Hi there fellow Ford friends: I have a 1996 F250 460CI that was running great for years and all of a sudden it shut off for a few seconds when I was on the expressway. It was like turning the ignition key off and turning it back on. It did it several times and eventually just died and would not start. I put a new coil on and it worked fine for about 150 miles and now it started doing the same thing again. The check engine light was on for a few seconds but not all the time so I am not sure if diagnostic equipment will show any error messages. Mileage on my truck is 92k. Does this sound like a distributor pickup issue? Any thoughts on what to do next would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your input,
Danny

 

Definitely get the codes checked. It has a memory and will store them for up to 99 off and on cycles of the keyswitch I believe.

Don't forget the ignition module. I am not sure where it's mounted on your truck, but the ones mounted to the side of the distributor they had a lot of problems with. So much so, they moved it over to it's own separate heatsink, yours might be like this. If it is, it's still a place to look. You might have a code from it, something like a 18 or 19, which are missed pulses from the distributor.

 

Thanks Franklin2. I should be good shape if the codes from diagnostics are stored in history like you are saying. Fyi....the ignition control module is mounted on the fender well on the driver side.

 

Dave: Do you know if a bad ignition module or distributor would destroy a coil?
Thanks,

Danny

 

I would not think so. If it did, it's not a common failure mode that I know of.

 

Dave: I will let you know what I find out.
Thanks for your input,
Danny

 

Dave: The Ford dealer was unable to see an error code or history when they put my motor on diagnostics. I replaced the distributor and ignition control module which may have fixed the problem. Thanks ! Dan

 

I have the same issue I replaced distributor ignition coil ignition module throttle position sensor has it running but has a dead Miss RPMs drop