What is a Spark Plug?
A spark plug is a device used in an internal combustion engine — that is, an engine that derives its power via exploding gases inside a combustion chamber — to ignite the air-fuel mixture. Cars typically have four-stroke gasoline engines, which means there are four strokes, or movements, to the moving parts inside the engine per rotation. Inside each cylinder is a piston, which moves up and down within the cylinder to compress the gas for combustion, and pushes the exhaust gases out after combustion. The piston is operated by an arm that attaches to the crankshaft, a shaft that extends through the bottom of the engine. The piston goes up and down twice during each rotation, hence the four strokes — up, down, up, down. The spark plug is positioned at the top of the cylinder, where the air-fuel ratio is compressed. The tip of the spark plug sits inside the engine, recessed into the side of the cylinder wall. The other end of the spark plug, which remains outside the engine, is attache
Most of you have heard of a spark plug, and for those of you who have, but are not sure what it does, we will explain here. A spark plug is a high voltage bridge for your cars ignition system. The spark plug wires send an electrical current down into the spark plug. The spark travels through the plug, and to the tip. Once it reaches the tip the current sparks once it reaches the gap, and ignites the fuel and air mixture in your combustion chamber. The more efficient and powerful the spark, the more of the fuel and air mixture it ignites. This results in smooth and powerful performance. As the spark plugs age, the power of the spark decreases so you lose performance over time. We recommend to replace your spark plug regularly. How many spark plugs do I have? You have one spark plug per cylinder. If your car is a 4 cylinder, then you have 4.
The function of a spark plug is to ignite the gasoline from the car’s fuel chambers and hence convert the fuel into energy. Once you turn on the ignition, a sufficient amount of voltage needs to be generated to cause a “spark” across the gap of the spark plug. The spark plug of a car can tell a person quite a bit about the car itself and can be used almost like a diagnostic tool in determining what is wrong with the car and where possible problems may lie.
