4 Common Engine Misfire Causes

The internal combustion engine is very complicated machine because of it has so many components which are needed to work properly at the right time to make the engine functional. Defect in the any parts of the engine leads to serious problems like if some components are worn, broken or dirty these issues leads to misfire in the engine. Some problems cause misfire in all the combustion cylinder of the engine and some cause misfire in only single combustion. Therefore it is very hard to find the exact cause of misfire because so many parts are involved in the proper functioning of the engine but in this article we will discuss about some common engine misfire causes which helps you troubleshoot.

Top 4 Cylinder Misfire Causes:

1 Problem with Ignition System:

Spark plug with any incorrect gap or if spark plug is worn due to its short life span can cause misfire. If the gap between the electrodes of the plug is big then it failed to produce spark which means no power will be generated on stroke.

Ignition Coils which main function is to convert the low voltage of the battery to high voltage to produce spark between the electrodes of the plug, the coils worn out with the passage of time due to high amount of heat is produced each time it ignite spark which damages the insulation of the coil and all the electricity generated by coil going to other parts of the vehicle instead of going into the spark plug.

The old vehicles are equipped with distributors for the power generation and transfer to ignite spark, these are spinning mechanical components are only equipped in old model vehicles. If any issue happened in the distributor then spark plug failed to ignite most commonly if water reaches through the distributor cap, stops the transfer of spark to the plug wire, which makes it very difficult to start the engine and even its nearly impossible.

2 Problems with the Fuel:

If you are using gasoline of wrong octane number then it can also cause misfire, dirty or weak injector or clogged filter restrict the gasoline to enter in the combustion chamber therefore incorrect air to fuel ratio can cause misfire.

3 Electrical Problems:

Sometimes electrical components of the vehicle become cause of misfire such as failing of airflow sensor, wiring or computer problems, timing of fuel injectors in modern cars because they are controlled by  electrical system.

4 Mechanical Problems:

As I already told you above that combustion engine has a lot of moving parts which works at very high speed, Moving parts like piston, rod, crank bearing, valve seals, cylinder heads wear out all these issue can cause misfire and low power generation in the engine.