I’ve been looking for a replacement igniter for my truck and have bought several aftermarket ones online from different vendors, and they all work well until the outside temperature drops below about 40 deg. F, and then I get no fire whatsoever.

I’ve read many threads on replacement igniters over the years, but most of them talk about finding an OEM Toyota one in a junkyard or making a non-Toyota brand like GM or Ford work. When my original igniter died 20 years ago after 160,000 miles, I was lucky enough to get an OEM igniter from the same model pickup in a local junkyard.

Recently I started worrying about that one dying so I Googled it and found at least a dozen different igniters, all designed specifically for the 85 22R, ranging in price from $25 to $300. I have now tried 3 different ones, and while they all worked, none of them worked when the outside temperature was below about 40 deg. F. I reinstalled my OEM igniter between each of the aftermarket ones and it worked fine, so it’s not a carburetor, distributor or other firing problem. ​​​​​​​

Before wasting any more time, I thought I’d ask others if they’ve found an igniter that works under all conditions. Hoping someone has!

 

I've been using an MSD streetfire 5520 for a few years on my 84 22R that later became a 20/22R hybrid. It works as low as single digit temps, that's as low has it has been here, and it adds a rev limiter which is nice I guess. I have not noticed any performance difference running the MSD over stock or a GM 4 pin HEI,I swapped because my OEM parts failed after 36 years of use and the 5520 was $150 on ebay.

 

Thanks for that information. I found one online, but at $250 I’ll wait for my OEM module to fail before buying that one. In the meantime I’ll keep looking for a lower cost one (less than $50) to buy for an on-hand spare.

if anyone comes across one, please post!