Ignition coil malfunctions

Ignition coil malfunctions

A failed ignition coil can severely damage your engine, so keep an eye out for these five ignition coil failure symptoms. 

Fortunately, if your vehicle has a computer running things instead of a distributor, chances are that it’ll notice when an ignition coil has gone bad. When it does, it’ll illuminate your check engine light.

Since ignition coils are responsible for delivering electricity to your spark plugs, you may notice that starting your engine is difficult with a failed ignition coil. In fact, if you have a single ignition coil, your vehicle may not start at all due to no spark being delivered to the spark plugs. 

That feeling of having a “dead” cylinder is called misfiring, and may also occur while driving. If your engine is misfiring, it may run poorly, shake, and vibrate when idling — and jerk or sputter while driving. A bad misfire will also cause your check engine light to flash, indicating a severe issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Misfiring puts incredible strain on engine components.

When spark plugs don’t receive enough electricity from the ignition coil, they may fail to spark or do so intermittently — resulting in reduced power output. When this happens, your engine makes up for the lack of power by consuming more fuel, which reduces gas mileage and can foul spark plugs. So watch out for stalling, slow acceleration, and rough idling, since they’re all symptoms of a bad ignition coil.

If your engine attempts to burn more fuel to compensate for the bad ignition coil, it may also backfire. Backfiring happens when unburnt fuel travels through the exhaust system and detonates. If your engine is backfiring, you may notice loud popping sounds coming from the rear of your vehicle.