How long do car ignitions last?
Way back in the bad old days, which when you’re talking about car ignition systems is anytime before 1980, car part longevity was actually pretty awful. All cars used distributors, rotors and contact points, in addition to spark plugs and wires. All those extra moving parts could (and would) wear out pretty quickly. In the case of contact points, it was recommended that they be replaced as often as once a year. The distributor cap, rotor and spark plugs could make it longer, and were often replaced at the 30,000-mile (48,280-kilometer) tune-up. Spark plug wires held out the longest, with a recommended change at around 90,000 miles (144,841 kilometers). By the 1990s, distributorless ignition systems were becoming more common. Many cars were getting on-board computers with sensors that could control the ignition system instead of the older, moving car parts. These more modern cars controlled spark with crankshaft and camshaft position sensors. The sensors sent a signal to the computer, a
