I just went into my distributor today and replaced the pickup coil. For a long time my car would start then miss at idle, rough at idle, die at idle. Ignition problems don't create trouble codes. At least not on my '85. Prior to replacing the pickup coil I replaced the cap, rotor, wires, plugs, and module. Still had a erratic miss. So I decided to replace the pickup. I had to remove the distributor, remove the drive gear to remove the shaft from the distributor. While I was removing the old coil, the round magnet on the coil was in pieces, the coil looked like it was cooked, and there was what appeared to be some melted waxy insulation that oozed out of the coil and down to the bottom of the distributor. I cleaned it all up installed a new coil pickup and capacitor assembly and put it back together. It fired right up and ran smooth. No more erratic miss and dying. Of all the components I've replaced on my car since I bought it with 20K miles, I have neglected the distributor until now at 172K miles. I have replaced the cap and rotor quite a few times but never the pickup or capacitor assembly. Last year I replaced the module thinking it was the problem but it wasn't. Anyway, I think this work will keep me from getting stranded. Seems that it was likely to happen soon considering the condition of the pickup. It just fell apart when I took it out, it was amazing the car still ran.

Art :cheers:


[Modified by MrRenoman, 7:33 PM 4/24/2004]

 

Just a word of thanks for all your advice and encouragement, finally fixed the problem when I replaced the coil with the original one, I just happened to have kept it after replacing it. Now I'm getting a brand new one to replace it!
Thanks to all.