a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

I did test step one to test the pickup coil and got no continuity. I then did step 2 and got 850 ohms. So, is it safe to say that the pickup coil needs to be replaced. The reason that I decided to test the pickup coil is that every now and then the engine has trouble firing up. Sometimes it feels like it has a load of power, but sometimes it is as if it hardly has any. I recently replaced the injectors with the bosh design 3 from south bay fuel injectors, because of a miss.

/Users/chad/Desktop/pickup.gif

Re: a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

Step 1: Should read infinite at all times.

You said it reads no continuity, which is the same as infinite, which means it's OK.

Step 2: Should read one steady value between 500-1500 ohms.

You said it reads 850 ohms, which is between 500 and 1500, which means it's OK.

If I understand what you've written correctly, this means that it's safe to say that the pickup coil does NOT need to be replaced.

Do you have any trouble codes?

Re: a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

I have a good example of a bad pickup coil. The following is what came out of my car.


Coil
Attachment 337378

The other piece
Attachment 337379

Re: a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

When my pickup coil failed, it completely failed. Engine stopped doing 65 on the highway and wouldn't start back up. I'm not saying all are like that, but just a thought. if the pickup coil is failing, I think it would be extremely noticeable, as if any of the many pulses it sends to the ECM weren't there, you would feel it like a hesitation. Maybe your ICM? Ignition coil? Cap/Rotor? Do those other tests on the sheet before breaking open that wallet.

Re: a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

I have had one fail in a older hei/est distributor. It would drop cylinders have horrible gas odor ( sometimes the v8 would feel like a 4 banger and 6 banger at times) thats what I meant about dropping cylinders

Re: a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

I, too, had a pickup coil fail and it did same thing....driving 65mph and just sputtered and died like I ran out of fuel. Would not fire, even with starting fluid. Spark tester confirmed no spark from distributor on any cylinder.

Point is, I think when they go bad, it's all of none.

Fairly cheap part but kind of a bitch to replace. Also, if you don't buy a delco, the aftermarket ones don't always fit exactly into place. Found that out too!

I'd say check your wires and fuel filter/fuel pump. I had a mechanical fuel pump go bad and did what you described. Sometimes seemed ok, other times very hard to start.

Re: a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

Buy a new complete distributor instead and you won't have to worry about it! I just bought a Cardone distributor from rockauto, just take the old one out, put the new one in and you have new distributor gear, body, pickup, reluctor, ignition module, rotor and cap. Very cheap too, it did cost way less than it would have done to disassemble the distributor and replace all the parts myself. I also have a spare distributor because i overhauled the old one after the replacement.

Re: a quick question about a bad pickup coil
 

Well I had replaced the pick up coil anyways. I thing mine was fine, but a friend of mine works for gm dealer and he ordered me some parts with a discount. There must have been some confusion and he ordered the pick up coil. So, I just replaced it anyways.