Originally posted by carryall jerry:
I put a ignitor on the 350 in my El Camino about 10 years ago. It has been trouble free, but I wonder is it every going to quit. Anyone every have one fail? How long have they been known to work?
Pertronix Ignitor should last as long as any HEI distributor. It is a solid state device that will be affected by heat and current in combination with time. High heat and/or high current will reduce the amount of time until it fails. How long can it last? If it's like the POS ones F--d used in the late 80's through the 90's, the expected life is about 3 years, but it could conk out after a month. If your vehicle is a daily driver, I might get a little worried after ten years. Three possible precautions that I can think of. Cheapest (but not the most convenient or surest) would be to keep a set of points in the glove box to install if and when the ignitor module fails just to get you home. Cheaper would be to keep a spare Ignitor module in the glove box just in case; however, I don't think it would be good to store one in the glove box during the summer given the cab temperatures that are typical where I live, anyway. Relatively cheap (and useful in other instances, as well) would be a AAA membership for a tow if and when the truck breaks down.
