Another burned up ICM...

[Chewy1576]

It’s pretty proven that heat is what will kill an ICM. I put in an aluminum replacement distributor when the pickup coil failed a few years ago, and now I’m sitting on the side of the road after the second one has failed in the last 14 months (This is my first guess as to why it quit and won’t start again). Could it be the aluminum it’s mounted and engine heat burning them up so fast, or do I have a wiring problem somewhere? When it happened the first time, I replaced all of the main battery and ground cables with new custom 2 gauge cables thinking I had a grounding problem and it overloaded. Now that it’s happened again, I can’t help but think that it’s something with heat.


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[Caspian]

Some of the parts being made/sold/imported these days aren't worth a crap. I went through 3 solenoids on an old truck I had before I found a good one, two open circuited on me right out of the box, one was in the parking lot of the parts store.

They do heat up and blow a circuit in the ICM. Sometimes even the little grease packet they include isn't enough grease for the thermal contact point where it mounts. I've had some luck using a little more lithium or dielectric grease on them.

 

[someotherguy]

Your original distributor was aluminum, too, FYI.

Module quality is suspect on most parts house brands these days.

Also, the product you should be using to install it is heat sink compound, same as you would install a heat sink on a computer processor - get it from an electronic supply place. Dielectric grease is NOT, I repeat NOT, the product for this application. It is merely silicone grease with none of the other components used to help transfer heat.

Clean the surface well and apply a thin, but even layer of heat sink compound and use a quality module.

Richard

 

[pro17]

Or grab the soldering iron and relocate the ICM to somewhere cooler

 

[c1500deathtrap]

I've seen and heard both arguments on the grease. But in the end GM supplies dielectric with their modules or they used to. And i've been using dielectric for years on these trucks and have yet to get a failure.

 

[jaywestfall]

I used lithium grease on mine when I swapped out these parts (ACDelco ICM and heat sink). No problems.

 

[Chewy1576]

I’ve used the dielectric grease that came with a new ICM before and burned it up on the first startup after install. For this last one I used Arctic Silver 5 heatsink compound. I’m just coming off of the mountain after a successful elk hunt so I haven’t had a chance to mess with it since breaking down. I’ve thought about relocating it to the firewall, but my only concern is lengthening the pickup coil wires, if the extra resistance in the splices will mess with the ICM operation or not.


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[skylark]

I’ve used the dielectric grease that came with a new ICM before and burned it up on the first startup after install. For this last one I used Arctic Silver 5 heatsink compound. I’m just coming off of the mountain after a successful elk hunt so I haven’t had a chance to mess with it since breaking down. I’ve thought about relocating it to the firewall, but my only concern is lengthening the pickup coil wires, if the extra resistance in the splices will mess with the ICM operation or not.


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Who cares about the truck. Post up the elk!

 

[Chewy1576]

Who cares about the truck. Post up the elk!

K fine, here he is lol.

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[skylark]

K fine, here he is lol.

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Very nice!