It seems like such a small thing—that tiny area approximately 0.040 of an inch wide inside each combustion chamber. That area we're talking about is the gap between the electrode and strap on each ...

The ignition system is a glutton for punishment. As the miles rack up, the distributor wears out, the coil gets abused, and the spark plug wires melt. The steadfast ignition system only gets attention ...

The demands for better emissions and fuel economy in the mid 1970s necessitated leaner fuel mixtures. These leaner mixtures required greater voltage and more spark to ignite. This challenge led GM ...

A battery in a traditional car cannot directly create engine spark. It’s only rated at 12 volts, after all, so it needs a little help boosting the signal to the spark plugs. To make that happen, a car ...

Engines need spark plugs to burn their air/fuel mixture, and the spark plugs need a jolt of electricity to do their work. Older cars with conventional distributor-based ignition systems did it by ...

"It's not a heap, dad. It's a classic." That's harder to justify when your classic muscle car won't start. Nothing like a high-compression V8 combined with a battery that hasn't seen a charge for a ...

Q. I've noticed my new car doesn't have a distributor or spark plug wires, unlike every other car or truck I've ever owned. Can you explain how this works? A. This is one of the neatest automotive ...