'87 module runs BAD

[Stephen Soulsby]

First off let me vent at the fact that I was broke down three hours from my home at my parents house. I had a bad ignition module. I ordered a module adapter plate and harness to use the '87 coil and module. I had them send it overnight air. After I installed it, I still had nothing. I had no choice but to have it towed in town. I had to pay $300 to find out that the wiring adapter was made backwards!!! I had to cut it apart and do it all myself. Needless to say I'm p***ed off. Now my car runs worste than a two barrol 231. No power and bogs out at mid throttle. I am just minuites away from leaving back to Frostburg in a car that barely runs! As a result I have missed two days of work (one due to Postens). My intentions are to call them up on Monday and demand a new harness and then some. Fair?

 

[Stephen Soulsby]

Now I'm really p***ed!

After driving on what felt like three cylinders for 45 miles the car died again! I'm back at my parents house instead of home with my future wife. I imagine that hooking up the reversed ignition module harness previously probably damaged my new $150 module and maybe even my coil. Now I have to pay to get the car towed and will miss my third day at work. Anybody had a similar problem with this harness before? I have bought from Postens before and was a very happy customer. I don't know if they make their own harness or if someone else does, but I hope somebody makes it right.

 

[Buick From Hell]

Steve, it sounds like it's possible you were running in "limp" mode! Also, I'm not sure, but I believe the spark plug wire orientation is different between the hot-air and the IC style coils!

I'm not sure if hooking up the module backwards would hurt it, but it IS possible you fried it because you would've been feeding voltage to the wrong terminals (this would explain the limp mode, if that was the case)

I'm not sure why it up and died, unless the module and/or the coil was indeed fried (partially?), and just slowly deteriorated on your way home until....

(I'M not worth much in the "good news" department tonight!)

 

[cool 84]

I wouldn't drive it around "barely running". The headgaskets always seem to suffer. I assume Posten's gets their adaptors from Casper's which a friend of mine has had no problems with. How did you discover it was wired backwards?

From what I remember and this was a long time ago but I think you have to switch the three trigger wires from the module to the coil around. If you don't do that then you can just switch your plug wires around but they will no longer match the number labeled on the coilpack. Problem is I have no idea which way they go. The only thing I know for sure is the front to back relationship has to be kept the same.

I could be wrong on this because the last time I checked was 4 years ago. I'll compare my dad's coil to mine tomorrow.

 

[HOTSIX]

I got a new 87 coil and module for mine.

Wires all hook up in one location only from module to coil.

They are only long enough to go to a certain terminal. I worked from the shortest wire and hooked um all up...use a lil dielectric grease - they got to hook to all 6 in only one way - far as I can see.

On the one side (front or back...dont remember) there are 3 coloured wires with connectors (one on each terminal for one side of the coil)....and on the other side I recall all terminal connectors on one same wire connecting to the other 3 remaining terminals.

All my wires for cyls 2 -4 - 6 are on the front of the coil and the 1 - 3 - 5 cyls wires are on the back - facing the firewall. That is how my coil sits on my module. Must consider that you could reverse the coil sitting on top of the module to 180 deg from where I have it...making all those connections mentioned above incorrect.

With engine harness connector on the module facing driver's fender (of course), coil terminals 2-4-6 face front while 1-3-5 face rear. Thats how I did it and mine ran fine.

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

firing order was the same

make sure all the wires to the module are right now before trying another module.

i got my module from autozone since they had it in stock and is right at $100 alsogot my coilpack there also in stock $50

i know there not delco but they have been 23# on my hotair and not a missfire all the way to the rev limiter.

i remember a couple wires that are alil tricky when switching them around for the swap so tripple check them .

ALSO CHECK YOUR FUSES when i wired mine up i blew a fuse in the car and it wont hard to do.

goodluck...RED

 

[Stephen Soulsby]

Yes I did change the firing order on the coil to match the '87 setup. I got the module and coil from NAPA, so they are high quality parts and a little more expensive. The mechanic that was looking at the car and I discovered the harness was backwards when we compared the wiring on an '87 and on my '84. It was exactly ass backwards. A was going to P, B was going to N, and so on. I know I shouldn't drive it barely running, but I'm in a bad pinch and am not sure of the condition of my motor anyways. To be honest I was just really mad at the car and everything else so I thought I'd show the car who's boss Unfortunatly the car is now my master

 

[cool 84]

Ha ha. Show the car who's boss. I've taught my car a few lessons. Like driving it home in first gear on the revlimiter the whole way to teach it not to blow headgaskets anymore.

 

[Stephen Soulsby]

Running!

After spening almost $600 due to the faulty wiring I got a replacement overnight to me from Casper's. I ended up towing the car 180 miles home. I had to replace the new module and coil because they were burnt out badly. It runs now!

 

[gsbuick65]

i got a adapter from postons also, how do u check it to see if its backwards?

 

[Stephen Soulsby]

The easiest way it look for the small letters stamped on each connector. A should go to A. If this is true, then it is not backwards. If A is going to P, it is backwards. Casper's has had about six of these go out so far like that. They promptly overnighted me a new one (because I ordered it from Postron's overnight).