A vehicle is brought into the shop with an illuminated MIL, a P0305 - cylinder 5 misfire, and a P0302 - cylinder 2 misfire. The engine runs smooth with no evidence of a misfire; however, while monitoring the misfire counter, cylinders 2 and 5 show a continuous misfire. This could be caused by:

The correct answer is based on the premise that a damaged crankshaft tone wheel can lead to misfire codes being set in certain cylinders even when the engine runs smoothly. The tone wheel, which provides critical timing information to the engine control module (ECM), can affect the precise timing of ignition events. If the tone wheel is damaged, it may cause intermittent misfires that are detected by the ECM, leading to misfire codes being logged for specific cylinders, in this case, 2 and 5.

When the engine is running smoothly, it suggests that there are no immediate mechanical failures or issues that would typically cause a noticeable misfire. However, the false readings of misfires in these specific cylinders may stem from irregular timing signals due to the damaged tone wheel, causing the ECM to incorrectly register misfires.

In contrast, the other options relate to various ignition system issues that might also cause misfire codes, but if the engine runs without noticeable misfires during operation, they are less plausible. High resistance in the plug wires, a faulty ECM coil driver, or a defective ignition coil specific to cylinders 2 and 5 would likely lead to observable performance issues, such as rough running, rather than allowing the engine to run smoothly while still generating mis