gravismaximus

it started last year when i was driving it, i would be driving down the interstate and for no reason i would see my tech drop to 0 and relnize that the car had died. my radio and etc.. inside the car is fine and a couple of seconds later the tech jumps back up to wherever and it comes back to life again. i went and removed the ign moduel and spred more silicon on it and it only did it once more time last year. it does seem to happen a lot more when its hot outside. over the winter i removed the computer from the car and installed a vacum advanced distribitor--hence getting rid of the old ign moduel. this year its happening more than ever. i never applied silicom to the ign moduel this time --(bought a used one form a forum member already installed in the distribitor). am i on the right track here, should i just R+R the ign moduel or is there somthing else that it could be. i am still using the same hei coil. is this a normal thing with c3's ? help!!!!! i cant race the rice burners if my car dies in the middel of the race---lol :cry

WarBound

Is your HEI lead or clip loose at the dist? Or like my car, HEI lead from ign switch went to a toggle kill swith under the hood, then to the dist. The terminals at this hidden kill switch were loose/old...car wouldn't start one day, next it would...drove me crazy till I traced the lead from the dist and found that bubba switch from the previous owner.

Just some thoughts...I'm new at this but thought it might help ya :yesnod:

VegasJen

assuming the car has been completely "de-computerized", it definately sounds like some type of solid state electrical component causing the problem. ironically, my '94 chevy diesel had a very similar problem because of one "magic" freakin box that ran just about everything. it would get way too hot and just shut the engine down and there was nothing i could do to get it to run until it cooled off. i'm thinking you have a similar issue with some type of electronic component. possibly the ignition module or even the coil. i've heard of similar symptoms if a red/white wire coil is used in a red/yellow wire distributor and vice/versa. not exactly sure how to tell which distributor takes which but that also might be worth looking into.

Master Ho

"Hot boxes" were/are common on Honda motorcycles, especially the Goldwing and VFR series, resulting in fried regulators/rectifiers. I solved the problem by salvaging computer CPU fans and installing them over the boxes. It dropped the temp enough to keep everything happy. JAT.

Dalannex

Check your battery lead to the distributor. Make sure that the connector on the wire fits tight on the spade in the distributor cap.


-Justin

killerbulldoggy

Im not sure about an 81, but if some vettes overheat too much (you said it happens when hot), then the computer kills the engine to prevent damage. maybe thats whats happening

gravismaximus

all my conections are good, anything else you guys can think of that it could be. :(

gravismaximus

it also seems to happen if i have so go slow for a duration f time---not accelerating. im looking at my carb manual and it says to hook up my distribitor to intake vaccum not to carb if i have a long duration camshaft. what do you consider a lon duration. my cam is a 525 lift at 280 duration. so should i have it hooked up to the carb or just leav it on the intake vacum? :skep: