Hey,

'83 4x4. No sparky. Working through the factory tests. With ignition ON, getting 12v to the brown wire and 12v from the yellow wire (with brown connected) as expected.

However, the next test is to disconnect the pink and white wires from the distributor, hook a 1.5v (AAA) battery to them (for no more than 5 seconds), and check for 8-10v coming from the igniter at the yellow wire when the ignition is ON.

Well, I'm getting 12v from the yellow wire constant, even before the battery is hooked up and it doesn't change with the addition of the battery. Is this positive identification of a problem with the igniter? The test is stated to be of the "power transistor" and it doesn't seem like there's any transisting going on.

I already have the GM module on hand ready to adapt...

 

I swapped in the GM igniter and it runs.

 

Yeah,

That sounds pretty similar to the results that I got when mine went bad. If it runs with the GM, I'd say you found your culprit.

 

Any photos of the GM igniter retrofit?

 

Okay, so it fired up and ran twice when I installed it yesterday. Today, having given back my borrowed vehicle, my truck now refuses to start. I don't know what to think.

 

Do you mind posting a few photos of your retro fit?
I did the retrofit but don't know what your working with here.

 

Today I was back at it, monkeying around trying to figure out WTF is going on. I tested the newly installed GM module and it passed all tests, including the 1.5v test that the original failed. Multiple unsuccessful attempts to start. And then it started. And runs fine. I didn't change anything, though.

The ONLY thing I can speculate is that maybe the ground cable off the battery wasn't connecting well enough. Even though it would crank strong. I dunno. There was a morning a couple weeks ago when I went to start the truck and it wouldn't crank. I jimmied the negative cable's connection and then it cranked right up.

The mystery is still not solved, though. I'll see what happens next time I try to start it.


Here are a couple pics, for whatever they're worth. I just followed the connections posted elsewhere in instructional threads. I cut away the sides of the stock aluminum housing and bolted the GM module to it with the heat sink compound between. The leads are a little too close to contacting the housing for comfort and that's something I'll probably address eventually. But it works for now.

 

To follow up, I still believe my post-igniter replacement issue was simply a bad ground connection at the battery. I replaced the cable with a new one and fastened it up tight and haven't had any issues since then.