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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