springer3

Thanksgiving I started hearing a popping sounds in the radio. CEL came on, but it ran fine for the 200 miles I needed to go home. The popping in the radio stopped, so I figured whatever got wet to cause the high-voltage breakdown was now dry. The wires, rotors, and distributor caps are factory original from 1992. I ordered new caps, rotors and wires and was planning to replace them over the Christmas break.

I drove the car one last time last night - first outing since Thanksgiving but the car needed a run and I had a 60 mile round trip. The CEL stayed on, and the hash on the radio got so bad I turned it off. On the return trip I got a couple of bucks from the engine - first time that ever happened, and got the full Christmas tree effect. Worse, the alert siren came on and would not reset. It ran fine for the 30 miles home but thought I would go deaf.

Anyone also get the warning siren? Any other items I need to check besides wires, caps, and rotors? TIA for any tips.

Happy holidays.

jimq

I bet you got a few looks with the alarm going off
Cant help you as I have not yet had the "pleasure" of this problem. Did you run the scantool or hammer yet?

Indycam

"Any other items I need to check besides wires, caps, and rotors? "
The tops of the coils .
If your going to replace everything , the belt inside the distributor .
Its cheap , $10ish for the belt and $1ish for the pin .

"Worse, the alert siren came on and would not reset."
Even if you did a restart on the engine ?

springer3

It was the inside tonealert, which is loud, but only I had the pleasure of hearing it.
Sold the hammer. Might be just what I need to build the scantool, but I am sure every alarm is triggered.Thanks. I will have a good look at the coils. I have an ignition scope, and should be able to identify which system and possiby even which cylinder is sparking. Given the age of the caps, I suspect I have a carbon track inside one of them. I went cheap on the last service and just cleaned the caps hoping to get another couple of years. Penny wise ....

I suspect it would reset if I cycled the power, but I was rolling and did not want to risk going dead on I75/85 (16-lanes in places).

Distributor belt is a year old and is has the vent kit. Belt should be fine. I will of course have a look.

Indycam

"Penny wise ...." to , I'm replacing everything . From one end to the other you got it covered .

"16-lanes in places"
Your kidding me ?

colo964

When my coil went, I had that nice chiriping sound and Xmas lights. I'll bet that's it.

greenjt

My x-mas/buzzer effect was solved by replacing coils/leads.