On the Internet, several ”manufacturers” offer “sports” ignition coils. There are different prices and different looks (more precisely – stylish coloring is the most important here), but there are a lot of common things in all these offers. So, this time, I will hide the name of the exact seller because it is not crucial.
Note: I almost wrote “manufacturer”- but that would be completely wrong.
So what do these “manufacturers” offer? Their “sports” ignition coils are the best. The misfires disappear, and the power increases. Well, for example:
”Torque gain is till 4%”. The keyword – “till”. Yes, they actually don’t even lie because the actual gain is 0%. The graphic, though, is a complete fake. Why? Everyone who works with petrol engines knows that in the kick-down mode, an enriched fuel mixture is filled in the cylinders. All air sucked into the combustion chamber is burned, and there is 0 air in the exhaust. Whatever the ignition is, there is no way the additional energy can appear. Then, the “sports” air filter in the range of high RPM will give more! This graphic is cheating. Not even talking about measuring methodology – possible accuracy of measurement (dyno stand) is several times lower than the indicated “gain”.
The argument regarding misfires does not withstand criticism either. The engine, which is in a technical order, does not have misfires! There can not be any misfires! If there are (can be felt) misfires, the problem should be solved. Suppose the problem is an incorrect fuel mixture or incorrect performance of the injectors (especially for DI engines: poor atomization; incorrect beam). Problems with VANOS, Valvetronic, the engine itself (the valves are not closing, the piston group is damaged), and no ignition coils, even in the megasuperturbo edition, won’t help! If the spark plug is worn out/damaged, it should be replaced. If the ignition coil is damaged – it should be simply replaced.
The spark, created by the stock ignition coils, is powerful enough to ignite the fuel qualitatively. It is not the case: “will ignite eventually”! No! Correctly performing engine has no misfires during one, two, or three hours. During such a period, the engine has around 100,000 combustion cycles!
I claim that there is no need for “sport” ignition coils. They can not and are not giving any gain. You will oppose – but they also don’t do any harm. Well, there are some “nuances”…
Let’s see these ignition coils! For example:
See how nice they look! With a red plug and a red stripe on the tip! Nice to look at!
And now, let’s look at this ignition coil:
Isn’t it suspiciously similar? What is this ignition coil, you will ask? From 20+ available options, this is the cheapest alternative! This is Engitech ENT960045. Wholesale price: around EUR 5 .. 7/piece.
Retail price: EUR 15 ..19/piece. Yes, of course, you can purchase this ignition coil for a higher price, too, but here is an example:
So – how do these “sport” ignition coils are “manufactured”? It is simple! We take the cheapest possible analog (the cheap China production has no logotypes and/or part numbers on the body), paint the plug with the aerosol paint, and voila – the “sports” ignition coil is born!
The cheaper solution is possible too: approach the Chinese craftsman. If you order some 1000 ignition coils, you will receive them with already painted plugs and logotype, and for a perfect price! You just have to make a decent webpage, and the “business” can go on!
Here, we reach the harshest part: ok, painted plug. Not a big issue. But could there be any harm?
In one of the FB groups, the owner of the N43 series engine encountered a problem:
Ignition coil in the lower image: Bosch, stock. Upper image: “sports” version. Where is the problem? It turns out that the “tooth” in the plug is different for each ignition coil!
Why such a key/tooth has been created? To avoid even the option to plug this coil into the exact engine! Obviously – there is a reason for that! What is it? Read further!
The owner of the car asked the question to the “manufacturer”- see, what is the answer:
Really? Simply cut this “key”?
What is the difference between the ignition coils? For BMW engines, the ignition coils can be divided (very simplified) into three groups:
a. “regular” ignition coils, intended for the “old” port injection engines (for example, M50/52/54, N52, etc.);
b. “high energy” ignition coils for DI petrol engines (for example, N54, N63, etc.);
c. “high energy” ignition coils exactly for N43/53 series engines.
All these ignition coils look similar. The only difference is this “key” in the plug. And – SIGNIFICANTLY different electrical parameters!
What are the differences between these electrical parameters?
a. inductance of the primary winding provides I (current) increase till 5 .. 6A in around 3 ms; transformation ratio: 1:50;
b. inductance of the primary winding provides I (current) increase till 9 .. 10A in around 2 ms; transformation ratio: 1:50 .. 1:80;
c. inductance of the primary winding provides I (current) increase till 9 .. 10A in around 2 ms; transformation ratio: 1:100.
Why do the ignition coils have such differences in the electrical parameters?
The ignition coils of the DI engines should be “faster”. In idle and other specific modes, DME uses a Multi-ignition mode (to improve the readings of the exhaust gases/dry spark plugs). The engines work with high RPM.
DI engines require a more powerful spark – the fuel mixture in the combustion chamber is not Homogenous (even); it burns worse.
Finally – the N43/N53 series engines are even more different. The air gap of their spark plugs is 1.2 .. 1.4 mm instead of the regular 0.6 .. 0.8 mm. Almost 2x larger air gap! So – two times higher voltage is necessary to hit this air gap. How do we solve this task? The transformation coefficient (the ratio of the number of winding turns) of the ignition coil should be changed!
So, depending on the engine, there are three FUNDAMENTALLY different groups of the ignition coils!
And now let’s check the offer of the “sports” ignition coils – they can be used for N42, N46 (the old port engines), N63(DI engine), and even N43! How is that possible? The perfect universal coil? Turns out – the cheapest China ignition coil is suitable for everything.
Of course, it is not!
What are the consequences?
If this ignition coil is actually intended for port injection engines, in the DI engine, there will be a weaker spark than necessary. Misfires will appear much faster. The idle will be of much lower quality.
If this ignition coil is intended for DI engines – by installing it in port engines, DME Ignition switches will be overloaded. Sooner or later, some of them will be damaged. The current via these Ignition switches will be 2 times higher. 2.5 .. 3 times more heat will be released in these switches. If, with the correct ignition coils, the temperature of these switches is around 50 oC, then with these coils, it will increase to 90 .. 100 oC! Prematurely, the spark plug will get worn, too. Gain – zero.
If this ignition coil is installed in N43/N53 series engines; in Stratified charge mode, misfires are guaranteed. This mode will be turned off, and the error messages 3104 or 143101 (accordingly, E and F series) will appear. There will be an increased density of misfires in Homogeneous mode.
I hope I managed to convince you that the sellers of such ignition coils are simply fraudsters. Unfortunately, fraudsters have no sense regarding the product they are selling. Repackers of cheap China surrogates.
Keep away from such “sports” ignition coils!
p.s. a few days later, the author of the post mentioned above wrote: ”I installed the red ones, but I have misfire and uneven running engine at low rpm. Is it possible that this coils are totally wrong? Or they are defective maybe?”
Not a surprise for me…
