I'm desprate for help. I recently bought a really clean '87 GL-10 wagon out of NC. It was running and driving pretty good, but I've been putting a lot of work into it to get into good condition for daily use. I had to replace both front axles before I could drive it anywhere and I did so last weekend. I drove from Waterford to Milwaukee (about 35 miles) and got there no problem, but it stalled out on me later that day on my way home. It was like I shut the ignition off. I tried checking for obvious problems like the coil wire coming off and things like that, but found nothing and I ended up calling a tow truck. The next morning, the car started right up and ran great.

 

Since then I haven't driven it any where as I don't want to get stranded and it still acts the same way. Some times it starts, some times it won't. When it does start I will just let it idle and it will randomly die and not restart. I've already replaced the plugs, wires, distributor cap, coil and even the CPS inside the distributor. Then only piece I haven't replaced in the iginition is the rotor and that's be ordered. The coil is good, I tested it with a multimeter, and it's definitley an igintion issue as I can smell the gas as I crank it over when it doesn't start. After all the parts being replaced it still acts the same way. One last detail, the car was swapped from auto to 5 speed manual with dual range (done by previous owner). What the hell is going on here?

I just checked for power at the coil and I have 12 volts there as well. Any ideas?

fuel pump relay or dead coil bracket

Definitely not a fuel issue, but what do you mean by dead coil bracket? I did find that there is some kind electronic component attached to the coil bracket that was indeed damaged. It has two male electric connections on it that are perpendicular to each other. While checking the coil resistance and to make sure I had power to the coil I happened to put my hand under this component and noticed that the bottom was ripped open and metal pieces were sticking out. I went to a near by junk yard and took the whole coil, bracket, and wiring harness and brought it home, mounted it up and plugged it in and the car started right up and ran great. I haven't driven it yet, but I think I found the issue (fingers crossed). Any way, what is that piece?

Monitering:

that's the FET - and it causes a no start when it fails. i've never seen one fail intermittently though, it's usually bad or good. but given that it's visually compromised that probably was the issue.

 

definitely get a new rotor under the distributor.

 

the idle control valves on these old cars are often sticky and dirty. cleaning them is a really good idea as they'll have no start and idle issues with them. the valve opens to allow air past while the throttle is closed (at idle/no throttle). when it sticks it won't let enough air through during idle/start up.

 

really common on XT6's and while EA IAC's are different i think they can still stick. though i think on some EA's they're really annoying to get to.

 

but i'd look there if it comes back.

Edited August 22, 201015 yr by grossgary