Ignition Issues

The last few days , I've been having an issue with my ignition. I changed out the ICM and was able to get the car back to the house and then let it sit for awhile and tried to start it back up but had no luck. I pulled the Distributor cap and made sure that the ICM was snug, verified that all the connections to the distributor were firmly seated and reinstalled the cap. The car started right up and I let it run for 5 minutes to ensure that everything was ok. On Tuesday morning, I left for work and stopped at my local 7/11 and got a drink and the car would not restart. I left the car there and took my wife's car into the office, came back, got her and we went back to my car. It started right up and I drove it home with no issues. Yesterday afternoon after getting home, I checked all of the connections again, started up the car and let it run for 4 minutes and then increased the engine RPMs slowly to 2000 and let off the gas. All was good, I then took it up to 3000 and let off and it died. I let it cool off and then verified that everything was connected as it should be. I started up the car and let it idle for 10 minutes and didn't hear anything sounding like the engine was stumbling. Now I'm wondering if maybe I should also put on a new distributor cap. When I looked at the cap, there was a small piece of plastic at one of the electrodes on the inside of the cap. I removed it and there is a small part of the electrode now visible which wasn't there earlier. About the engine...it is a rebuilt 2800 with approximately 3000 miles on it since installation. It has good oil pressure and the alternator gauge is showing as being just below the redline on the gauge and stays there. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Jim H

New parts are not necessarily good parts. The ICM is likely faulty. Too much resistance in the plug wires or ignition coil can also kill an ICM.

[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 03-17-2016).]

It's also a good idea to swap out the pick-up coil at the same time as the ICM. They're very inexpensive.

Patrick, are you talking about a coil on the Distributor cap?

quote Originally posted by J-Holland: Patrick, are you talking about a coil on the Distributor cap?

Not exactly. It's in the distributor though.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-17-2016).]

Patrick,
When I swapped out the old Distributor cap yesterday, I saw a scratch on the inside, about 1&1/2 inches up from the base. I talked to my mechanic and tomorrow, we will replace the distributor with one that we built up last summer. We know it works. [I hope]