engine, you always want to ignite it leading with time, as the time from when you send voltage to the spark plug, and the fuel excerting downwards pressure (where you want the piston at TDP) is always static (for a specific mixture).
The distributor leads with distance instead, meaning that it will at higher RPMs, lead with shorter times (meaning the spark will come a tad too late) and at lower RPMs, it will lead with longer times (meaning the spark will come a tad too early)
(Think carefully now - at higher RPMs, it will take shorter time, for the distributor to travel from point A to B).
This is a big disadvantage.
Thats why smarter, electronic spark systems are created,. so the engine can adjust the lead times based on RPM and fuel mixture. This is also the same reason fuel injectors are created, and also why it exist electronic valve systems (camless engines) where the ECU controls the valves completely independent of the rotation of the engine.
Also the reason the crank position sensor has one teeth missing is not to create a changing magnetic field - remember that the wheel has teeth and is not smooth - and will make pulses anways thus creating a changing magnetic field. The reason the missing teeth is there, is to give the sensor a absolute position reference - like a "zero". The missing pulse is intepreted by the ECU as passing of a specific position, and the ECU can zero a counter. For each pulse from the sensor, the ECU increases the counter by 1. When the missing pulse is encountered again, it zeroes again.
Thus the ECU constantly "recalibrates" itself, so even if the engine would happen to come a little bit out of sync, for example due to electrical interference, its instantly recalibrated next revolutiion.
Note that a ABS sensor works in the exact same way - but it doesn't need a missing teeth, because it don't need to know the absolute position of the wheel - it only needs to know the speed (pulses/second), thus it doesn't matter if the ABS loses a pulse or two, because it will not become desynced.
underrated comment, you could do a video
Not if one wheel is only missing teeth you go fast enough the abs computer registers an issue due to speed difference on all wheels whilst your not apply brakes it will turn it self off
@@james2hackett870 If your car is MISSING teeth on a sensor-disc for ABS you got some other waaaaayyy more serious issues - not the least of which is the lack of intelligence to even dare driving such a deathtrap.
Most distributor systems include some mechanism to advance the spark as rpm rises. Of course these crude vacuum or fly-weight operated mechanisms can't compare to a computer doing the job...
@@nerd1000ify very true, but one of the few benefits of a distributor is that, with the proper knowledge and almost no tools, you can set and adjust timing on the fly. It will never be as accurate as a computer but because it is mechanically linked, as long as the distributor is stabbed correctly its going to be more or less correct.
And those are the two (very slim) benefits I can come up with. Less computers and (with proper knowledge) very cheap on the fly adjustments.
I enjoy your videos and I think you would appreciate criticism, you are lacking some information..
#1 A coil is not an igniter an igniter or igniter is an ignition module(ecu responsible for coil timing)
#2waste spark systems can add the benefit of simplistic reliability to a sequential fuel injection system by reducing the need for hardware such as a cam position sensor. The ignition module (igniter)can monitor the current flow through the waste coil secondary circuit and determine which cylinder was up for compression based on which direction (polarity) the coil fired. Since the exhaust cylinder has less charge density a lesser voltage will always be required to jump the gap. When the companion cylinders switch roles again the differences in voltage can be read a voltage direction and polarity.
#3 there are coil near plugs and coil over plugs with or without an integrated igniter module.
#4 you didn’t mention ion sensing ignition systems which can sense spark knock and even air-fuel mixture within each individual cylinder eliminating the need for oxygen sensors and providing cylinder basis combustion monitoring.
Cheers and keep up the good work.
you stated why the disturber is the best in the beginning. It's mechanically linked to the engine. no computer needed. no bullshit ECU or extra stuff that's expensive to replace when it breaks. I did the plugs cap and rotor in my small block chevy, and it cost me 97 dollars. most of which was the AC Delo plugs. compared to an LS engine where a coil can be upwards of 150$ for one. I will stick to the old school stuff. carbs, pushrod, and disturbers!
Screw the old unreliable stuff. Too many moving parts that fail. You need to put new ignition parts on your small block every year or two. Nothing wrong with computers, they almost never fail. And you can drive an LS engine for 300k+ miles and 15+ years without replacing a single ignition coil. And in a rare occasion when you do, they are not $150. Rockauto sells them for $56 (Acdelco) or $18 (aftermarket).
Very true coil on packs are over priced pieces of junk. old things like that hardly ever break and if they do it's no 800 dollars to fix
OEM parts are best to use because you're vehicle was made to run efficiently with those parts I did what you're saying to do and put aftermarket parts on and nothing will last as long as an OEM part trust me I already tried
@@PTTrue-mu5rq yeah the only after market parts that I would trust is performance parts, like holly and msd. But I agree OEM is the best and no matter the parts store. They all got parts for a small block Chevy or ford
@@artementy if you think old stuff has too many moving parts look at a new double over head cam v8 that’s to many moving parts and a mile of timing chains. The old stuff may be less fuel efficient but it’s more reliable even when is not taken care of that good. And cheep after market stuff is just asking to be stranded on The side of the road. OEM or performance only, in my opinion. And I only change the ignition parts because I did not know the last time they had been done. I won’t have to change them for years. They hardly ever fail if you maintain them.
Your videos are super informative on all technical levels - from materials, to engineering, to actual practical applications. Thank you, I just started supporting you through patreon.
13:05 Toyota:
"Hold my beer."
Love the way he simplifies stuff, video IS WORTHY THE TIME.THANX SO MUCH
Accidentally very early it seems :| Very interesting topic since the last time i dived into that was on a 2 stroke with 74cc :D Nice to see how the stuff works on a proper engine. Like out before watched the video again... no regrets >:D
nice video. one small correction, the coil is not the ignitor, the ignitor is the switching device to shield the ecu from the relatively high current and noise primary circuit. systems like the honda distributor or earlier nissan CoP use this setup. ign-1a coils(aem smart coils) have built in ignitors and can be directly controlled by the ecu.
This channel is like engineering explained but much better and relevant.
You are the best teacher about cars :-) Thank you for your videos!
Personally I'm waiting for a tuning company to make an ignition system that commands the sky to deliver actual goddamned lightning bolts down to your sparkplugs for the hottest and most reliable spark possible.
So just to ad in some confusion-
The earlier Hemi 5.7 had coil on plug that was also wasted spark with plug wires. Two plugs per cylinder, opposite sides paired, with eight wasted spark coils mounted on the plugs. Later hemis had cop wasted spark, with one coil over the two plugs.
Ford 6.2 uses a similar setup, but with the coil mounted over the upper plug, and a wire to the lower plug of the same cylinder.
GM LS type engines use a coil near plug setup with a short plug wire. They're pretty beefy coils, I've had engines run just fine with no center electrode and just a bit of the ground electrode.
I always thought higher pressure necessitated higher voltage/amperage
I never thought that that greater air/fuel density created a higher insulation condition
Didn't you just contradict yourself? More atoms in the gap mean more atoms to ionize which you surmised in first statement. Higher pressure = higher atomic density.
Higher density of air/fuel IS higher pressure
When the information you provide in a language that is not your native one and you get a like / suscriber, you know your sh*t is good
I've learned more from this channel than i did in automotive school.
Suck it, WCC.
You are a good narrator. Wish you had touched on wasted spark polarity pros and cons; that's the rabbit hole I'm navigating today.
Excellent video D4A! Your editing is on point, my friend :D
you do great videos. Looking at those aeg units, the writing on the side reads 103mj.
That's milli joules of energy. Back in the 80's common cars with Bosch based coil/ignition systems could generate 1 full joule of energy, enough to kill. But also enough to fire lean burn engines with long spark duration, at least as long as the new style AEG unit in the video.
It's been too long . . but I remember typical spark wire resistance was around 5k ohms, and engines didn't misfire until plug-wire resistance increased to 10x that. The plug-wire resistance changed the rise time and the shape of the wave form.
The actual firing voltage of the plug is mostly influenced by engine conditions not plug-wire resistance, eg timing, compression, and especially lean mixture. A fouled plug would have zero volts across it.
Note manufacturers also moved to resistor type spark plugs, increasing resistance in the plug circuit.
The big advantage I can see is accurate timing for each cylinder. Mechanical distributors always had a variation of several degrees between cylinders.
I hope this adds to your video, cheers.
on the verge of going from MSD DIS2 up to those monster coils... can't wait... Just for a bit more info... those AEM coils, are actually knows as IGN-1A's . Every one just re-badges them... AEM, Haltech, Holley, Accel, ProEFI.... etc...
You mention the main benefit of the distributor system and the major disadvantages of all the others. PRICE and complexity respectively.
It’s like you read my mind or something this is getting crazy. Just yesterday I read on those exact things on Wikipedia
He must be some kind of psychic, I had trouble with ht leads yesterday (not the obvious problems) and although I've fixed it today, this was reassuring to watch 😁.
Great explanation, I was looking for for something like this and it was hard to find.
Thx! That was actually helpful for the distributor rebuild i'm doing. Also, the way you explained how current and voltage work is way better than anyone i've ever seen.
Great channel and info. Maybe this was pointed out, but at 5:21 - you explained opposite Cyl1 and Cyl4 to the image. Anyway, thumbs up - great vids
maaan could listen to you talk for hours, proper keeps you engaged the way you use your voice and full of stuff i want to know/didnt know i didnt know!!! ty dude more money your way
Yes, I concur. This video was so clear and well explained I'm hoping to find my car issue but this helps a lot.
All this guy's videos are extremely informative, helpful, and easy to understand. Keep up the good work brother!
I can remember back in 1980's raising the bonnet ( hood ) at night with the engine running and it was like a firework display... I replaced the HV cables next day.
Very cool presentation. I did not know about the "wasted spark" in a coil pack.
Very well done. I am an electrical engineer and car enthusiast and you did very well with the electrical portion of your lecture. Accurate and simple explanations.
Toyota, Honda and probably others used a "hybrid" of wasted spark and CoP for a time on some 4- and 6-cyl engines -- half of the cylinders had a coil on the plug, and the other half were fired by the same coil via a wire.
First!! Hell yeahh babyyy
again .. very detailed informative video .. easy to understand .. keep up the good work
Even though I'm extremely experienced and knew everything discussed in this video, hearing it and seeing it visualized this well was really inspiring.
Same here, these are great!
My 01 GMC Yukon already has a factory ignition system similar to that Monster coil system, each cylinder has its own fairly large coil and each spark plug wire is the exact same length as short as practical. The 5.3 Vortec is basically a LS motor, not as much power but that can be changed easily, the other thing is these motors are basically bullet proof!! Mine has over 340000 Miles on it and it still runs great?? I will be leaving it stock for longevity who knows I might get a million miles out of it. Maintenance is your car's best friend.
Excellent video explaining the differences. I think I've had all the set-ups over the years :) My Astra had the coil-overs and it did break (old 2nd hand car) and was a fair bit more expensive to replace than a couple of spark leads :)
Interestingly (at least to me) is that my HSV seems to have the Monster Coil near plug from factory - no idea the voltage but it certainly has eight blocks and a short lead to the plug. [GM's LSA motor]
waste ignition was still use sinze 1948 on the Citroën 2cv engine (flat twin), but with ruptor (EFI on 652cc use in the Citroën Visa and LNA)
Could you possibly do an episode about ignition controllers? I'm specifically looking for something affordable, but smart enough to run sequential CoPs. If needed they could be CoPs wired as wasted spark as it's not a terribly high revving engine, but I would prefer sequential to keep wear on the CoPs down to as close to factory as possible.
This is an amazing video bro. You got a new sub. I will be watching all your videos for sure. Thanks for the content
How about new series: Underrated engines
You could start the series with saab B2x4 😉
Ps. Great video once again! Liked
YEEEES!
A video on the history + development + features of the b204/b234 engine would be great and you (D4A) could also describe the somewhat unique SAAB T5/T7 engine management system with its ionic knock-sensing too. :) (done via DI cassette sending ~60v across the spark plug during non-spark time to determine if the engine is knocking without a dedicated knock sensor)
And the Toyota 3RZ-FE, the Mercedes OM606
@@johneldepresso would love to see om606 too!
Mallory had dual points distributors back in the 70's. One set of points was used to precharge the coil thus no problems at high rpm.
I loved every single second of this video. Truly informative and entertaining. I wish I had watched this video months ago. I love it
Great information. I had my COPs replaced a few months ago. Now I know what they do 😀
Back in the 90's I used to build my own V8's and used distributors with points.
I never had a problem with them of any kind.
Those would have been lower RPM engines.and a lot of this is about efficiency fuel and power curve. more than just overall power.
@@mbsnyderc
They'd routinely hit 5500 to 6000rpm, that's not exactly slow.
And I could get 10L/100km on the freeway.
Admittedly I swapped the factory 4 speed for a Toyota 5 speed steel case gearbox.
The trick is to keep the points well lubed and gapped.
My old 911 still works fine.
@@johno9507 of course distributors work, they were used for a long time. But technology advances, and generally when technology evolves its to improve the tech not make it worse. A single distributor would not be able to handle 7500-8500 rpm, and our modern systems are designed to be more efficient and reliable. No more moisture in the distributor cap, or maintenance on the points, etc. This is a big reason why we have cars that start first try in the freezing cold. Better fuel systems, ignition systems, etc.
@@SGcomputing
To be honest I've had more trouble over the years with coil on/near plug ignition systems in everything from my (Australian) LS1 powered HSV Clubsport R8, Ford Falcon 4.0ltr XR6 Turbo, Ford Falcon 5.4 XR8 to my Volvo S60R than I had in my old 1978 GM Holden 5ltr V8's.
I'd leave for work at 4:30am and even in winter one press of the accelerator pedal to activate the choke on the Quadrajet carburettor and she'd start first time every time.
And now instead of replacing one coil, you have to replace 8 of the buggers...and for what, so I can rev out to 6500rpm instead of 5500rpm.
Bombina Miljenko...bombina
Not all coil pack engines are waisted spark due to the use of a cam position sensor and separate coils in the pack, you might add Thanks.
Now explain how much each system is to repair.
mechanical parts are most problematic. They worn in real time. Coilplug almost never dies.
Well, with lots of old cars you have expensive and hard to find parts, and need to go to more expensive specialty shops to have them repaired. A distributor has not only failure costs where you need to replace parts, but maintenance costs aswell to keep it working. With a modern coil on plug system, you save fuel costs with more efficient combustion, there is no maintenance at all, and they very rarely fail and when they do are usually very easy to replace and aren’t all that expensive, typically.
@@Martink9191 just had a coil on plug die last week. They get heat soaked. Thought it was going to be expensive since its an audi a7 but i got a coil on plug for $30 and did the labor myself easily in 10 min
@@Martink9191 CoP fail all the time
@@archygrey9093 you should repair the problem then.
Thank you once again thank you for sharing that knowledge and I learned a lot about that I learned all the time with your videos thank you thank you so much I'm grateful for all the videos that you show me about knowledge about engines and everything else
I'm working on a restomod project for a car that came with the old distributor system. See, I knew there were downsides to that old system but now I know exactly why that is. Good work man.
The upside is its pure simplicity.
The very old type with a vacuum/ mechanical timing system.
The distributor type system also uses crank position sensors
But how hondas still use those and make a bunch of power?
Still use what?
@@archygrey9093 distribuitors. I mean, the old ones still use them because they came with them
Hi, hi. I really love your work. A lot of things are much clearer for mr because of your content. I was wondering do you plan to make a video about LPG conversions and their applications?
you missed magneto ignition
One undisputed pro of the good old distributor is cost and a +/- the lack of computers to an extent. If the car starts running rough, you look at the rotor and rotor cap and you find a bit of corrosion that you scrub off and on the road again you are. With an electronic its always look for engine fault codes or switch coils around and then replace the coil or sensor thats gone bad. Usually one coil costs more than a distributor+rotor+plug wires together :D ps. I've had 2 cars with distributors (-86 mercedes 300E and a -97 Volvo V70 T5), never any problems with them. With all my other cars with coils in them I've had to change at least one per car during my ownership
I've always wondered how these newer ignition setups work. Now I understand the Subaru engine I'm working on has a Wasted Spark setup. I grew up on Holden red motors, so this tutorial helped so much. Love the other videos too.
Another Aussie
Just make sure that you use R (resistance) plugs on your engine.
@@vumba1331 Will do. Thanks for the tip.
@@chrisbenn8691 Not a problem, glad to help. I use a Subaru EA81 engine on my microlight with a timing wheel on the pulley using a Hall Effect sensor for the timing, it also controls the fuel injectors on a group fire basis, all controlled by a programmable ECU. Fun fact, they made one that was turbo charged so there was a dedicated injector head.
Great video. Really great, informative, and easy to understand. Thanks much!
8:07 The wasted spark needs only a small proportion of the voltage because it jumps the gap at about 1 bar pressure in hot gas. The spark used for starting the combustion is made at about 10 bar pressure and takes most of the energy of the coil.
2001 land rover Freelander 2.5L KV6 is a bit of a weird case then. One side has coils directly on the spark plugs, the other side has short coils with leads to the spark plugs.
All is great except advert for monster coil. Good for those who do not care about cars, just power even at the expense of the life of the vehicle. Car manufacturers did not use those monster coils for good reason.
However, excellent as always explanation of various systems existing in the cars.
+ it could be interesting to see energy drop effeciency of CoP vs MP due to temperature. Old coils were always kept away from heat source.
Damn wish you woulda went over plasma ignition too like from Blue Phoenix. It's really interesting I think, like the Advanced Corona Ignition System from Federal-Mogul. Good vid anyway though👍
Such an underrated channel... :D
Nice and briefly information about ign system
I'm actually looking at going coil near plug on my Grand National over the winter
You should do it .They start better, idle better and run smoother. One of the best mods I've done for mine.
Good work. As others have said, I learned and enjoyed. Though, of course, spark ignition precludes excessive compression, and what's the point of doing something non-excessive?
Thanks for your excellent presentation
Your a great teacher..thx.
Best info on ignition systems thanks
Well now that was bloody excellent!
You should have added the magneto.
Which in my mind is far superior to anything. It runs without a battery and has a very hot spark.
As always excellent explanation!