Subsection 6.3.4 Firing Order
Firing order refers to the order in which each of the cylinders in a multi-cylinder engine fires (power stroke). For example, a four cylinder engine’s firing order could be 1-4-3-2. This means that the number 1 cylinder fires, then the number 4 cylinder fires, then the number 3 cylinder fires, and so on.
Engines are designed so that the power strokes are spaced uniformly, that is, each time the crankshaft rotates a certain number of degrees, one of the cylinders will go through a power stroke. This reduces vibration and allows the power generated by the engine to be applied to the load in a smoother fashion than if they were all to fire at once or in odd multiples.
