Our ignitions are wierd.

[7plymaple]

So either the stock wires are starving two spark plugs of good spark or the sparko wires are going to make only two spark plugs spark better!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


WTF! http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/crazy.gif

[Bill_Stats]

Ya I have been wondering about that to.
Are the others connected direct - without wires???

[Familia 323]

First off, your ignition systems are distributor-less. There are several advantages of such systems... Maintenance is reduced because mechanical timing (advancing and retarding) don't have to be set. Your sparks are also more reliable compared to distributor systems as moisture and oxidation can set in the distributor and get on the rotor and wire terminals and as a result, tune-ups may be done at longer intervals. The most important in view of automotive engineers are the coil packs. They are less expensive to produce than distributors and they also must be designed into the engines, in this case the G3 1.6, 1.8 and the 2.0L powerplants.

The disadvantage however is timing cannot be set mechanically as many enthusiasts would like to as part of any performance tinkering. The G1 and G2 Proteges do enjoy this little perk, especially if you want to increase low-end torque, just advance timing, fill with the highest octane available and off you go, extra ponies in the low end. The high end do suffer a bit... http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[Bumble G]

I know the distributor less coil pack system is better.

But why have two pack running 4 cylenders.
Why not 4 packs one for each cylender??

How exactly does out ignition work?

does it work like this: When cylinder 1 is at compression and spark plug 1 fires, is cyliner 4 at the down stroke before exhaust and plug 4 fires as well?
This wouldn't make sense for cylender 2 & 3 though.

What is the firing sequence of the 2.0L??

[7plymaple]

Yes Eric what Im wandering about is the fact that there are only two spark plug wires. The other two spark plugs are directly connected to the coil packs. So either the two plugs that have wimpey wires right now are getting less of a spark than the two plugs upon wich the coil packs sit. Or the two plugs with wires will be getting a greater spark than the other two after we get the sparko wires.

Is our engine runing unevenly now or will we be unbalancing the amount of spark by putting in high performance wires? http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[Familia 323]

Bumble, you're right about the concept Mazda chose for their coil pack distributorless system, somewhat a little puzzling. Others have gone the coil-per-plug design that makes the use of plug wires pretty well obsolete. In Mazda's case, I believe you're right, when #1 piston is up, the #4 is on it's exhaust stroke. Since there is only one coil for those two cylinders, it seems to me that one of the sparks seems wasted (DIS fires twice/Conventional fires once). The key may lie on the cranshaft sensor DIS systems have, which to my understanding, manages the firing order...

[Familia 323]

Whatever the case may be, the Sparco wires which has much better insulation, should improve the performance of your Protege, Simon. Again, DIS systems uses a crankshaft sensor that takes care of the firing order and the ignition timing so most likely, that's what makes everything tick...

[markque]

If I remember the four stroke process from my teenage years, it goes like this:
intake (piston down), compression (up), power (down), exhaust (up) - hence 4 "strokes" to complete one cycle and the piston actually goes up and down twice in the cycle unlike a two stroke (which has no valves).
I also believe most inline fours have the two outside pistons raised while the two inside ones are lowered, then vice versa. They take their turns moving up and down thru the four sequences. I could be wrong.
Beyond that, I have no idea about the inner workings of distributor-less igntions systems. Sounds like it beats points and condensors...

Mark http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[DirtyLude]

The protege engine uses a direct fire waste spark system. Which most OEM direct fire 4 cylinder engines use. Very few use individual coil packs. It's more expensive and there is little benefit except in very high performance vehicles.

In a waste spark system, when the coil is fired, the cylinder it wants to fire is on the compression stroke. The other cylinder is on it's exhaust stroke. It fires both plugs at the same time, but one plug does nothing.

Your spark plug wires should do little to nothing for you, unless the 3-4 inches of OEM wire is really that bad. You could try using a bigger dual post coil if you're really interested in generating bigger spark. You can get them pretty cheap from a junkyard. A CDI ignition like the MSD's would be overkill unless you're going to forced induction.

Hmm...I have a gen 1, mechanical distributor...LET THE SPARK ADVANCE BEGIN!!!

[Jika]

speaking of the ignition system, my buddies' dad was talking to me about some spark plug he found that supposedly increases your spark without changing the wires. How he described it was that the plug has no tip on it, rather a series of "spikes" protruding from the threads toward the centre of the plug. . Anyone heard of these type of plugs?

[Protege5 Kid]

Well i just learned a few things

I THINK??????????????

wow do you guys know your engines!