Tech Tip: Mis-Diagnosing a Distributorless Igniton System

[Brian P]

I couldn't attach files to the article-section of this forum, so I will add this here.

 

A good read for typical failures and mis-diagnosis of the DIS system.

 

http://www.mightyautoparts.com/pdf/articles/tt76.pdf

Edited July 7, 2010 by mfewtrail

[thikstik]

I have to add what happened to my car, and one nice Regal GS i saw in the junkyard. Both 1994 Regal 3.8, 4 door cars. If a car has ever blown a water pump divertor hose (the one under the alternator), it can cause a dead ignition...and it may happen years after the hose blew. The coolant gets into the wirepack and turns the insulation into goo. When my hose blew, i drove car with no pressure in system, just topping radiator with water. I easily made it home, but would later discover, it had really blasted alot of hot coolant onto/into the wire bundle. 10 years later a dead ignition resulted as the wires fused together. IIRC, about 10 wires were involved, and it didnt burn out anything. It was blowing ign fuses immediately. The wires were just shorting together. I just cut, removed insulation, splice sections of heat shrink (very important, dont just use electrical tape), soldered old ends together and she's great. Id think this wiring sits in the same place on alot of W-bodies.

Rick C from Alabama