Ignition Woes

[Bob H]

My M882 started to cut out on me once in a while.
It would loose spark and die, sometimes start right back up & sometimes it would start again later, got worse to the point that it wouldn't start at all,
I swapped out misc parts one at a time to track it down, the resister, the coil, the (electronic?)module on the fender, then I started to check under the distributor cap seeing as the coil had power, I 'flicked' the pickup coil a bit and it would run sometimes, so I ended up buying a rebuilt distributor for a little over twice what a pickup coil would cost.
I swapped it out it had spark for a few seconds and died, <img src="emoticons/icon_smilie_bitchin.gif" alt="Bitchin">
I went through everything again including cap & rotor & even the coil wire! and back to the control module on the fender, which this time fixed the problem.

Questions;
1. how can I test the old pickup coil to see if it was bad at all?

2. Could the pickup coil have fried the control module? or vice versa?

Thanks

 

[dilvoy]

The problem I have found with these mopar electronic systems is that the gap between the pickup coil and the reluctor must be pretty exact. There is a copper feeler guage that comes with the new pick up coils for setting the air gap withought magnetizing the reluctor. If a normal steel feeler guage is used the reluctor is magnetized and things are no good. I don't know how to test the pick up coil. I never need to test one. A worn distrubutor bushing can allow the shaft to move so much that the air gap can be so big that the spark won't be triggered or the reluctor may come in contact with the pick up coil or both. Distrubutors with worn bushings are a mess. I have purchased three good cars from people who gave up putting money into cars that had intermittant running problems. In big block mopar engines, the distrubutors carry the thrust load of the crank shaft and are motorious for having worn bushings. As far as electronic control boxes go. Make sure the body, the part with the two mounting screw tabs, is well grounded to the body. I have had only found one module to be dead in 25 years of messing around with well cared for, neglected, and cars that I have converted to electronic ign using wrecking yard parts. If you see a "hot rod" at the wrecking yard and it has either a gold, chrome or orange Dierct Connection module grab it. These are over the counter chrysler high performance boxes that give differeng spark signatures. The ballast resistor can give lots of problems if it's internal coil wire is infact broken, but still making contact most of the time. Throw one in your glove box so you can plug it in line for trouble shooting purposes.