The Importance of Distributor in the Car's Ignition System

What is a distributor?

The distributor is found in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine and it alligns the high voltage into the correct firing order to the spark plugs.

It consists of a rotating arm known as a rotor, which is inside the distributor cap and on top of the distributor shaft.

The rotor contacts the central high voltage cable from the coil with the help of a spring loaded carbon brush.

The rotor arm, then passes close to the output contacts, which then connect through the high tension cables to the spark plug of each of the cylinders.

What is its importance?

The distributor cap and rotor are part of the ignition system, which has to work in concert with the rest of the engine in order to ignite the fuel at the proper time.

Its main purpose is to maximize the output of the expanding gases in the engine by lighting them so that they produce heat and the fuel turns to exhaust.

The exhaust increases the pressure in the cylinder and pushes the piston down, creating maximum pressure possible inside the cylinder, thereby maximizing torque and power.

The more efficient the cylinders are, the better the car's mileage will be and the most vital to the coil- distributor-cylinder system is timing.

Since there's a short delay between when the spark is created and when it ignites the mixture in the cylinder, the spark has to happen before the piston reaches the top of its stroke.

What happens when it malfunctions?

The distributor may not seem important, but it is an integral part of the performance of the car's engine.

When the cap is faulty, then the ignition sequence inside your engine will not happen in the set sequence.

The common irregularities found in the car when the distributor malfunctions are: Problem while starting in cold Shakes while driving Fluctuating RPMs

Problem while starting in cold

The distributor cap is more likely to break in the cold climate as it is covered with a plastic material which cracks due to the change in temperature.

There may be corrosive materials on the inside of the cap, which would also render it ineffective and create problems while starting the car.

Shakes while driving

The car shakes while driving and while idling the vibrations are more prominent means that the rotor inside the distributor is not spinning properly.

This leads to improper timing of the distribution of the firing process.

Fluctuating RPMs

A poor connection between the distributor cap and the wires may result in fluctuations in the engine's revolutions per minute(RPMs).

A cap with cracks, signs of burning or corrosion is often the cause of the problem.

formance-Plus/ ?hl=en-US