Ignition Module?
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Joined: Dec 2006
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From: New London CT.
Ignition Module?
I have an '85 F350 with a 351 in it. The last couple of days I have been going down the road just fine, and then all of a sudden, the engine quits. No sputtering or anything. If I coast along a little while, and then try pop starting it, it catches, but only after a minute. If I try right away, it just turns over, but doesn't fire. It was raining here the other day, and I thought that there may be a little mositure in the distrubutor cap, but it never ran ragged, it just quit suddenly. I was told that sometimes the ignition modules go bad, and they need to cool off before the start working again. Is that true? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
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Joined: May 2004
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From: Billings Montana
Sometimes the ignition module will cut out when it gets hot. The heat causes resistance and the voltage going to the coil gets soaked up. Another thing it could be is the pickup coil inside the distributor. I had the same thing go on with my truck last summer. I was driving down the road and it quit. I had a spare ignition box with me and I swapped it out. But a few miles down the road, it quit again.
After some head scratching, I was told to check the pickup coil and sure enough, that's what it turned out to be. You can get a new pickup coil and put it in your old distributor, but I just went ahead and got a new distributor instead.
Best thing to do though is try and have your distributor and your ignition module tested. It's better to have it checked out to see if it's ok rather than just throwing parts, (and money) at a possible problem only to have it turn out to be something else entirely.
After some head scratching, I was told to check the pickup coil and sure enough, that's what it turned out to be. You can get a new pickup coil and put it in your old distributor, but I just went ahead and got a new distributor instead.
Best thing to do though is try and have your distributor and your ignition module tested. It's better to have it checked out to see if it's ok rather than just throwing parts, (and money) at a possible problem only to have it turn out to be something else entirely.
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Joined: Jul 2007
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could be the module. and yes they are bad about failing. is it external on wheelwell or on distributor? If external, a lot of times they will started getting hot to touch when starting to go bad. I mean where you can barely touch it. A good one will be lukewarm to touch. Of course this isn't the proper way to test one, but could give you a indicator of yes or no.
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From: Niceville, FL.
If you're going to have the module tested, heat it to around 230 deg. F. for about 20 - 30 min. in your oven before testing. Modules with heat related problems may not show up bad when tested while cool.
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Originally Posted by grasscutter
I have an '85 F350 with a 351 in it. The last couple of days I have been going down the road just fine, and then all of a sudden, the engine quits. No sputtering or anything. If I coast along a little while, and then try pop starting it, it catches, but only after a minute. If I try right away, it just turns over, but doesn't fire. It was raining here the other day, and I thought that there may be a little mositure in the distrubutor cap, but it never ran ragged, it just quit suddenly. I was told that sometimes the ignition modules go bad, and they need to cool off before the start working again. Is that true? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Could be a loose connection to your coil or module.
Check your ground wires.
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