If you tune the AM band to a place where there is no radio station the receiver gain goes up and you can usually hear your spark plus firing. It sounds like a motor boat. This is normal but there are some better quality AM radios that insure that there is actually a radio signal and simply don't pass the signal to the audio amplifier unless they lock on to a radio station. Try it. A lot of cars don't have AM anymore.

 

Waiting for my $57 o-scope to arrive... (Google "DSO212" and you'll see what I ordered). With this scope, I should be able to see the output signal from the PCM to the coil, the output of both the cam and the crank sensors and everything else I want to check when the engine is in the "Will Not Start Mode". I know exactly where the wires are on the PCM. But...Okay, I gave in to trying something. Despite the fact that when the engine is running I can wiggle the connector and the wire attached to the ignition coil and it does not effect the engine, but it seems that when I do this during the moments when it won't start, it starts up again. I've read a few stories about folks having problems with the connector mating properly on the ignition coil. It seems that sometimes the male pins on some aftermarket coils are slightly smaller, or the internal tension spring contact of the female connector fails. Being stuck on the interstate for 45 minutes the other day with the truck not wanting to start really ruined my day. I admit that I'm grasping at straws. I tried to find a replacement ignition coil connector with attached wires that I could cut, solder and splice into the wiring harness but could not find one that wouldn't take a week to get to me. And even then, what if my coil had those undersized pins that I've read about? So I've purchased an aftermarket old fashioned canister type ignition coil. Its an Accel Super Stock 8140. At the Autozone, I brought my Simpson multimeter and measured the primary resistance of a number of ignition coils they had. Most of them measured to be about 0.7 ohms but this one measured to be 1.2 ohms. I'd rather go a little over spec on the resistance than risk increasing the current draw to the PCM. I mounted the new coil on the passenger fender well, cut off the factory connector, and soldered on terminal lugs to the wires. I had to modify the coil output wire also. The truck starts and I took it for three mile trip to the grocery store and so far so good. No P0351 code. I located the coil as far away from the PCM as the original wires would reach. There has been an slight element of the truck not going into glitch mode until I've driven over ten miles and then acting up worse and worse so we will see if this does any better. I really don't like replacing parts on anecdotal evidence. I suspect that its the crankshaft position sensor but I've watched a few youtube videos on replacing it and to be honest, I have yet been able to find the electrical connector for it near the distributor which could actually be the problem too. Its just somewhere deep back behind that mass of stuff that makes it difficult to see... - - too easy to break something digging around so I'll wait until I get my scope.

 

Cam sensor connector is down behind the engine by the distributor, crank sensor connector is down on the passenger side, close to the firewall. (likely between engine and firewall.) Yeah, it's fun to get to......

 

Four days now. A few short trips and then yesterday 300 miles without a single glitch in all sorts of driving conditions including 50 miles at continuous 65mph. I had replaced the ignition coil a month or two back due to a P0351 code and a measurement of the primary side of the coil that was just slightly out of spec. The replacement coil measured exactly to spec. Now I've replaced the coil again but this time with an old style aftermarket coil with screw terminals to eliminate the possibility that the connector was defective despite having doubts that this was the problem but it seems to have resolved the problem -- dammit it just seems so unlikely -- but it was cheap and an easy thing to do. I gotta remember that the truck did run well for about a month before it started having the issue again. For a while, it seemed like the problem was getting more frequent with more of a refusal to start but its running great now. I'm going to keep the repair manual, my new little oscope, and some tools in the truck.

 

You aren't the first to have connector issues. I have seen several of these in the last year. Guess the trucks are just getting to *that* age.

The terminals on the coil ARE rather small...... and I don't have a lotta faith in the spray on 'contact cleaner'...... I think some sort of solvent (acid? Muriatic??) would be more effective. Being able to scrub them a bit wouldn't hurt either, but, due to the design, that just isn't going to happen. Replacement of the terminals? Certainly doable, but, not everyone is going to want to spend the coin on the kit to do so. Your solution works. That's all that really matters.

 

You can buy a terminal release kit for $20 comes with the tool to release the terminal and some picks to remove the plastic retainers. I just use a screw driver kit for glasses

 

...still running. Grumble grumble... The ignition coil connector was almost a shot is the dark. If it was actually the problem, I got lucky.

 

Sometimes luck and some electrical tape is all you need