noslack2mack Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thank you in advance for reading/helping me with this. Obviously, I'm a noob to SQ. I am not new to turbo 4's, however. I'm addicted to Merkurs (which I hope you won't hold against me) and I am rapidly becoming addicted to this 86 Plymouth TSI beast, which is my newest toy. Issue: Car never shows symptoms until sudden ignition fail - generally at highway speeds. 10 failures at this point and never in city driving (not sure if related). Seems to happen after vehicle has been driven more than thirty minutes or so. Issue happens suddenly. Loss of tach and ignition. After pulling over and sometimes up to five minutes of looking at connections to ignitor (which I'm highly suspicious of) car will start and shows no symptoms. Might run 3 mintues... might run two days... no symptoms until sudden loss of tach and igntion again. Last night after two episodes within 3 mintues I tapped on the ignitor and eventually it started, but I can't be sure if it's related to my connection wiggling/tapping or just that the electronics cooled down and had less resistance. Does not appear to be ignition switch (inspected). Does not appear to be grounds on ignitior or ignitor connector (cleaned and reconnected). Coil replaced and connections cleaned. Please help if you have ideas. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuze Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 Ignitors in the older cars are prone to failure, it does sound like that could be your problem especially the part about it happening after the car is hot. I upgraded my 87's ignitor (black plastic box) to an 89 model (bigger, metal box), there are some wiring differences but nothing too hard if you take it slow. You would need the 89 ignitor and the pigtail with connector for it to do the swap easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markhansenconquest Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 there a guy selling one for 20 bucks on here................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlosFley Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 Yupp that's the knock box for sure. Had the same problem with mine, upgraded to 88/89 and she fired right up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noslack2mack Posted June 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2014 Thank you all. I'm going to pull the trigger on a replacement ignitor then. I didn't want to thespend money until I had a second on my hunch. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87redcat Posted June 16, 2014 Report Share Posted June 16, 2014 I remember somewhere seeing a post of how to open up the plastic knock box and solder the joints that become loose over time. If you wiggle the connector at the box while someone is cranking it and it starts its for sure it is the box. the 88/89 box and pigtaill are required for the mod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlosFley Posted June 16, 2014 Report Share Posted June 16, 2014 Don't mean to contradict redcat but you don't actually NEED the pigtail, you can just modify your current connector to fit the 88/89 while also being able to fit 87's if need be. I believe there was a tutorial from a member on here of how to accomplish such mod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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