sheetmagnet

First, let me say again that the 4SP/36-02T/DIS stock ignition coil that is mounted in your 2.0-liter neons is very familiar to me. That being said, let me enlighten you on some facts that may help some of you about ignition depedability/longevity and the whole spark-plug debate...

For years, 100% of all the ignition coils in your 1995-Present Neons and SRT-4's have come from the same place... a tiny little factory called Diamond Electric in Dundee, Michigan... (same town where the new Chrysler/Mistsubishi/Hyundai 4-liter mod engines started full production on 10-4-05). Anyway, I have worked there for many years, and I have built and tested millions of these... electromagnetic inductance is more precise than you would think.

Yes, in part, the ignition setup in ALL Neons is a "waste" system. However, it alternates on every cycle. Your ECU in your car is packaged with an ignitor and a diode with an on-board semi-primary capacitor. It sends a a charge to two leads at a time to the ignition coil, never more, and never less. As you all surely have noticed, there are four secondary outputs (the posts that your wires plug into), but only three primary inputs in the connector. Those primary inputs are provided a medium alternating voltage with high current from your ECU...

The ECU will throw positive to one wire and negative to another. When it does, the coil induces the current and transforms it into high-voltage, into one post at a time decided upon which leads were excited by the current from the ECU, and sends that voltage to the designated spark plug. And every post will produce about 44,000 volts at the output of the coil, on ALL FOUR sides (not a 30% drop from one side to the other, like I have read). This is a gauranteed parameter... any higher or lower on any of the four "cylinders," and the coil is not allowed to leave our plant. It is thrown in the trash or cut up and researched.

Inside the coil, that high voltage flows through wires in the secondary windings, that are only 0.05 millimeters in diameter... and those windings are mosre precise that you would think. Stretched out in a straight line, there is more than a 1/4-mile of spooled, calculated, and seperated primary and secondary windings inside the coil on your neon.

That being said, my point is that your Neon does not delegate one plug to be "negative," and another "positive." It sends the same snap to all four plugs, and a healthy arc at that. Your ECU makes sure of that and does it efficiently. So don't expect any difference in dependability between your spark plugs, cylinders, etc. They will all fire the same. The tolerance for the coil has a 2% maximum margin of error at any givin time, but almost all of them fall into a 0.5% category at any given time. If they deviate from this spec, they were never put on your car in the first place. For every 1,000,000 of these coils sent to Chrysler, my plant has averaged between 1 and 0 defects per million when they were put on your engines... that means that on average, only 1 in every 2,000,000 coils has ever been sent back to us as defective... and WE test ever one at more extreme levels than your car will ever produce. So does Chrysler. That being said, trust your ignition system and leave it to the plugs.

As for spark plugs, I have came across a lot of contraversy regarding the Neon. A lot of people blame it on the waste system. Hopefully from what I have just written, you will understand that the "waste" system doesn't mean anything really. As far as plugs, it comes down to design/efficiency per application.

Even in Neons, I have heard people bitch, and I have heard people rave. NGK's, Bosch (Platinums seem worse, +4's seem better), Autolite, Champion, etc)... to some extent, it doesn't matter much. They all have backers and they all have haters. Some are better that others, don't get me wrong. But my suggestion is, every plug is different, and if you put a spark plug in your car and it lasts and YOU are satisfied with it's performance (and your car agrees :-) ), then stick with it. As long as you're maintaining a certain level of heat and arc to produce optimal ignition of your air/fuel mixture, that is ALL that counts, period. Your ignition system is solid, and even with a crappy set of plugs, your Neon and ECU will try it's damndest to light that sucker up!