Hey guys,
My 4th ICM has now lasted 48 hours before the camaro put it to rest. I feel that it is the ECU that is sending the spike to kill it. I heard that from some guy, he said he replaced his and it was fixed for good. Now I wanna know should I spend the 100 bux on a new one, I dont feel like taking this to a mechanic for him to charge me to find something out that i can on my own. The funny thing about it dying is, they usually last about a month before dying, this one died in two days. Same make, same everything. I did use the white crap, so that is ruled out. I went to check my external coil with my ohm meter yesterday and i had to disconnect my wires of the coil to do so. So could that have meant that it was my coil that killed the car? I drove it to work yesterday after I put all the wires are in, so thats ruled out also. What is it, I want a quick easy fix. Im the only kid in my school w/ a car that breaks down, and kids even have 87 camrys and 84 volkswagens.

 

Do you have any aftermarket ignition parts. (aftermarket cap/rotor, coil, module etc.?) Or is you whole iginition stock? -89IRO

 

My old taxi used to eat modules. It turned out to be the Canadian Tire el cheapo modules were made in Taiwan and they left out certain parts when building them, thus the cheaper price.

Finally, I bought a Blue Streak module that was twice the price ... but never fried again

 

OMG, i actually agree with sitting bull on something.

Have you purchased all of the modules form teh same store, and are they some generic brand? If so then yes i could believe 4 of them failed like that in short order, could easily be a junk supplier. I don't think i've ever seen a generic module last for more than a short time, or work effectively for performance anyway.
If they are good modules (i forget off the top of my head what would be OE, maybe borg warner?) then maybe it is something weird like the ECM but the only way to find out would be to replace it and cross your fingers.

 

I went through enough modules to fill a Christmas stocking before I broke down and bought an Accel. Certainly NOT the most expensive out there, but it's been trouble free for about 2 years now!

 

I went through 4 cheapo's before getting the Borg Warner one myself. Has lasted for 2 years now. Spend a few more dollars and get a good one.

 

That's funny. Borg Warner is one of the brands I was blowing up regularly!

 

Im running the borg warner iCm on a bone stock ignition. Its been blowing them out left and right and they are 60 bux a pop. like i said, time for a new computer? this brings up a good hypothesis

 

It is weird. I dunno, I've never really had a problem with Borg Warner parts. Of course you cant really go wrong with caps/rotors etc... Anyone else?

 

Trying to remember what I read in my manaul, but low resistance in some part of the circuit could be the issue. I don't think it's ECM related. If I've time when I get home tonight, I'll find what I read and repost.

Also, you are using the goo under the module when installing it?

 

Yeah Im usin the goo, might replace a lot of stuff under there, all of which is connected to the module.

 

I'll bet the coil is the problem. Replace it & the module both at the same time. Bad coils are notorious for taking out modules.

RBob.

 

Ignition pickup coil is another thing that can cause problems with modules.. Sometimes when you have a vehicle thats killing modules you just need to break down and replace both at once.

 

Always a good idea to check both, but that wasn't the case in my situation.........I tried swapping both.

Mine was all the module!

 

Is the pickup coil the same as the ignition coil?

 

The pickup coil is inside the distributor right near the Ignition Module. I dont know what it does, but it has two thin wires going into the icm, opposite the end of the ignition coil. I believe the pickup coil tells something to the ignition module, and the ignition module tells the coil when to spark. Anywhoo, they are two different things in different places.

 

by the way, what could make my computer do this? I replaced my ECU last night, and my car starts better, like brand new, and everything seems to have more power to it. Maybe my subwoofer and amp are drawing too much power or something.

 

The pickup coil is what tells the ignition when to fire.. the ignition module is actually a signal amplifier. With ecm controlled distributors its slightly more complicated.. the module amplifies the pickups signal and sends it to the ecm.. The ecm then sends it back, but varied for timing, the module then amplifies again and sends this signal to the coil.

 

By what other names do they call pickup coils? I can't find them listed on jegs or summit.

 

I thought that pick up coil and coil are the same exact thing, but lingo is lingo..........or maybe it's not.