agreed, the coil can cause many issues if its not operating properly. usually they just go out, but sometimes you get a malfunctioning coil. if i were you i would also reset the pcm by unplugging the negative battery cable for 15 minutes while you replace the coil. Then take it for a 10 minute or more drive for the pcm to re calibrate everything.

Then if you still have bad idle issues, time for troubleshooting again. TPS check, IAC operating properly check, battery ground check(this one usually gets overlooked by many and is very important), distributor clocked right check(many don't think of this one either).

Hopefully you won't need to go through all that though...

 

So i just got the new Mopar coil. It looks a bit different than the factory one. The factory one is covered with a plastic coating, whereas the new one is strictly metal. I tested the new one and it tests as it should (1 ohm primary, and i forget what the secondary was, but it was according to spec). I pulled the old one off, and it was completely pooched. The heat sink part of it was all expanded and rusted out bad, and totally expanding out of the plastic cover. Probably 10% bigger than what it was originally. With it off the engine, I checked the ohm's and the old one matched the new one on the primary side, but the secondary side showed an open circuit. I'm very hopeful this fixes the idle issue. I took pics of the old coil, but I can't post here at work. I'll post the pics tonight. I haven't started the truck yet either, but the 45 mile drive home from work will tell me...

 

That sounds promising. Secondary not testing the same as the replacement, or out of spec I should say, hopefully was your issue from the beginning. I said it before, there was a reason you kept going through plug wires. Those should not go bad(even the cheap ones) for a long time, and even then they usually last years before degradation occurs. When they go out prematurely, its usually a wire sitting on a hod header, or like in your case, a bad ignition system component causing a malfunctioning spark.

 

Idle problem is fixed! It idles like brand new now. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Holy crap, yeah that has seen better days man. Glad you got your truck back!

 

Awesome!

 

Wow, that's amazing that thing was even driving. Throttle response a little better?


Good to hear you got it going.

 

Antifreeze itself, will fluoresce under UV light. Walmart sells cheap UV flashlights. I would rent a radiator pressure tester, pump it up one or two PSI over what is stated on the cap, get under the truck and wait for the drip.

I'm nearing 300K on the original timing chain. Change your oil, keep it topped off and you'll never need to change the chain. Chain "stretch" is caused by worn links due to bad oil maintenance.

Glad you got the truck fixed. I know you said it was the lawnmower. Still, back when you had the misfire... it stands to reason that it would cause unburnt fuel to dump into the exhaust. That's why misfires are dangerous to Cats. The unburnt fuel catches fire in the cat and melts the honeycomb substrate.

Nice!

 

Yeah, I'm kinda surprised too that it was running at all! It had a rough warm idle for a couple years. Actually, it always idled fine in park, but warm and in gear it just idled too low and stumbled frequently. That's all cleaned up now!