
intermittent ignition coil trouble
Today was very wet. Constant rain is just what
I needed to troubleshoot the intermittent electrical trouble on the
1990 Ford Festiva.
Luckily today was moist enough to provoke the problem, which is the
engine turning over but not starting, or when it does start it
sometimes stalls.
It seems like I fixed it by unplugging the main distributor wire from
the ignition coil and firmly re-seating it back into place. I drove it
all afternoon in the pouring rain with no other problems. I think I may
add a bead of silicone to the connector cover to decrease the chance of
any more moisture getting inside. The real test will be to see if the
problem doesn't pop up again next week or next month.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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coil
You might want to replace that coil wire. A bad wire will in damp weather or at night have electricity dancing on its outside.
Comment by
Errol
— Wed Feb 18 20:40:25 2009
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comment 2
We went out and checked it at night when we were trying to diagnose the problem --- no sparks. Of course, that was during dry weather when we couldn't get any symptoms either....
Comment by
anna
— Thu Feb 19 14:25:39 2009
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