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Ignition Issues

RickR90s

Contributing Member
My 2002 PCM 350 H.O. stopped running last week, with what I thought was a running out of fuel condition. Instead, I did some troubleshooting. (crank but no start) and determined that the ignition coil wasn't creating spark.

The Ignition Control Module ground was suspect (rusty screws that ground the ICM to the distributor case) so a new ICM was sourced, new SS screws added and cleaned the distributor case to verify a good ground for the ICM.

I also ohmmed out the pickup coil on the distributor and according to the PCM manual, I should have between 800-1500 ohms. But mine shows varying resistance in the 2.5-2.7megohm range. And the value is constantly changing, going up for a while, then stopping and coming back down. Almost like measuring a capacitor.

I did measure the output AC voltage on the pickup coil and verified it's about 1-3vac, which is within spec according to the manual.

The engine fired right up and appeared to run fine until I tried planing out. At 2500 rpm and above, the engine starts hesitating and eventually drops to idle rpm and almost stalls.

If I pull back the throttle it will idle, although a bit rough.

My gut tells me it's the pickup coil. Any thoughts would be appreciated.



Thanks,
 
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