I cleaned the injectors myself with brake clean, when I was cleaning all the other parts of this motor, so I think they should be OK, I didn't touch the electrical stuff in them though...

OK, to catch you up to speed...

I think it is mostly fuel related but on top of that is the coil arching. but I think the coil arching has been there for a while, but I thought it was a valve tap in the 320K mile truck...

The reason I think it might be fuel is:
It had less then 1/8 when it sat for soo long.
As you stated above moisture/water sinks to the pickup...
I removed the fuel filter, and there was a lot of brownish fuel that came out of the low pressure (out) side of the filter..
I cleaned the filter up a little, reinstalled it (so not to mess up the new one if there is a lot of crap in the system, the new one will go on shortly) placed 3 little bottles of dry gas in it with about 5 galons of high test (premium) gas,
it started right up and ran for about 20 minutes (idle, and moving around the driveway) then stalled again..
Then it was hard to start again, let it sit for a while and then rocked the truck a little and it was tough to start but started and ran for a few minutes.

But here is the kicker... As it was running again I wanted see if I can stop the annoying coil snap, just to hear the motor run, so I took a think piece of cardboard and stuck it between the secondary coil post and the coil body (where it was arching) and as soon as it got in there the truck stalled out???

Either that is a huge coincedence or I have 2 problems that I am having a problem trouble shooting because they are conflicting with each other... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />

If the coil is visibly arcing, I'd guess there may be a crack in the coil case. Try spritzing some water on the coil while it's running. You can try replacing the coil wire to see if it helps, but it sounds more coil related to me. Someone else may have a better suggestion.

Frank

Yeah it is visible arching, but I never really saw it before until the hood was off when trying to start the truck after the install, that is when I noticed the arching. However it is pretty interesting to be sitting in the drivers seat and watching the coil fire every time!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

If the wires have some age on them I think I'd try replacing the wires first - then the coil.

Frank

The coil wire may be breaking down with heat, but so could the coil. I've seen coils arc from bad coil wires - even though the coil was good. The wire could be gaining resistance with heat - and the joules have to go somewhere - kinda like lightning if there's no easy path to ground.

Frank

OK I tried a little test and started to slowly pull the coil wire out as it was running and the ARCH got real big, and started to change color the further the boot came back from the base... Does that tell you anything?

I'm suspicious of the coil wire. The energy stored in the coil will take the easiest path to ground when the power transistor fires it. If there's too much resistance, it'll jump somewhere else - like to the frame of the coil bracket as engine ground. It still could be the coil itself breaking down with heat, but wires are usually cheaper than the OE coil assembly. Try a junkyard for the coil assembly and/or a good set of plug wires.

I'd recommend the Magnecor's if I knew why they don't fit right, but maybe I will after I take Ray's suggestion and call them. A little squeeze with a pair of pliers works, but I hate to have to do that with something that expensive which should work better out of the box. They are good wires, though.

Frank

Whooh, I just called around and a new coil will cost me $185 and a couple junk yards near me are charging between 75-100 bucks for them. There is a yard in NC that has on for 10 bucks though, I wonder if it works?

It probably does - ask for a guarantee.

Frank

John -

FYI, I just tried an experiment with my truck - pulled the #1 plug wire to see if the coil would arc - it does. I thought it might just crossfire inside the distributor, but it likes the coil bracket more if the plug wire is pulled back far enough. Check your wire connections - my next suspect might be the wires themselves.

Frank