• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

Had a nice ride in a tow truck yesterday afternoon.

Went out for a ride on Saturday and then again yesterday. Beautiful weather, everything felt right, I was cruising along on the highway and as I slowly accelerated the engine miss fired and a few back fires. Hmmm, what the hell, tried again same thing, all gauges showed normal. I headed for home, almost made it..........

Finally had to stop for a traffic light and when it turned green I started moving with traffic, a few quiet back fires as I started up a hill, suddenly the engine shut off, clicked on the flashers and rolled to the should. I could find nothing visibly wrong under the hood, oil was clear and the coolant overflow tank had nothing other than coolant in it. Tried to restart a few times, it sounded normal while cranking but it wouldn't run, I could hear the fuel pump cycle so I know that's working. I dialed AAA on the phone and was given a 45 minute window. Four different guys pulled over and offered assistance, all were Mustang owners, nice of them to offer aid. Three different police officers came by, I told them I had a truck coming and they left me behind.

Right at the 45 minute mark the tow truck arrived, the driver was very careful in getting my cart up and used sleeving on the straps when he tied the car down. He drove me home and off loaded the car right into the garage, I gave him $20 and complimented him on his care. I was just disgusted last night and didn't even pop the hood, went inside and made a large gin & tonic and sat on the deck the rest of the afternoon.

So, if I get out on time today I'll head home and dive in to see what I find. I have the Mass Flo EFI on the car, it uses the TFI module distributer. I'll check for current to the distributer, does anybody know if the TFI module can be checked? Given the symptoms I'm pretty sure it is ignition related, I'll pull a couple of plugs, the wires, plugs, cap and rotor have less than 3 thousand miles on them, so I don't think they are to blame.
 
I'm pretty sure the TFIs can be checked at the chain parts stores. Our Advance Auto Parts has an Alternator/Starter Tester that has all sorts of pigtails to check ignition modules also. Might want to try to start it before testing also, sometimes ignition related issues can be heat related. Sometimes faulty modules break down as they heat up.
 
I was going to try starting it now that it's cooled down, if it does I'll use my heat gun and see if I can get it to fail again. THanks, I'll check with AZ and see if they can help me out.
 
"66HertzClone" said:
I was going to try starting it now that it's cooled down, if it does I'll use my heat gun and see if I can get it to fail again. THanks, I'll check with AZ and see if they can help me out.

Autozone can check the TFI modules. They checked ours when it quit running, TFI was good. So I narrowed it down the the pickup in the distributor. A $17 part and some time with a press to pull the distributor apart and all is good.
 
Was that heat sensative? My dizzy is a Mallory unit that came with the Mass Flo kit, still has the TFI like the Ford unit.
 
mine was not caused by heat, more due to its age. It was a 1991 vintage Ford distributor. I tried 2 MSD distributors and one Mallory unit, but the car would not run right. It only seems to like the Ford unit. I do know TFIs are sensitive to heat and even use a heat sink paste between the TFI and the distributor when mounting.
 
Yes, I'm familair with the TFI failure, spent alot of time behind the counter at a parts store. I suspected it when the problems started yesterday, I'll confirm before replacing it.
 
I had the 66 do that at the track one day. Ended up being the roll pin that holds the reluctor in place in the distributor.
 
"GrabberOrange69" said:
Just to be sure, you aren't using the original resistor wire from the ignition switch to power the TFI, right?

I have Mass Flo EFI, a dedicated wire harness, so the resistor is long gone.
 
Back
Top