The problem of why my car has been acting up may now be evident. After hooking the ignition up to the scope, the plugs are seeing an additional spark! The inductior placed on the coil wire reads 16 sparks per distributor revolution. I didnt think this was physically possible! Has anyone seen this before? The car feels like it hits a wall at 3000 rpm, the tach is everywhere, and the car barely idles. Interestingly, when the headlight control brain on the firewall is removed, the car idles better. All other symptoms remain, however. Any experience or ideas? Thanks!

 

J-Mat,

Headlight control brain? I'm not sure what that is.

As for the ignition problem, you might not be getting a sharp cutoff of primary ignition coil current. That would tend to cause that "ringing", or sinusoidal decay of spark energy that you are seeing with the 'scope.

What ignition components are you using? (Plugs, wires, coil, etc.)

 

Thanks for the response, Vader. The headlight control brain/module/mysterious black box on the firewall of 87-92 Firebirds is located right beside the brake booster on the firewall. I may not be calling it by the correct term, but I posted a few pictures of it in another recent post to which you have responded.

The ignition components have all been replaced because I just threw parts at for awhile. HI-6S (same symptoms w/ or w/o this hooked up), MSD pro billet distributor with new pickup coil and ignition module, Accel Super Coil, MSD 8.8mm wires, FR3LS AC Delco plugs. All of these parts have been eliminated as the source of the problems via new or known good replacement.

I hope you can help! Thanks:lala:

 

try to drop in a stock hei distributor. only G0D knows why aftermarket parts always mess everything up.

 

I'll give that a thought. I can bench test this MSD distributor at the local speed shop.

 

J-Mat,

I think what you are asking about may the the Electronic Spark Control:

 

Ya Vader, that is what I originally thought it was...until I did some more research. The module I am talking about is indeed part of the headlight control system. Late model thirdgens like mine don't have ESC modules because the electronics were integrated into the ecm.

What do you think could be causing my problem? Many thanks!

 

you tried the distributor? without the msd box hooked up? and arnt throwing codes? wow what a mess...

 

nevermind

 

whoa, didnt say the car is a mess...the situation is, did you try the stock distributor without the crane box? i saw the post, you tried the msd distributor with the crane box not hooked up. try the stock distributor without the crane box hooked up.

sorry i generalized with aftermarket parts. an upgraded ignition is needed with about any non stock engine build. however a lot of problems need to be "tuned" out after something is changed. just make sure you know what component of the ignition is making the problem.

 

Attention Fellow Thirdgenners:

Please read this post carefully, and unless you have an intelligent response, please be at least 18 years of age to reply to this post.

 

be at least 18? if i was there right now i would kick your ***. i hope vader locks this post now. i did have an intelligent response. aftermarket distributors COULD mess up a varity if things and putting the stock stuff back on the car to TEST what is wrong is a good way to figure out how to fix a problem. now that i feel like being prideful, i have helped a lot of firends on their cars and have probably rebuilt mine from the ground up since i was 15 1/2. i can t belive that you think you have to be 18 to be intelligent.

 

okay no flame wars...we have a sick thirdgen here...let's not get the thread locked.
PS- That was funny Iroc of 88

 

how was that funny?

 

however i still seriously think that you should have the distributor bench tested. we put a bad DUI distributor on my firends 68 camaro and it messed everything up.

 

How about all of the wiring? Are all the terminations good, possible shorts? Have you ever removed the harness? Bad wheather pack conection?

Just a thought about the wring, I have had bad wiring give me problems before on a bunch of different circumstances. If it is dying at 3000 it sounds like a hardware problem though. Multiple spark discharge stops at 3000 rpm on aftermarket stuff. How about the module? Have you changed it out yet? Did you smear the proper silicone grease under the module when installing it, it acts as a heat sink, otherwise it may have burned up.

I dont know for sure man.