Hi, my name is Kirk. This is my first time posting so I'm alittle nervous about saying or asking something stupid to all you pros out there so please bear with me. I've got an opinion question or maybe even a tech question, but has anyone else ever had really bad lucky with Accel's ignition moduals or is it just my car. I have an '86 305 TPI TA that has some minor mods but nothing drastic to the igintion system, just a HyperTech coil and until recently, an Accel igintion modual. My car has distroyed three of them now and I don't know why! The first one just started making the car ideal rough and hessitate to the point of almost stalling. I thought it was just a fluk, so I called Summit and they sent me out another. Somehow I managed to get two. I installed one and it ran great for a short while. Then it started the same thing again, so I threw in the extra one and it too ran good for awhile. Now, I just went to start it up after it's winter nap, and it's doing the same thing again, only this time the tach is jumping all over too! I put the factory modual in and it seams to run just fine. Are Accels moduals just crappy! Is there a better modual out there? Or do I have another problem that is causing them to burn up? If so, what could it be? Any help at this point would be great! Thank You!

 

People have said good and bad things about Accel. I think for the most part it is a personal choice as to what name brand you use. I don't think that Accel being good or bad is the problem. It isn't very likely you would get three parts and they all be bad. I would start looking other places. What exactly is the car doing.

 

Welcome to the board!

No questions are dumb, so ask away. Most folks here are pretty good about this, so don't worry.

I think you might have better luck if you match the brand of module to the coil maker. If it is Hypertech then you should try their module. I've read that a number of people have had this same problem and the only solution is to stick with one brand.

Hope that helps.

 

i agree with what sitting bull has said as well. i have read it numerous times, both on these boards, from speed shop owners, magazines, and manufacturers themselves. it seems that each specific brand designs their coil and module to work together, ie the coil is designed for a specific module and vice versa.

also...have you been applying lots of heat sink on the module when you install them? this is very imporant, as the modules produce alot of heat, especially the aftermarket ones, and the heat sink grease helps to aid in transfer of heat away from the module. the heat sink grease is applied to the underside of the module where it sits on flat metal area in the distributor (also apply heat sink to this metal area). i just bought and installed the MSD HEI module and it clearly states apply lots of heat sink to module and the metal area is sits on. excess heat will fry your module, the heat sink is important.

good luck finding the problem.

 

oh..by the way, welcome to the boards. there is an amazing amount of information available here. enjoy.

 

I found that my accel module is more sensitive to the strength of the ignition pickup. I have an accel distributor so its probably slightly different than your setup. However, it came with a sealed module similar to a stock gm unit. I recently purchased their newer module(looks like 2 circuit boards) and installed it because I wasnt happy with the reliability of the sealed module. The new style module didnt work at all. I even called summit and was ready to return it. Got to looking at the instructions for the distributor and on my accel unit you can set the air gap for the pickup. The gap was too wide and causing a weak signal to the module. Fixed this and then the new style module works fine.

You probably can't set the air gap on your distributor(assuming stock style hei) but the pickup itself can get weak. If its borderline it may be causing your problems.

 

I've had a bit of a similar problem... I've tried to replace my ignition module on several occasions, with no luck. The module that's currently installed is a GM module, and, by the looks of it, is probably original (88 IROC w/ ~170,000 miles). No matter which manufacturer of module I choose, be it GM, Accel, or some off-brand parts store unit, I can't get the car to run properly or sometimes even start.

I managed to get the motor to start with the accel module, but the tach was jumping around, and the throttle response was terrible.

Each time, I've wound up reinstalling the original module, and the car starts up and runs fine. I just wonder how much longer the stock module is going to be good for. My car has been in storage for almost 2 years now, so I'd like to try to figure this out before August, when it comes out of storage. Any thoughts?

____________
Andrew Choset
'88 IROC-Z L98 w/SuperRam, T56, 3.42, Baer Track 13" Brakes

http://www.mycar.net/mafb/registry/detail.cfm?id=88

 

After years of fighting these problems at work. With all makes of vehicles, I think that it would probably be best if we all changed the pickup and module as a pair. Sure many times we get away with just changing the module, but usually a short time later theres problems.

Andrew have you tried starting the car with the timing connector disconnected and a new module? The signal from the pickup first goes to the computer than comes back to the module to be amplified. Many times a weak pickup won't put out enough signal. The computer sucks up what it does put out then theres not enough left to amplify properly. When you disconnect the timing connector it takes the computer out of the equation. Sometimes this leaves enough signal for the car to start. Either way I would be changing the pickup.

When I swapped motors this january, I started the new motor and it ran terrible. Couldnt figure out what was wrong. Seems the corrosion killer I had sprayed on the pickup had eaten all the corrosion allright. But there wasnt much left. The wire was coming all undone. This was on the original distributor. Before I gave up on the stock computer system.

 

stay same brand this is not in my experiance thge area to mix brands
IE i found out the hard way

accel module & msd coil equalled for me (loads of headackes)