89 LX quits 7 mins after starting; won't restart for several hours.

[FestYboy]

Did you attempt the dizzy cleaning yet?

[WmWatt]

Search for LX627 (Standard), DYE524 (Ford Motomaster), J207 (Mitsubishi)

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

WmWatt,

Twenty-seven listings for LX627 on eBay, all with exactly the same photo, which looks like the part I removed.

MINIMUM price is $167!!!

Make O'Reilly's price the other day of $130 with lifetime warranty seem cheap. They're bringing the only one from their NW warehouse up for me to look at in the morning.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

WmWatt,

Twenty-seven listings for LX627 on eBay, all with exactly the same photo, which looks like the part I removed.

MINIMUM price is $167!!!

Make O'Reilly's price the other day of $130 with lifetime warranty seem cheap. They're bringing the only one from their NW warehouse up for me to look at in the morning. They also said they think they have a "module" to test my part.

It looks like I may have to remove the whole distributor from the engine in order to gain sufficient access to remove the wires from the module without mangling them. As long as I mark the angular position of the distributor housing on the block, is there any problem?

[blake4591]

Rock auto has an LX627 part number ICM for 97.79 plus whatever shipping ends up being. If the O'Reilly part doesn't work out.

[Festy46]

It looks like I may have to remove the whole distributor from the engine in order to gain sufficient access to remove the wires from the module without mangling them. As long as I mark the angular position of the distributor housing on the block, is there any problem?

Make a scratch mark from the distributor base across onto the head and you won't need to retime the engine. Just line up the two scratch marks when you reinstall. The distributor doesn't have a gear on the end, but rather a crosswise plate that will only go in one way. If you can't get the distributor in tight to the head when you reinstall it, take it out and rotate the rotor 180 degrees and try it again.

[zoe60]

They come out fairly easily. Take off the distributor cap, pull the rotor, take off the black plastic cover. Then unplug the wires, take out the two screws and slide it towards the firewall to unplug the pins from the magnetic pickup. Should come right out. Smear some silicone heat conducting grease on the back of the new one before you install it.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

I got the distributor out w/o any problem and removed the LX627.

I took it to O'Reilly to have them test it before putting out $130 for the new part. The night crew didn't seem to know quite what they're doing, even when I pointed out that no hookup in their "pictures only" instruction booklet had the same terminal setup as my LX627 (which looks exactly like the new part they brought in from their warehouse).

They tested anyway, using some sort of hookup of some of the wires, and my part failed -- but so did their new part!!!

I kept my money in my wallet. The manager's supposed to call me in the morning. The machine is made by www.DiStester.com out of Irvine CA, so I will ring them up in the morning also.

This shouldn't be this difficult. What if I were stuck on the side of the road in East Podunk, or somewhere in the Yukon? A spare fully-tested distributor is a must-have-on-board when travelling in a carbed Festy.

[bravekozak]

The test machine is made ny Disaster.com?
You only need a spare ignition module + screwdriver, not the whole distributor.
I installed a ballast resistor to protect my module when I changed coils.
No problemo.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

That's all I'm trying to replace -- the LX627 ICM. I merely removed the distributor to get better access to remove the ICM without mangling the wires or the Phillips screw heads.

I haven't yet rung up DIStester.com people, but Napa just offered me the part for $300! With this kind of nonsense, I need to convert my three rust/ding-free low-mileage LXs to FI asap!

[zoe60]

If you have two other carbed Festy's, Why don't you just swap the ICM's and see if the problem follows? Then you will know if the part is bad so you can buy a new one with confidence, or not.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

zoe60,

One of my other two LXs is in the driveway; the 3rd is 50 miles away where I store the bulk of my fleet. I'm reluctant to disable two of my daily drivers at the same time. All I have beyond the LXs here is a rattletrap 91 with PS.

I just talked to DIStester support at (800)544-4124 in Irvine CA -- they say to use "module U7" and are emailing me hookup instructions to take to O'Reilly's.

Autozone offered me a rebuilt distributor for $150, but give no assurances that the ICM in it is new. Given that this seems to be a time-limited part, I don't want somebody else's used ICM!

[WmWatt]

When I get home I'll look up the connections for the distester (www.distester.com). I'm at the public library now. The guy at the parts store and the new guy at Distester didn't know how to hook it up. Both the old and new ICM's failed, same as you. The VP quality assurance at the manufacturer figured it out and gave us the right connections. He tested the new one I sent him. When I got it back we retested it a the parts store again. It passed. I wrote the connections down.

[WmWatt]

Hello again. I just put the instructions for testign the ICM in a new thread where it will be easier to find using the search feature. Hope it helps.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

WmWatt,

I saw your new thread. I will take it to O'Reilly later today.

All,

I stopped in at Autozone. It turns out that their tester can not test this part. They got the manufacturer on the phone and were told this. Autozone phoned the distributor remanufacturer, who thinks (to be confirmed next week) that they install only new ICMs in their rebuilt. So that's a $150 solution.

I'll switch over to WmWatt's ICM-specific new thread for further developments.