Distributor problems? AGAIN?!? What the hell???

purplereign · Post by **purplereign** » September 5th, 2006, 3:19 pm

okay so, I'm doing 70 down the freeway the other day, and all of a sudden the car just shuts off. My RPMs immediatly drop to zero and I manage to get to the right side of the road without killing myself. Once I get to the side, I turn the key and it sounds like it's trying to but it just won't start. So I call for help and sit there for 30 minutes. Afterwards, I try it again and it starts right up. I get to work without another incident (but feeling kinda stupid because when my help arrived, my car had just started back up.)

A few days later, the same thing happens. It just randomly shuts off while I'm driving and then won't start for another half an hour. Starting the car in the morning is no problem at all. It doesn't make any odd noises or run shitty or anything. It does smoke a bit, but otherwise, it runs great. I had thought that it was my battery, so I just had that replaced with a bigger better battery and the SAME THING happened that SAME DAY!

Now I know what you're thinking... "This looks like a job for the HEI mod. Obviously the distributor is the problem."

Yeah, I would agree except that I already DID the HEI mod!! This car was doing this same s--- last summer, and I did the HEI mod and it worked great. So why am I having this problem again? Do I need to replace that HEI part? Do they overheat too? I installed it over by the coolant resevoir thingy, so it shouldn't be getting hot. Can my distributor STILL be causing this problem? I'm thinkin of having it replaced but they ain't cheap.

Anybody else have this problem AFTER doing the HEI mod???

93 GS - V6 and all that stuff. K8 engine. Had distributor replaced about 3 years ago. Alternator replaced in Feb. Battery brand new. Spark plugs replaced in Jan, but I did notice some oil at the end of my plug wires.

verzutiko · Post by **verzutiko** » September 5th, 2006, 3:25 pm

My car didn't want to start either. Sounds like it wish to, but it won't run. I changed all of my spark plugs because they were pretty dirty. And voilá, it started.

By the way, my car did not start after it died. It started only after replacing the spark plugs.

An easy thing to check for is: do you have spark in the wires? If you do, I think the HEI mod functions properly.

rebel2k4 · Post by **rebel2k4** » September 5th, 2006, 6:15 pm

Do you have the HEI mounted to some type of heat sink?

purplereign · Post by **purplereign** » September 5th, 2006, 6:46 pm

Just mounted to the piece of metal bracket that was in the instructions. Should I be using something else?

The mod has been working fine for months...but now all of a sudden, I'm having problems. All the connections still look good. I'm going to replace the plugs and see if that helps...Any other suggestions?

rebel2k4 · Post by **rebel2k4** » September 5th, 2006, 8:17 pm

Without a sufficient sink they may overheat. might want to try replacing the module?

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » September 6th, 2006, 11:00 am

Of you placed it right behind the radiator that is about the hottest place other than right next to the exhaust. Move it to under the air box or something and see if it stops overheating the HEI.

mx-3_rider · Post by **mx-3_rider** » September 8th, 2006, 1:31 am

if ur car did that return ur disty n get a other one cause most of the time the disty are defected... n it would go of on u... that wat happen 2 one of my homies with a mx-6..

mx3autozam · Post by **mx3autozam** » September 8th, 2006, 10:12 am

There are 2 parts to our weak distributors The Internal Module and Internal Coil. You ahve down the Module by using an HEI. But how about the coil???

Go external. Drill a hole in your cap and add a tower or get the PRD modified cap or do a ZE disty mod. and also make sure all your grounds are good on the motor. Espoeciall the one on the pasenger side taht connects to the intake manifold by the vris solinoids.

John

mx3autozam · Post by **mx3autozam** » September 8th, 2006, 10:14 am

btw the oil on the end of your plug wires would be valve cover gaskets. Its pretty common but not major. Its also an easy fix. This won't cause any problems like this but if the oil gets really bad it may cause some performance problems. I would replace the gaskets as soon as you can but I do not think it has anything to do with your problem.

John

ariesdude · Post by **ariesdude** » September 8th, 2006, 11:42 am

When you did the HEI mod - did you disable the defective stock ignition module?

mx3autozam · Post by **mx3autozam** » September 8th, 2006, 1:04 pm

ariesdude wrote:When you did the HEI mod - did you disable the defective stock ignition module?

Thats a good question. Because if you didn't you will be pretty much running 2 modules which isn't good and they will interfer and if your stock module is screwed it will interfer more.