What Do Spark Plugs Do?

Series Summary

The internal combustion engine was only possible because of the invention of a small, innocent looking piece of hardware called a spark plug. Surprisingly, the plug’s importance cannot be easily overstated. These tiny powerhouses make it possible for your engine to operate smoothly while generating hundreds of degrees of heat every time you take a trip down the road. The spark plug is thus a crucial part of the history of the automobile, and by extension, the way we live our lives. Who would have ever guessed that something this small could be so vital to the operation of one of our favorite machines?

In this free video series, our expert will explain just what a spark plug is and how it starts and helps keep your engine running, pistons pumping, getting you from point A to point anywhere. Save some cash; find out how to change it yourself when it comes to this relatively simple yet effective repair job. You’ll be surprised at the increase in engine performance that well-kept spark plugs will provide, both a boon to your car and your driving experience.

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is John, on behalf of Expertvillage.com. In this video clip I will explain what spark plugs actually do. As we take a look at this engine cut away there is a couple of things I wanted to point out, right here we have the piston and we have our spark plug at the top and inside here would be our combustion chamber. Now, the spark plug has two primary functions, the first one is to ignite the air-fuel mixture that would be in our combustion chamber and the second part would be to transfer heat from the combustion chamber, so as the air-fuel mixture explodes, the heat is transferred from the combustion chamber through the spark plug and into the engine block. It is important to remember that plugs do not create heat, they just remove the heat. "