Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site mnetor.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcs!mnetor!clewis From: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: mysterious starting problem Message-ID: <1263@mnetor.UUCP> Date: Thu, 11-Jul-85 11:37:37 EDT Article-I.D.: mnetor.1263 Posted: Thu Jul 11 11:37:37 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 11-Jul-85 13:26:35 EDT References: <404@ttidcb.UUCP> Reply-To: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada Lines: 54 Summary: In article <404@ttidcb.UUCP> loco@ttidcb.UUCP (CM Dev. Group ) writes: > >i have a 1982 toyota landcruiser and have had the same problem. >it initially happened while driving(out in the middle of the mojave >desert of all places!), the car would just die. i'd pull over and try >to restart with no results, we got out scratched our heads, got back in >and wahla it would start. this wouldnt happen again for 6 months We just had this happen to our '83 Buick Century a couple of months ago. It would run fine for a little while, get hot (just after the electric fan switched on), and the engine would die. Attempts to restart the car immediately would have the engine kick a couple of times and stop. Letting it cool for a little while would allow it to start, but soon as it got hot again (at low speed inside a city) it would die again. This started happening one day, and got so bad that we couldn't move it at all. We had to push it twice - once we got hung up under a parking lot entrance arm, the second on an elevated freeway. We have had the car stall before, but not so persistantly, so it probably was an ongoing problem. We got it to a garage, and the mechanic had us run the car in idle until it got hot. Once it died, he removed the wires from the plugs and had me try to start - he then attempted to draw a spark from the wires. During the time that the engine was dying, the spark would be relatively feeble. After swapping the distrib cap, HT wiring, and coil with spares to no avail, he finally decided that it had to be the ignition control module (inside the distributor on the Century). He replaced that, and voila - no further problems since. (unfortunately, this was on a Friday night and we had to leave the car til the following Monday when he was able to get a new ICM from his supplier) Unfortunately, the ICM cost $100 (CDN). He also charged us two hours labour (which I didn't begrudge because this was well past the garage's closing time) because it took so long to cause the car to behave badly between cool-downs. Fortunately, the problem was repeatable once it got so bad. If you have had the ignition system checked and nothing seems to be wrong, go buy a ICM and replace it yourself. It'll be a lot cheaper (provided that the ICM IS at fault). And it is, from what I saw of our distributer, really easy to install. If you are lucky and the problem repeats itself with the new ICM soon enough, maybe you will be able to return it. Mysterious wierd ignition problems (especially intermittants) that don't seem to be traceable to wiring/coil/plug failures are probably due to the ICM. The ICM is a solid-state device - thus, frequently having temperature related (and other hard-to-understand) failure modes. Cars didn't use to have ICM's at all - which is why most people wouldn't think of it. The electronics and plumbing are getting so complicated in new cars that mechanics and do-it-yourselfers have a REALLY hard time trying to diagnose problems. I much prefer working on my '75 slant-six. -- Chris Lewis, UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321