ignition meltdown

[Rulebreaker]

I've got a 2.3L in my 99 Ranger with a distributor using duraspark. Thursday an hour and a 1/2 from home and 10 miles off the beaten path the duraspark original motocraft box died(Been working fine for 3 months now). I got a ride to Advance bought a new made in china box I also got a new coil just in case (Newer style 86 Ranger coil) put them on the truck and it ran 1.5 miles and the box died again. Trailered her home and thought it might be because I'm using the original 3.0L V6 coil pack power wire (12Volt)to power the system so I bought a 4 pin Gm HEI ignition module put it in I drove it about 45 miles today and it died when i got home. Every time it fries is at an idle. First 2 times I was idling down a 2 track, 3rd time I was idling at the mail box. Anyone have any idea why it has started fring boxes? I am feeding a tack signal into the 3.0L tack off the negative side of the coil, so that and the power feed are the only 2 wires from the 99 everything else is duraspark, or GM HEI)
HELP Please RB

 

[Rulebreaker]

Orange wire from distributor is on w
Purple wire from distributor is on G
Green wire on C goes to the negative side of coil
3.0L coil pack power wire to B and also to power side of coil
Black wire grounded to mounting screw underneath

 

[Kenneth S]

Are the modules getting super hot? (they will get warm some normaly). Sounds like the pickup coil inside the distributor could be bad (it will act just like a module that goes bad), it gets hot then quits working, it cools off it starts working till it gets hot again (is the distributor a used one that was picked up at a salvage yard?). Have you let the engine completly cool off before trying to start it after it dies out without changing modules?.

 

[Rulebreaker]

When the second box went bad the truck sat for 2 hours while we were waiting for the trailer, and when we went to load it it would not start. The original one was warm when I removed it but I had the key on for quite some time trying to diagnose the problem. The distributor came out of a running ranger that the guy is parting out because he wanted the body for another project.

 

[Kenneth S]

If it were me I'd put a new pickup coil in the distributor, and see what it does, just like everything electrical the old one could start acting up at any time.

 

[Rulebreaker]

I ended up rewiring the truck like this.

I also wanted to change the pickup, so i ordered a rebuilt distributor from autozone, but it would not fit in the block as the base was 11 thousands bigger around, so I had to tear both apart and put the guts in my base. It runs great, better than ever, so for how long is the question. I also went to Radio shack and got some heat sink for the HEI. RB

 

[Rulebreaker]

She died again.

 

[Road Angels]

bad altenator regulator allowing a power surge of 15 Volts or more ????, just a thought

 

[Rulebreaker]

bad altenator regulator allowing a power surge of 15 Volts or more ????, just a thought

It's possible but how would i ever catch it doing it. I have had my digital multimeter on it for long periods of time and have never seen it over 14.3. If it does go over you would have to notice in the split second before it died. It would be great to have a surge protector if such a thing exists.

 

[Kenneth S]

When it quits, and won't restart check to see if you have any power going to the ignition system.

 

[Road Angels]

If the power supply checks out that Kenneth refers to you may be able to find a ballast resistor or even a ballast resistor wire like the ones used in some gm's hei systems, witch will maintain 12 volts, most reduce the voltage to 8v from 12v like on old points and coil systems, also did you put the dielectic compound on the back of your hei moduler to help transfer the heat, it usally comes with the unit white goo stuff

 

[Rulebreaker]

Since I switched to a Carquest brand HEI I havent had the problem. I've put about 150 miles on the truck and the other ones were quitting around 30-50 miles. Only time will tell. I read that some HEI's had a resister so that was going to be my next step.

I've never lost power to the system, and I am using heat sink.

 

[Road Angels]

will keep our fingers crossed for you. the goo goes between the heat sink and module, it helps with heat transfer and vibration some what, just dont oner tighten it