like regularly? I had no idea how bad the coils were, to have 2 fail in 5 years ish.

do they go out intermittently or are they a live or die thing?

or are they a pretty robust part?

prices seem to be all over the place and I am not positive it is the issue.

I see them from 18 to 70 bucks, and a new distributor is 60 to 120.

Also are there any tests to see if one is going out?

All I could add would be to at least see if the pickup still has cold continuity (ohm it).

sadly this is intermitent. I can't nail down the what, but it points to this piece.

I've heard and seen more TPS, cam sensors, and wiring issues then dist pickup issues.
For an intermittent issue, I'd start moving the wiring around to see if the problem surfaces, then I would be looking at the throttle position sensor. Gene

I replaced the tps a couple years back. the original one had a weird dead spot in it.

I will see if moving stuff around does anything. but haven't had much luck with that in the past.

To add a bit of clarity, the engine is in a 65 Coronet 'vert. It's run by a Painless EFI system.

There are two different pickups for the magnum 5.9.

Might help knowing which version he has.

the pick up is the stock pick up for a 2000 durango.
didn't realize there were 2 different ones. perhaps why the price is so wildly different.

what is the difference between them?

Heck if I know. The connector is different but I doubt that's why it got changed, more like it's to ensure you couldn't put the wrong one in.

oh, that.
yeah in 98 or 99 a lot of the sensor connectors changed, so you have to be sure of the year model when ordering, or they won't plug in.

There are different pickups for different year ranges. One difference I'm seeing is the configuration of the plug on the end of the wire.

To answer your original question, no the pickup coil does not need replacing often. An ohmmeter should tell you if it's good. In your case either you've got a really crudded up wiring harness plug or a break in the signal wiring somewhere.

If there are only three pins in the connector you should be able to make a chart of the resistances between each pair of pins of a known good coil. Then you can test your "failed" coil and see if it matches.

I replaced a pickup coil on my old '64Dog because the original measured as "open" and I was getting no spark. After I bought and installed a new pickup coil assembly I measured the old one again and Miracle! it was OK. Corrosion in the socket was the culprit.

R.

I've seen stuff ohm out good cold only to fail when hot.

Also, wiggle that wiring while you are ohming it out to check for intermittent opens.

It would be best to monitor the running signal with an O scope as you wiggle the wiring to see if it drops out in use.

A data logger is real helpful in intermittent faults.

I have been wonding about the heat thing.
it is being run by ms2 now, not painless, but both had a good logging system.
I will let it warm up and see if I start getting the intermittent drops.

it may be a few days, and it is cold now, so not sure how warm I can get it.

If you could data log that signal it would be useful for determining if that's the issue.

there are three lines to the pickup, not sure what they are. B+, GND and SIG?

If you could data log the B+ and SIG, make sure you aren't losing power to it.

What year?

I don't see much issues with later models . ( mid 90s and later )
But the earlier ones used to fail quite a bit especially late 80s vehicles

If it's a 5.9 Magnum it's 93 or newer

from a 2000 durango.

That should be a 3 wire connector as it should actually be a Hall Effect sensor and not a 2 wire pick-up coil. Course I said that to our parts man when I worked at the dealer and he had no idea what I was talking about. All the parts guys there just called them all pick-up coils as most places do. But you cant ohm a 3 wire Hall Effect sensor like a 2 wire pick-up coil as they are completely different. I saw a few go bad over the years at the dealer as I replaced a few in my 24 years there. On some years of the 5.9 when they were the ported fuel injection some would actually keep running if they lost the dist signal once they were running. You could actually unplug the dist connector when the eng was running and it would keep running. That's because it was only used as a cam sensor in the ported injected 5.2 & 5.9 engines and some years it only looked at the dist/cam signal when starting to know when #1 cyl was on comp. It did not have 8 shutters but it had one long shutter to only tell when #1 was on comp. Once it knew that it did not look at that signal anymore while running as it just kept going through the firing order to stay running now that it knew it. Some would even start without the dist/cam signal but would be very hard to start because if it did not see that signal when cranking it just kept trying different firing orders until it got it right and started. You will know if its a ported injected eng with 8 injectors you can unplug the dist/cam sensor connector with the eng running and see if it keeps running. If it does then that's not going to cause it to cut out while running. But all years were not like that. Course if its throttle body injection that has no crank sensor then it has to have that dist sensor signal as then it should have 8 shutters in the dist. The three wires should be that one is a ground and one is a 5 volt signal wire. The third wire is the power wire that should be either 12 , 9 or 8 volts. They even used 5 volts on the power wire on some year cars but I don't remember any 5.9 engines using just 5 volts on the power wire. Good luck with it. Ron

so it is mpi, not tbi.
it is a 3 pin halls sensor. not 2.

the 8 shutter wheel is the painless add on, so it isn't just cam position or to know where number 1 is, that actually tells the computuer when to fire.

it was originally set to tell a chevy spark "computer" when to fire, and I got it to work with the megasquirt system without the chevy part.

so it is more important than it was originally.

the computer I use to read the logs is having a battery issue again apparently. it died just as I started logging.
will work on that issue and see if I can get back in there to check later this week.

I have not fooled with any aftermarket EFI systems but I will soon as my son is super charging his Dart and will be using an aftermarket EFI system. On the factory setup I talked about and worked on at the dealer the MPI 5.9's had the crank sensor to tell the PCM when # 1 was at TDC and fire the ign but it used the dist/cam sensor that had the one long shutter to know when # 1 was on the comp stroke so it knew when to fire which injector. That's all it needed since it still used a dist to distribute the spark to the right plug.


Is yours a factory dist with the Painless add on or are you using a different dist ? I think my son has decided on the Holley Sniper system when we add the super charger and EFI to his 400 in his Dart. I think he plans to get their fuel tank and in tank pump setup also. Look like I will finally get to work with an aftermarket EFI after 24 years at the dealer working with factory systems. Good luck with your car , Ron