ok i noticed earlier today a crack in my ignition coil.. well later on it kept dieing and as i was starting it again the ignitin coil melted... it was forcing melted plastic through a hole on top and smoking.. i imediatley disconected everything from the coil.....

figured its just a old coil that needs replacement.. i buy a new one hook it up and then stuff starts dripping out of the bottom of the new one and i smell burning plastic.... and so once again disconect everything..

i did noticve that there is a cyclinder with a wire going through it that connects into the siring the goes into the coil... well the wire on that was exposed and grounding it out i guess...

what is that little cyclinder thing, what does it do, and where can i get a replacement one of those... because i now have totalled 2 coils and i am running out of local stores that carry them...

maybe someone can advise me here or someone that knows about this stuff that lives in the chicago suburbs area can PM me.....


any help is appreciated

You need a new tach filter. You can actually unplug it for now till you get another. If you want the tach to continue working you can just jumper the terminals in the plug that goes to the tach filter together. When the tach filters go bad they can crate a direct short to ground dmaging the coil and other parts. You can find replacement tach filters at www.fierostore.com or www.rodneydickman.com

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 10-15-2007).]

ok, i replaced the cap. rotor, ignition coil, the module on the distributer..... and i unplugged that filter and wired it without it

but it still won't start now. its not firing at all. what could it be that is also burnt out now after melting 2 coils already?

i would try an ignition module if you arent getting any spark.

Check the continuity on the wire that went through the tach filter. That plastic burning smell might have been the white wire that runs to the tach filter. And if it was hot enough to melt, it might take out the other wires close to it.

ok, i just checked all the wires after replacing almost everything..... then i tested the computer, seems the computer isn't putting any signal out for spark timing or the distributer reference....


so that means i need a new computer... can anyone tell me where i can get one for an 85 6cyl 2.8... automatic trans

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the ECM receives ignition pulses from the ignition module first. I assume you checked that?

The heat has to get to the ecm to damage it , the ecm itself is reliable. the stuff that plugs into it not so reliable,, PROMs ect..a short can zap an ecm quickly. are any wires looking like there was a short,is any wire melted looking a few inches away from the main meltdown, I,d go for the easy stuff first,check with ohms meter,if you can not find problem then examine wires that go into ecm, when there is a melt down all parts close to the fried or melted wire are suspect, check here first,,both haynes and chilton have diagnostic info,, any time you have serious electrical problem check major ground connections and positive .. check wires for continuous flow,, was a fuze burned ,was a fusible link fried ,,if a wire was shorted to frame or ground ecm could be damaged look at schematic of wires and check all that have juice to the burn area, this requires patience,, ecms are available new and rebuild,,you can purchase new proms ect.. this is area where you need experience electronic dude.. burning wires also create bad connections especially at places like module plug ins

[This message has been edited by uhlanstan (edited 10-21-2007).]