Is my car distributorless ignition system?

60

Asked by Shurley0714 Sep 19, 2016 at 09:11 PM about the 2001 Ford Focus SE

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

First question is a ignition coil the same thing as a
distributor? Second question is, is my 2001 ford
focus SE 2.0L SOHC a distributorless ignition
system? Im wondering because my car is currently
cranking but not turning over and im going to look
into the. Crank sensor in the PCM if it is
distributorless. Thanks. And also im a car noob.

4 Answers

59,725

Many modern cars have no distributor at all. The ignition is triggered by toothed timing wheels spinning with the crankshaft, which is much more accurate than points. Then there are individual coils for each cylinder, fired by the engine management computer. Some engines share coils between two cylinders. The cylinder at top dead center (TDC) of its compression stroke fires normally, and at the same instant the plug in the opposite cylinder also fires at TDC – on the exhaust stroke. This cylinder has no fuel mixture left to burn, so the spark is simply wasted. A full crankshaft rotation later, the same two plugs fire simultaneously again, but the tables are turned and the second cylinder is filled with fuel/air mixture and lights off. But there is still no distributor.

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