Ignition Module
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 707
Likes: 31
From: Pitman NJ
Ignition Module
Great night for a cruise.
So I'm going along, t-tops out nice breeze coming in, jamming on the radio. About a mile from home, the car shuts off at 40mph.
I coast to the side of road. Good thing I had just got off the highway. The car was on the shoulder near a traffic light, so no fear of getting run over.
So I started to trouble shoot what the problem is. I move the carb linkage, the accelerator pump is shooting fuel, so it's not that.
I call my son and had him bring me my old distributor that was in the garage, along with my Craftsman tool case. My car is a 79, so it has an HEI distributor. I change out the ignition module, and if fires back up. I was actually waiting longer for him to get there then it took to change it out.
Now, the reason I have an old one, is because I though I was being proactive, and just replaced everything in the spring. Cap, roter, module, wires, and plugs.
This leads me to this question. Are the new ones junk? Should I buy a gross of them, and keep them in the rear compartment?
So I'm going along, t-tops out nice breeze coming in, jamming on the radio. About a mile from home, the car shuts off at 40mph.
I coast to the side of road. Good thing I had just got off the highway. The car was on the shoulder near a traffic light, so no fear of getting run over.
So I started to trouble shoot what the problem is. I move the carb linkage, the accelerator pump is shooting fuel, so it's not that.
I call my son and had him bring me my old distributor that was in the garage, along with my Craftsman tool case. My car is a 79, so it has an HEI distributor. I change out the ignition module, and if fires back up. I was actually waiting longer for him to get there then it took to change it out.
Now, the reason I have an old one, is because I though I was being proactive, and just replaced everything in the spring. Cap, roter, module, wires, and plugs.
This leads me to this question. Are the new ones junk? Should I buy a gross of them, and keep them in the rear compartment?
Last edited by blk79nj; Jul 31, 2015 at 10:32 PM.
2026 Loser of the Year
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 36,607
Likes: 7,053
From: New Or-leens Loo-z-anna
From the threads I have read.......make sure there is plenty of the WHITE electrical grease under the module (substitute grease causes early module failure)
Also.....use an ohm meter to make sure that the pickup coil wiring is not broken inside the insulation (when you install a new module, you could be repositioning the broken pickup coil wiring so that it makes contact for a while......causing the HEI to work correctly until the broken wire loses contact again)
Also.....use an ohm meter to make sure that the pickup coil wiring is not broken inside the insulation (when you install a new module, you could be repositioning the broken pickup coil wiring so that it makes contact for a while......causing the HEI to work correctly until the broken wire loses contact again)
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 2,632
Likes: 112
From: Great Plains Iowa
Some of you may scream when you read this but many years ago I started using Permatex Ultra Black RTV under the module and it seems to be doing the job just fine. The object is to transfer heat from the module's internal parts and the RTV does that.
