Firing Order

The sequence the cylinders ignite or ‘fire’ in. This can be botched if the spark plug wires are not installed on the correct plugs, and without the correct firing order, your vehicle isn’t going anywhere.

The firing order is controlled by the distributor and distributor cap on older vehicles that still use this system.

On newer cars and trucks, the ignition timing firing order is controlled by the ECM or PCM. This is accomplished by using many different sensor to tell the engine computer how fast the engine is running, what cylinder needs spark to fired next, and how which cylinder needs the fuel injector to fire. This all happens in a blink of an eye.

The firing order is referenced as 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. The numbers refer to the cylinder numbers ans what order whey should fire in. The example used hear is actually the correct firing order for a Chevy V8 engine.