1998 3.0 Issues

[earlandamys180]

I have a 98 3.0 with around 350 hours on it and have been fighting with it not wanting to run right above 3800 rpms without missing and an occasional backfire. I have replaced the plugs, wires,distributor cap, rotor button with no change so from there I moved to the fuel system took the fuel pump completely off and pulled the sediment bowl and cleaned,replaced the filter at the carb and added a inline filter at the tank.Took it out last weekend and it ran great for about an hour then it ran worse than it ever has could not get above 3000 rpms with no power on take off, so we stopped to swim for about an hour and a half and when we went to leave it ran great again for about 15 minutes so something is heating up and breaking down. Could this be the module on the distributor or the coil or something else I am missing? Thanks

 

[Lazy Daze]

If you're talking about the ignition module inside the dist cap, yes. Try just cleaning it and putting some new heat transfer compound back in between the module and the plate. I had the same problem with my engine. As it was 10 years old, I simply replaced the module and everything's been fine. Mine would run at any RPM for about 30 - 45 min. Then I couldn't go above 3,200.

 

[earlandamys180]

Yes the one that has 2 screws holding it down and 2 plug in connectors that you can access with the cap on.