Question

Ignition control module keeps failing on my 1992 Chevy Silverado 1500 truck?

I have a 1992 Chevy Silverado 1500 truck that has the 5.7 l engine in it and for a year now, I've been having repeated failures of the ignition modules and it's driving me insane.

Sometimes the ignition module will last a week and sometimes the ignition module fails within a month.

It's just a gamble on when they will fail and so I've always kept a spare ignition control module with me as it always fails on me eventually and I have to pull the breather cover off and then undo the screws to the distributor cap and go through the process of unscrewing and unplugging the ignition module and replacing it and then putting everything back to together again.

Has anyone else had this issue with ignition control modules failing on their 1992 Chevy Silverado 1500 truck or similar vehicle and found a solution?

Answer 1

I had this same issue since back in 2023 with the ignition modules failing repeatedly on a 1993 Chevy Suburban with the same engine and control module.

I had replaced the ignition module with a cheap one from Autozone and it failed the same day, then I got it replace and the next ignition module lasted a week.

After that I just started buying some ignition modules on eBay for around $12.00 to $14.00 a piece as I didn't have the money to buy the GM ignition module for $100.00 or more at the time.

And I thought it was my Suburban causing them to short out.

Well over the next 2 years I kept having those ignition modules go out and then one day 13 month ago on eBay I noticed a listing for a good used 3 year old GM ignition module for $20.00 plus $6.00 shipping and so I decided to buy it.

Well my other cheap ignition module failed me again within a week and I was at Dollar General and had the ignition module with me and replaced it and put some good thermal paste on it and 13 months later it has never failed yet.

So if you're buying and using the cheap modules, they are junk and I recommend getting the GM modules if you can do so as they will fix the issue.

This is assuming that you have the thermal paste on it and it's properly grounded and not shorting out.

If you're using the cheap ignition modules then that is likely your problem.

My Suburban also ran and runs better after I put the GM ignition module on instead of those cheap ones.

I still have 2 of those cheap ignition modules in the Suburban and haven't needed to use them yet and hopefully I don't.