No aftermarket alarms on the car.
Just the stock security system.

 

My 2 pennies worth is on the Distributor, but first I would make sure the Alternator is working fine and that the battery connections are fastened properly. If that is not it I would bet it is either your ignition coil or module located in the Distributor.

 

I installed the wire harness today. Part #19207437
I took it for a 35 mile drive with varying driving conditions and all went well. No stalls.
I'm not quite ready to declare victory. More driving is needed before I will feel good about it, but off to a good start.

Also, I checked the leads to the pickup coil. They tested at 750 ohms which is within the spec of 500 - 1500 ohms.
I hope that I don't have to replace that one.

I didn't mention this before, but this car was on display at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green off and on for around seven years by two previous owners. I checked with the Museum and they conformed that it was there when the sink hole opened. Fortunately, it wasn't over the hole.
I bought it in Feb, 2021 when it had 20,183 miles on it with the intention of making it my primary car.
It now has 30,500 on it. I plan to put many more on it.

I'll update this post after I put some more miles on the car.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

 

After a little over 100 miles across 4 days of driving, it died again.
This time in my drive way while turning it around to leave.
The check engine light came on as usual.
I tried cranking the engine for a little over 5 seconds with not a single hit of the engine. Just be ssure that it wouldn't start. It didn't.
I turned the key OFF and the back to ON check engine light disappeared. Turned to START and the engine imediatly fired up.
Took the car for a 12 mile drive with no additional incident.

Is there a way to retrieve the check engine code without turning the key OFF, because doing that clears the code?
If I could get the code, I think it would help isolate the problem.

 

sounds like relay
remind me what uses relay?

 

[QUOTE=nascar9and19;1606463016

Is there a way to retrieve the check engine code without turning the key OFF, because doing that clears the code?
If I could get the code, I think it would help isolate the problem.[/QUOTE]

Codes are stored for about 50 restarts. They don't clear when shut off.

 

If turning of the key dosen't clear the codes, then there are no codes being set when the engine dies. I checked and none found. All I get is the 12 code displaying over and over.

I bought a can of starting fluid today.
My plan is when the car dies and if I can get off the road to a safe place. I will try spraying the starting fluid in the intake and crank the engine without turning the key OFF first. If the engine hits, then I can rule out no spark on the engine. If it doesn't then spark and fuel remain as possibilities.
Trying to narrow this down.

 

Because there's nothing wrong with the engine management system itself as an example Map sensor, TPS, coolant sensor, etc. Code 12 is showing that you lost distributor reference which will happen after the distributor stops turning or loss of reference signal. You didn't replace the pickup coil like I mentioned earlier? A pick up coil can still be within resistance range but can still cause problems.
​​​​​​

 

Steering column wiring harness down to "harmonica" connector? or a pinched wire in the key cylinder ??
I was originally thinking the heat paste on the back of the ICM (dizzy floor) had dried up and the module was cutting out when hot BUT you seem to be able to fire it right back up................

 

The pickup coil came in yesteday. I'll install this weekend.

 

I'm going to install the pickup coil this weekend and test.
If the engine continues to die, then I'll check the ignition switch and wiring.

Also, I think that I should pull the ecm and clean the connetors to the wire harness. After 40 years, there made be some corrosion. I can't tell with it installed.

 

Here is an update on my problem.
I repaced the pickup coil assembly (Standard Automotive brand) with terrible results.
The replacement coil was a very tight fit on the distributor. I had to put the distributor in the freezer in order to shrink the diameter of the shaft enough to get the new pckup coil on it.
I started the car and set the timing with brown (spark advance) disconnected.
Reconnected the wire after timing set and car was running good. Took it for a test drive and it started missing and died 1/2 mile from home. I was able to restart it and make it home. It got progressively worse trying to restart it. It was backfiring through the throttle bodies and finally would not hit on any cylinder.
I pulled one of the spark plugs and it appeared to be carbon fouled.
I replaced all 8 spark plugs.
I restarted the car and it ran good. I reved it to 4,000 rpm twice and all appeared to be good.
Decided to test drive the car. I went in the house to get my wallet and cell phone. Gone about 10 minutes.
Started the car and made it to the end of my driveway and it started missing badly and I had to retart it three time to get it back in the garage.fa
At ths point I thought that maybe the new pickup coil assembly was the problem. The tight fit on the distributor and the engine running good long enough to heat up was causing it to fail.

At this point, I decided to replace te entire distributor wit a new one. I found an aftermarket one from Carparts.com. It had great reviews from other purchers.
I put the new one in and set the initial timing where the previous distributor was set. I started the car and it ran at first but not long enough to set the timing with a timing light. Each time I tried to restart it it ran worse to the point where it seems to hit on one or maybe two cylinders.
I pulled a spark plug and it was covered in fuel (not surprised).

Yesterday, I replaced all 8 spark plugs with new again. Waited a day before trying to start. Same result, only trying to hit on one or two cylinders.

I am at a loss. The car was running great before the pickup coil swap except for randomly dieing.
Now it will not run.
I'm ready to throw in the towel.

Any ideas or know of a good mechanic in the Middle Tennessee area that I can have work on it?

 

Let me ask you this, do you get black smoke out of the exhaust right before it stalls?

 

Re-verify TDC on #1 and exact rotor position....
Mark the base where #1 is on the cap....
Pull cap and line up mark with tang on rotor....
Turn the distributor just a smidge counterclockwise from there....just a C hair......this will be about 10 degrees....tighten and start the car....is there improvement?
The distributor is your ignition and cam sensor all wrapped up in one.....the chances of getting a bad one are slim but not non existent....so I would warranty the distributor next.....now you can rule that out completely.....until you know, you don't know....

Jebby

 

I havn't noticed any black smoke when th car dies when I driving.

 

Good call on going back to basics on the timing.
I thought that I had the distributor set correctly but it was off one gear tooth.
I got the car running and was able to set the timing. I set it to 8 degrees before TDC.
I took it out for a short run twice around the block. Total of 4 miles. Stopped in my garage each time to stop the engine and retsart it. I figured that if wouldn't restart that I woud rather it be in my garage. LOL
So far so good.

I don't know if the new distributor has solved the original problem. Time and miles will tell.

I'll undate the post when I driven it more.

 

Yeah....I know all about frustration and how it clouds judgement.....I had a feeling that was what was going on....
That's awesome on the restab and timing.....
Please report your continued findings...

Jebby

 

Here is an update on issue of the car randomly dieing while being driven.
I have driven the car over 500 miles during the past week after swapping out the distributor with a new one.
I am happy to report that the car is running great with no repeats of the engine dieing.

The new distributor seems to have resolved my problem. To be more specific, I believe that the problem was the pickup coil in the distributor.
As part of my testing this week, I took the control module, rotor, distributor cap (including the ignition coil) and installed them on the new distributor.
This left only the pickup coil and the 4 wire harness that comes out the back of the distributor (wireharness nearest to the fire wall) as the only new parts on the distributor. I don't believe the problem was the wire harness. This leaves the pickup coil as the likely cause of the engine stalls.

I had previously installed a new pickup coil assembly on the old distributor with horrible results. The car would start and run fine until the distributor had a chance to heatup (about 4 minutes of running). The it would strts mising and get progressib=vly worse until it would not run at all. This happened on two consecutive days.
I believe that it was a bad puckup coil assembly. The coil assembly was a very tight fit to the old distributor. In fact the distributor had to be put in the freezer i order to shrink the shaft enough to be able in install the coil. Even then slight tpping with a hmmer was needed in order to get the coil assmebly installed. I think this was the root cause of the new pickup coil failure.

Also, I did an autopsy on the old pickup coil assembly and found the coil coil to be quite brittle. I came apart when I tried to remove it from bracket that held it. Also, the bottom of the pickup coil appeared to have overheated. The bottom of the coil had a brown caked on substance n the bottom.








Pictures shows the leakage from overheating. This was all over the bottom and on the assembly bracket.

 

After two weeks and over 900 miles of driving, it died twice over the weekend. The first was Saturday after about 35 miles of driving. I was accelerating from a traffic light and it died the same as the other times. I had to switch the key off and back on for it to restart. Then again on Sunday after only one mile from home. Turn key off and back on the restart. It ran fine the rest of the 20 mile trip.

I am at a loss, I felt that new distributor cured the problem. I guess not.

I believe turning the key off and on is resetting something but I don't know what.
If I can ever catch in a spot wwhere I can pull over, then I will open the hood, remove the air filter assembly and try to restart without tturning the key off. If the injectors are spraying, then I will know it is spark related. If no fuel spray, then that will point me in another direction.
Also, I think that I'll start carrying my multimeter and check for power in the red battery wire that goes to the distributor.

It may take a few days / weeks before I catch the right situation to check under the hood.