Progress Thread My centrifugal ppl, how’s this deal?

When the engine quits, will it restart immediately?
Have you cleared the codes to make sure you aren't seeing old codes?

How to clear codes.

Clearing the codes by pressing a button on the scan tool or disconnecting the test jumper used to start the code dump does not erase the “learned settings”. All it does is erase the stored codes in memory.

You must clear the codes anytime you replace any sensor. The following tells you how and is different from the method above

Clear the computer codes by disconnecting the battery negative terminal and turn the headlights on. Turn the headlights off and reconnect the all sensors including the MAF and anything else you may have disconnected. Then reconnect the battery negative cable.. This clears all spurious codes may have been generated while troubleshooting problems. It also clears the adaptive settings that the computer "learns" as it operates. Clearing the codes does not fix the code problems, it just gives you a clean slate to start recording what the computer sees happening.

Run the car for at least 30 minutes of driving and dump the codes again to assure that you have fixed the code problem or sensor problem. This is necessary for the computer to relearn the adaptive settings that the computer uses for proper operation. The engine may run rough at first, but should smooth out as it runs for the 15-20 minute learning period.
So car ran and drive fine up until the check engine light, it idled fine, hit the gas and died. Tried to start it right back up and crank crank crank and nothing. Waited a minute, wiggled some wires, tried again crank crank crank nothing. Went to auto zone bought the innova ford obd 1 scanner, checked it with the car not running, just ignition turned to on, hit on and test. First go around gave me the 15 & 85 followed by 11. I got back in and cranked it, boom she is running like normal no more check engine light. 10-15 minutes later while running the check engine pops back on, car is idling hit the gas and off it goes. Tried to crank it right away and just crank crank crank no go. Ok replug the scanner same 15,85, 67 since I guess I didn’t have the clutch engaged and 66. Checked the mass air, seemed fine, plug was tight, unplugged and replugged it. Waited about 15/20 minutes tried to start it and on it goes no more check engine light, head home as soon as I pull up to the drive way, check engine light again and hit the gas and it dies again. Parked it, came out later the evening and it starts right up, running fine, put it in the garage. Started it up yesterday and it cranks right up, no check engine light on at this time. I have no idea what it could be. As far as clearing the codes like described above no I have not tried that.
 
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So car ran and drive fine up until the check engine light, it idled fine, hit the gas and died. Tried to start it right back up and crank crank crank and nothing. Waited a minute, wiggled some wires, tried again crank crank crank nothing. Went to auto zone bought the innova ford obd 1 scanner, checked it with the car not running, just ignition turned to on, hit on and test. First go around gave me the 15 & 85 followed by 11. I got back in and cranked it, boom she is running like normal no more check engine light. 10-15 minutes later while running the check engine pops back on, car is idling hit the gas and off it goes. Tried to crank it right away and just crank crank crank no go. Ok replug the scanner same 15,85, 67 since I guess I didn’t have the clutch engaged and 66. Checked the mass air, seemed fine, plug was tight, unplugged and replugged it. Waited about 15/20 minutes tried to start it and on it goes no more check engine light, head home as soon as I pull up to the drive way, check engine light again and hit the gas and it dies again. Parked it, came out later the evening and it starts right up, running fine, put it in the garage. Started it up yesterday and it cranks right up, no check engine light on at this time. I have no idea what it could be. As far as clearing the codes like described above no I have not tried that.
Are you having the engine die only once it warms up?
 
Are you having the engine die only once it warms up?
That’s what it seems like, I’ll crank it on and car runs fine. It will get warmed up and eventually that check engine light will come on and then it just shuts off. Now I haven’t taken the car back out since Sunday. I have to go get it inspected today so I’m gonna take it and drive it and see if it does all this again. It’s weird that Saturday I drive the car all day long no problem, no check engine nothing, but then stopped turned it off and had to end up replacing the tfi module, but then it cranked right back up and drove it again for a bit no problem. Then Sunday this crap happened with the check engine light stuff. The wiring harness did not get lengthened for the mass air. The wiring is snug but not stretching since the power pipe sits further into the fender then I was expecting. Guess I can try the clear code thing before I take it out today and see what happens?
 
Pickup coil in the distributor. The MAF if it was bad would just make the computer go into limp mode, which is to run it rich. It wouldn't kill the car once it's warmed up. The issue to me is ignition related which is one of only three items: pick up coil, tfi module or coil. That's all is part of our system. Since it does it only when warm pushes it more towards the pick up coil and tfi module. Since you replaced the tfi module, which I hate to say it could be bad as well due to aftermarket ones are not the best. This leans to the only part left the pickup coil. If you know someone with another distributor you could test by swapping them out and drive it to see if that's the issue. If not then you will have to rebuild yours.
 
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The PIp is replaceable but the distributor will have to come out. The gear will need to come off and the shaft will have to be slid out of the top. The part is cheap...and motorcraft ones are readily available. Good part to replace anyways ....especially if original.

Ignition related things will do exactly what you're experiencing. Even a bad coil can act this way.

The next time it won't start pull off one of your spark wires at the plug. Put a screwdriver loosely in the end and lay it near the engine. The metal part of the screw driver needs to be just a hair away from touching the engine. Crank and see if you're getting spark. Helps if you can lay it on the upper intake near a bolt so you can see it from the drivers seat.

You want to see a blue or white spark....not orange. If no spark....pull the wire off the coil and do the same thing.

Wish I was there to help. We'd have that car running in no time.
 
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The PIp is replaceable but the distributor will have to come out. The gear will need to come off and the shaft will have to be slid out of the top. The part is cheap...and motorcraft ones are readily available. Good part to replace anyways ....especially if original.

Ignition related things will do exactly what you're experiencing. Even a bad coil can act this way.

The next time it won't start pull off one of your spark wires at the plug. Put a screwdriver loosely in the end and lay it near the engine. The metal part of the screw driver needs to be just a hair away from touching the engine. Crank and see if you're getting spark. Helps if you can lay it on the upper intake near a bolt so you can see it from the drivers seat.

You want to see a blue or white spark....not orange. If no spark....pull the wire off the coil and do the same thing.

Wish I was there to help. We'd have that car running in no time.
Thanks for the advice I appreciate everyone trying to help me get this figured out. I wish you and all these guys lived in Austin ha ha then I could just get you guys to help me and teach me some things.
 
Pickup coil in the distributor. The MAF if it was bad would just make the computer go into limp mode, which is to run it rich. It wouldn't kill the car once it's warmed up. The issue to me is ignition related which is one of only three items: pick up coil, tfi module or coil. That's all is part of our system. Since it does it only when warm pushes it more towards the pick up coil and tfi module. Since you replaced the tfi module, which I hate to say it could be bad as well due to aftermarket ones are not the best. This leans to the only part left the pickup coil. If you know someone with another distributor you could test by swapping them out and drive it to see if that's the issue. If not then you will have to rebuild yours.
Well I guess it’s worth a try. The coil is new it’s a screamin demon but doesn’t mean it can’t be bad I guess. I’ll check out see if somehow maybe one the parts stores around here have one of those pick up coils laying around.
 
Ok so picked up this little do dad from oreillys. Is this hard to swap out? Do I need to put anything on it like i did for the tfi module? Anything I should or shouldn’t do? Never replaced one of these things before.
DBAD11C4-91F4-495E-94FD-BB7614C5F3E8.jpeg
 
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If you going to do it in your garage you will need a gear puller or similar device to get the distributor gear off the shaft. Then you will need an oven or toaster oven for reinstalling the gear. This is used to expand the gear to slide it back on the shaft. Be careful to align it before sliding it on, but you dont have much time due to the gear cools quickly

If you dont feel comfortable then you may want to take the distributor to a shop to pull and put back on the gear.
 
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If you going to do it in your garage you will need a gear puller or similar device to get the distributor gear off the shaft. Then you will need an oven or toaster oven for reinstalling the gear. This is used to expand the gear to slide it back on the shaft. Be careful to align it before sliding it on, but you dont have much time due to the gear cools quickly

If you dont feel comfortable then you may want to take the distributor to a shop to pull and put back on the gear.
Ahh geeez that sounds like not a lot of fun.
 
Take the cap off and look below the metal plate the rotor sits on. You'll see a little sensor down there. It shouldn't look powdery or soft. All the ones I've found that we're bad has some weird corrosion.... almost like battery acid on a battery post. It's easy to overlook.

It's the part the TFI module plus into inside the distributor and reads the metal piece under the rotor button.

Screenshot_20181023-165037_eBay.jpg
So this is what mine looks like on the inside. Is this what you were talking about?
2FC81010-B55E-450F-83DC-47199FBC986F.jpeg
2639A16E-7DAA-4FC8-85DB-74AB4E36B2F8.jpeg
 
Spin the engine around to tdc, mark where the rotor is(should be close to the #1 plug wire) I took a chisel and lightly made a notch on the block and the base of the distributor and when you put it back in just line up the marks. Remember the rotor will turn a little when you pull the distributor out.
 
When the engine quits, will it restart immediately?
Have you cleared the codes to make sure you aren't seeing old codes?

How to clear codes.

Clearing the codes by pressing a button on the scan tool or disconnecting the test jumper used to start the code dump does not erase the “learned settings”. All it does is erase the stored codes in memory.

You must clear the codes anytime you replace any sensor. The following tells you how and is different from the method above

Clear the computer codes by disconnecting the battery negative terminal and turn the headlights on. Turn the headlights off and reconnect the all sensors including the MAF and anything else you may have disconnected. Then reconnect the battery negative cable.. This clears all spurious codes may have been generated while troubleshooting problems. It also clears the adaptive settings that the computer "learns" as it operates. Clearing the codes does not fix the code problems, it just gives you a clean slate to start recording what the computer sees happening.

Run the car for at least 30 minutes of driving and dump the codes again to assure that you have fixed the code problem or sensor problem. This is necessary for the computer to relearn the adaptive settings that the computer uses for proper operation. The engine may run rough at first, but should smooth out as it runs for the 15-20 minute learning period.
So doing this code clear with the battery and lights on off thing won’t mess up my tune I just got?
 
No, it's on a flash chip (or the 80s equivalent) and is not power dependant. The self learn will be wiped though so it will need to run a bit after starting it back up for it to relearn its settings.
 
What if I just bought one of these from autozone? Are they ok? if i pull the distributor out is my timing all going to be off?
177294EB-A675-476B-A576-B50FB7618636.png

Those are fine, we just put one in a customers car and it ran great.

Checking your timing is pretty much mandatory whenever you pull the distributor out and put a new one in. Timing lights are cheap and it’s good peace of mind.
 
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What if I just bought one of these from autozone? Are they ok? if i pull the distributor out is my timing all going to be off?
177294EB-A675-476B-A576-B50FB7618636.png
Everything ive seen on those rich porter new distributors ive seen says run far far away. Rebuilt stock ones are hit and miss too, I bought one for the 427w and it was unusable because the gear and thrust collar were waaaay far from being in the right spot. Ended up going with an msd since I didn't have a stock 351 distributor to just rebuild myself, but since all your components match I would just swap that sensor. Yes, you'll need a puller or a press to get it apart, but it really isn't that hard.
 
Alright guys @jrichker @stanglx2002 @90sickfox @KZGUNS @General karthief so this is what it does when the check engine light comes on. I decided to crank it up and let it run for about eh idk 10-15 minutes just to see what would happen and if the check engine light would pop back up. So sure enough it did, got in the car to try and move it and as soon as I hit the gas peddle it dies off. I’ll let it cool and I’m sure it will start back up. Just wanted to try and get a video to show what it does. Runs fine, get warm, check engine light on, gas peddle, shuts off. So gonna try the new stuff pickup coil and see if it fixes it.

View: https://youtu.be/KqANIeepgTk