Questions and Answers
Ignition Questions
Q. Dear Sir: I have learned that the condenser helps eliminate the sparks that form the arc in contact breaker points. Is there a possibility of completely eliminating the spark in the contact breaker points (like adding another condenser to an existing single condenser) so that no arc will be formed?
Are all condensers of different brand names the same or do they have different specifications? Why is an ignition coil positioned vertically and not horizontally? What does an igniter do to an ignition coil?
Thanks.
A. There is no way to completely eliminate a spark from jumping the gaps in a set of points. The condenser just keeps it down as much as possible. Some car makers have lowered the voltage to the points through a ballast resistor to decrease the intensity of the spark, but it does not eliminate it. Adding another condenser would make no difference.
Basically all condensers are the same. It's the way they mount that differs from system to system. There is a difference in the low and high voltage ignition systems so they should not be interchanged. You should always use the one specified by the car maker for the particular engine however.
The older can type ignition coils were generally mounted vertically because they were filled with oil to keep the coil cool. Mounting it sideways or upside down would increase the likelihood of the oil leaking out. Modern coils don't have that problem so they can be mounted in any position.
Some cars, mostly foreign, have an igniter in the ignition system. The igniter unit, usually located inside the distributor housing, controls ignition timing and is itself controlled by the ECU. The ECU contains memories for basic ignition timing at various engine speeds, manifold pressures and coolant temperatures. The ECU retards or advances the timing to match these memories through the igniter unit. The igniter in turn sends the signal to the coil and causes it to fire.
