I have a 1994 Dodge Ram B250 van with 5.2L V8 with 128,000 miles on it. Two years in a row my family and I have made a summer trip to Galveston (600 miles round trip) both times we've had the coil burn out on the way back. Is this common on these older vans or is there something I can change to get this to quit happening?

Any help would be awesome.

 

Where are you buying the coils from, the dealer or an auto parts store?

 

ground id bad. they use the ground to sense and dispurse unsued amps. its over heating the coil because it cant excape. i recoment taking the mounting pracket off the coil cleaning with a wire wheel along with the location where it mounts and then running a second ground wire. (anywhere that gets major salt on the roads and car or trucks rust a lot have this issue!!)

 

Also how old are the spark plug and wires? Higher than normal resistance will stress the coil pack as well.

 

Thanks for the replies...

Both times I had the coil replaced it was done by a mechanic so they probably came from a parts house.

Last year (11 months ago) the first mechanic replaced the distributor cap and rotor, plugs, plug wires and coil.

This time I just had the coil replaced (2 days ago).

I would have replaced the damn thing myself this time if I wasn't stranded with a van full of kids. ($140 in labor)

This mechanic gave me the coil that he replaced. It has no markings on it at all to tell who the manufacture was and he seemed to think that it was more than 11 months old.

 

The first mechanic may have put in a used coil that he had or got for a local salvage yard. When I changed mine I went with Borg-Warner lifetime warrantied unit.

 

I was having the same issue, but only when I pulled the trailer. I went through 3 coils in 400 miles. I discovered later that the coils were not actually failing on me, but some electrical issue that has yet to be discovered caused the van to lose power, backfire, and die. If i shut down and waited for 20 minutes, it would fire back up and work fine for 30 minutes. Once I disconnect the trailer, the problem goes away. Mine is also a 94 B250, but with 5.9 and 253,000 miles. I replaced the entire ignition system with an Accel high output system and continue to have the same issue.

Good luck.

 

Since it only happens with the trailer attached I would clean the battery to engine ground and add a new ground wire from the battery to the body.

 

I'm having a similar issue, engine runs ruff, then dies, mine usually does it in heavy traffic, especially when it's hot and were moving slowly. This is in a way, like pulling a trailer, extra heat, extra work load. Let it cool awhile and it starts back up again. I though it was the coil because there was no spark coming from it, replaced it and it ran great for 2 weeks but is back to it's old trick again. Could it be the pcm? Is it possible the pcm isn't sending a signal to the coil, making it appear the coil is dead? For some reason changing the coil gives the pcm some new info and it so it works for a while??? I just don't know what else to think.