Photonfanatic
Active Member
Q) But I can tell you that it would indeed be possible to build a heat resistant PIP, which would exceed OEM quality standards.
A) Agreed but no one has done it, I wonder why?
I can't say that I know for a fact, that they haven't already done it. Take one of those expensive Mallory or MSD or Accel dizzys. I'm assuming they've either beefed up the heat shielding or otherwise fixed the problem, because you don't really hear about this problem from the high dollar aftermarket distributors. At least, I've never heard about it in all my days of forum lurking on the various mustang boards. But I really have no idea what they've done to address the issue, if anything. If I ever buy one of those things, I may try to get an answer from them about this, at least so I can know what to expect in the future, once the part has a lot of miles on it and has been through a lot of heat cycles. Perhaps someone here that owns one, could answer.
I don't agree with the pip being easier to swap than the whole distributor, you have to fully break down the distributor to replace it, that's not easier than pop the cap off, pull the old dizzy out and slam a new one in. The reason there isn't some super duty PIP on the market is lack of demand at this point. Its something you really only replace a couple times over the life of a car, almost all the ones I've replaced have been OE in 1995 and older vehicles.
I also feel that the assumption that because it comes out of a Motorcraft box it's a better part isn't always correct. Small electronics parts often come out of one factory in several boxes, and I've installed brand new parts from just about everyone that were bad out of the box, Motorcraft included.
I'm one of those people who don't really have any intention of selling my car. In fact, I intend to buy more mustangs lol. So for me, long term is still something of a small issue. But if these PIPs actually live a long time before they start malfunctioning, then its probably not a really even a concern. It seems odd though, that they die slowly. What is the cause of this? According to this thread, it seems like they can start causing misfires and not actually die.
A couple of questions.
1) Is the misfire at idle or during cruise?
2) Is it possible to get a smoke test? Best way to locate unmetered air that may be entering the engine.
3) What brand of spark plugs and heat range.
4) Brand of MAF meter
5) Brand of injectors
6) Stk. ignition system (I'm not talking about the coil)
1. So far, I have only noticed it at ilde. It doesn't seem to be there at higher RPM's than idle.
2. I might go ahead and rig up my own smoke machine. Been wanting to do it for awhile, now I have a valid excuse to do so. Something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5O5gzIAuhc
3. Just plain Bosch platinum plugs. Gapped appropriately. Unknown on their heat range.
4. As for the MAF meter, as far as I know its the factory Ford one. Definitely not aftermarket. I cleaned it when I did the tune up, about 5k miles ago.
5. Injectors are likely the ones that came with the car. The car is mostly stock, with only a few minor upgrades to suspension.
6. You said "Stk" ignition system, so I'm going to assume you mean "Stock" ignition system. Other than the cap and the rotor and the plugs and plugwires, I'm operating under the assumption that the whole ignition system is stock.