Newbie question: how do we check all cylinders are firing.

[mike sampsel]

Originally Posted by wrxnofx

Meh, I've done it plenty and not ever had an issue.

Curious about the timing light method. How does that method insure the cylinder is firing? All a timing light tells you is that there is an ignition pulse being sent down the wire. It's not actually telling you if the plug is firing. Similarly, it's not telling you if the injector is dead. Both of these are possibilities that a timing light won't show.

An IR thermometer/camera is probably best.

The “ignition” pulse won’t send unless the plug closes the circuit by firing. Pull the wire off and use the timing light on your pulled wire. Bet it won’t strobe. An open circuit plug will not allow a pulse to be sent. Injector checking can be best done buy pulling them all into vials to see if all fill them about the same. Checks FD and injectors. IR checks a lot, but I hate to crawl around on hands and knees.

[wrxnofx]

Originally Posted by mike sampsel

The “ignition” pulse won’t send unless the plug closes the circuit by firing. Pull the wire off and use the timing light on your pulled wire. Bet it won’t strobe. An open circuit plug will not allow a pulse to be sent.

I stand corrected then. Thanks for education, Mike. What you've described makes perfect sense.