Re: Miss & "Cut-Off"

From: Jon Steiger (stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu)
Date: Mon Dec 13 1999 - 18:59:50 EST


On Mon, 13 Dec 1999, Garret W Lewis wrote:

> I've had some bad things happen with my 1997 5.2 v8 Dak.
>
> A couple of days ago, I was heading into town and the truck developed a
> bad miss that cleared itself and then the check engine light came on. My
> truck is out of warranty; so, I just talked to the dealer for some ideas.
> They said that if the truck missed it can make the check engine light
> come on. So, I replaced all of the spark plugs (installed by King Kong)
> and reset the computer by disconnecting the battery. (Note: had
> replaced the coil and plug wires earlier) The truck initially ran well,
> but then developed an occasional severe miss and would cut off just like
> turning off the key. I ran the truck off and on with warm and cold
> starts for about 15-20 miles and the problem didn't improve. I took out
> the Accel coil and put the stock coil back in. The truck ran ok with no
> miss or cut off. I tried to duplicate the problem (to verify the Accel
> coil was bad) by reinstalling the Accel coil. Guess what, no miss or
> cut-off (so far). Has anyone had this happen or have any ideas on what
> could be happening? (I'm planning on replacing the distributor cap and
> rotor this week)

    I had a very similar experience, and I replaced the fuel pump
module, wires, coil, distributor pickup, etc. in an effort to locate
the problem. I've lost count of the number of things I did and checked
to try and figure it out. After all that, it turned out to be one of
the contacts in the connector that plugs into the bottom of the coil
was loose. By the time I finally gave up on it, I had to have it
towed to the dealer. It took the tech 2 hours to find the problem,
using a diagnostic computer and going through the wiring harness.

   My theory is that *maybe* you tweaked the connector a bit when
you put in the new coil, and that was the cause of the problem.
When you put the old coil back in, and also the new coil again,
perhaps the connectors just happened to have a better contact
than before. ???? Anyway, it might be worth giving that a look.

  Good luck!

                                              -Jon-

  .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ----------------------------------------.
  | Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
  | '96 Dodge Dakota V8, '96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
  `--------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'



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