Went for a drive today and my car just all of a sudden died, I was going about 35mph. I coasted into a parking lot and tried to start it but it just kept cranking. I popped the hood and didn't notice anything, went to start it again and it started up and ran for a few seconds then died again. I went back under the hood and checked for vacum leaks or loose terminals and everything was fine. Decided to try to start it again and it fired right up. Checked the timing and it was right where I previously set it. Fuel pressure is perfect(I have a cowl mounted fuel pressure gauge). The car has been fine since it died that one time. I recently replaced my distributor but the car had ran fine and strong since that. I don't know where to even begin or what could even cause this to happen. It is a reman distributor...possibly a bad pick up coil in it? Any help appreciated

 

Possibility could be the distributor ignition control module mounted on the side of the distributor is bad. Have had it happen on different cars where it works fine then suddenly the car dies for no reason and then start up fine later. I usually have only experienced it when the weather is hot.

 

Yeah it was just weird cause the car wasn't even really up to full temperature. I had only drove about a mile when it happened. Not really too hot here today so not sure if it's the ignition module. I will have to get it tested...I have a spare anyways

 

+1 on the TFI (ignition) module.

 

Yeah I will definitely get it tested...hopefully that's all it is

 

When you get it tested, have them test it 3 times. On the 3rd test it'll be very hot and usually fail then if it's bad. Good luck

 

Yesterday morning I went to take my car out...I let it run for a few minutes then I went to move it in my driveway and it died. I took out the ignition module and put in a spare that I had. Didn't start right up but then did start after cranking it a few times. I brought the module to autozone and it tested bad on the first try. Car was fine all day after I changed the module. Took the car to work today...drive about a mile and got on the highway and it died again! I sat for about 10-15 minutes and it started back up and was fine. What could possibly be wrong! I never had this problem until I put in a reman distributor. Or is it possible that my spare ignition module is bad too? I thought ignition modules act up when they are hot and not when the car is cold? It seems to only do this when the car is cold and doesn't die after it does it the one time. I'm gonna get the module I just put in tested also. Possibly the distributor is bad?

 

when the car dies you need to check for spark and or fuel or lack there of........simple can of ether and a spark tester can lead you to which of the two is missing.........if it's spark issue.........could be the stator in the reman POS dizzy............or simply your spare tfi is a POS......I only use motorcraft ones.....if you buy cheap azz tfi's from vatozone....expect failure right out of the box

 

Thanks for the reply...I don't think it's fuel, I can Hear the pump prime every time I turn the key. And I have a fuel pressure gauge, the pressure is always perfect. I'm gonna get my tfi module tested. If that ends up being fine I'm gonna take out the dizzy and get an oem one. Luckily there is a mustang junkyard near me

 

I put in my old dizzy today and went for a drive and the car didn't die...I think the culprit was the pos reman dizzy from autozone. In my other post what I thought was causing my car to break up and run like crap was a dirty maf the whole time! I got a new dizzy thinking that was it but it was fine the whole time. Definitely a lesson learned! Don't buy reman dizzy's!