1989 Ford Bronco - Quit, what to check?

Was running good.–on highway started to lose power–pushing on pedal —nothing–then came back and ran ok. Next morning started right up-ran about 3 blocks and engine quit–but–started right up and drove home. new cap/rotor/battery/ coil/–thought it might be water in tank but it doesn’t hesitate or stumble—??

The ignition module was a common failure on Ford of that era.

1 Like

I was guessing that and I got an OBD 1—If it is ,i will get that kit that you can buy to relocate it to the fender—as getting it off is not an easy chore and with the kit, you can change one in a matter of seconds !–Thanks !

Changed it 4 times on my 89 Tempo.I usually removed it and coated the back of the module with a tick coat of dielectric grease…it worked for a while until the car would quit on me again.

All I can say is that you gotta be an expert by now-!!!

This car is long gone! rust took care of it. The module was located at the base of the distributor and was an easy job to remove. Heat was the main reason they failed and in your case, relocating it on the fender is a good idea.

If it’s white, Check the back of it for bloody gloves, size x-large…

1 Like

Mark the distributor location, loosen the hold down bolt, rotate the distributor, and use this wrench to remove the module.

Rotate the distributor back to marks that were made, and tighten the hold-down bolt.

Tester

Thanks,

I’ll get things checked out soon!

Dielectric grease was the wrong thing to use. Heat sink paste would have been better.

1 Like

Re: replacing ignitionmodule on 1989 Bronco V8 5 L engine

The service data instructions I’m seeing suggest to remove the distributor from the engine, then remove the ignition module from the distributor on the work-bench. But that right angle tool with the specialized bit (torx?) seems like it would do the job without removing the distributor.

I wonder why those modules seem to be repeat failure items? I’d guess they’d be tested ad nauseam during the module design phase to insure they could withstand the heat changes expected in the engine compartment by several factors more than they’d ever be expected to see. There’s so many critical parts in a vehicle that in order for the vehicle to be reliable every part has to be super-reliable.

I’m guessing the original oem module is pretty reliable, but when it fails the available replacement modules are the problem.

Hi! I bought a kit from a racing car outfit and moved the ICM (ignition control module) to the fender with a heat sink–No more heat problems

It seems that replacing the pick up coil, ignition wires,cap and rotor along with the module gives the module a much better chance to live to an old age.

That half dozen Aerostars in a very old post that ran without a break down for 300k got the full deal every 60k.