| quote | Originally posted by AP2k:
Anyone curious as to how this is performed, a wider gap makes the power output increase. More power output means the coil pack gets hotter and faster. It reaches a hurdle point where the coil has been heated beyond what it was made for and it simply dies.
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I don't think you understand what's going on here. (And
I don't understand what you mean by, "... the coil pack gets ... faster.") You certainly went right past
timgray's critical point:
| quote | Originally posted by timgray:
... the plugs simply have an extra gap inside to make the spark gap wider which makes higher voltage which stresses the coil hard. [Emphasis added -- AMM]
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You (
AP2k) are probably correct when you say, "a wider gap makes the power output increase," because we expect the peak voltage to increase. But that generally doesn't matter, because a wider gap
does not increase the total spark energy delivered by the coil. (Power != Energy ... Power = Energy / Time)
timgray is correct that
higher voltage, resulting in high-voltage breakdown of the insulation inside the coil, is the primary culprit in coil failures when the spark gap is too wide.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 06-06-2008).]