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| | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 47 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 47 | 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?
i love my dog's 1965 suburban.
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 4,066 Bolter | | Bolter Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 4,066 | yours will probably go tomorrow... get you a spare 
Redryder pixMy HotrodA veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of "up to and including my life."I am fighting cancer and I am winning the fight | Pain is part of life; misery is an option. | | | | | Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 637 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 637 | My experience with Pertronix is not that good, I put the whole system, module, rotor, cap, wires & plugs in my 1992 GMC 350 and the module lasted 2 miles. Went (physically) to Pertronix in San Dimas and talked to their "expert", he gave me a new module that he personally tested in the lab, I installed it and lt lasted 3 miles. I put back the stock module that was from GM, original equipment that has 200,000 miles on it and it is fine again, go figure. | | | | | Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 613 Member | | Member Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 613 | heis are cheep,easy to install and work great. | | | | | Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 35 Member | | Member Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 35 | I put one in my farm tractor 5 years ago ... still going strong.
(Also have a spare "just in case".) | | | | | Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 1,682 Extreme Gabster | | Extreme Gabster Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 1,682 |
an idea is only stupid if you think about it rationally.
| | | | | Joined: Apr 2006 Posts: 236 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Apr 2006 Posts: 236 | 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.
58 Fleetside, 235, "The Old Buckin' Bronco"
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 9,115 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 9,115 | I don't know about the Pertronix but solid state devices like ignition modules do not have a predicted lifetime in which they wear out. They do fail, probably very infrequently and in a random manner. Either there is something wrong with the product or the there is something wrong with the installation. | | |
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