Ok Guru's, first TFI was original and had done over 300K. Second module came with RAE distributor kit and lasted 40K. I put this one down to being cheap. Third one was 14 months ago 10K Bosch TFI and had particular attention payed to the heatsink paste. Now the car has been overheating thru summer and boiled a few times which may have cooked the TFI. It got hot enough to cook the tranny oil and put it in limp mode. Not happy! I am fixing the overheat problem, radiator to come out.

-Is this a justifiable failure of the TFI?

-Is there any benefit to putting a Fuel Mizer TFI module in at double the price of Bosch TFI?

-I had a look at the Fuel Mizer unit and it doesn't even have any details or brand printed on it.
Is it just a cheap copy that we are being ripped for (2xBosch price)?

-Is there some other component that could be causing failure of TFI?

-I have info about remote mounting the TFI, is that my only way to guarantee it will last?

Anyways would appreciate any comments please (except for throw a match at it..lol)

Have a read through TimmyA's Build Thread here.

His build thread is pretty extensive and has a contents page in his first page if you want more info. I think there are different pages regarding the TFI module remote mounting.

BTW TFI modules can die prematurely due to heat and moisture. Getting water all over the TFI module would cause issues. I had coolant leaking onto it from the thermostat housing and killed my TFI module after a year or so. Was my fault, but was the main cause.

I have read that the coil could also cause issues with the TFI module, not sure how but it has been said before.

Remote mounting would be the best solution. I have not remote mounted mine either, but replaced my TFI module not too long ago, so lets see how long this lasts. Will need to reuse my old TFI module like what TimmyA did for his remote mount

Ok thanks Phongus appreciate that as I'm off to buy parts this morning. I think you've demo'd another reason why the Bosch TFI failed. Along with the overheat I had a crack in the passenger radiator tank near the top hose connection for a few months. This was causing water leaks all down side of radiator and probably getting thrown back on the TFI by the fan. That was the initial cause of the overheat but I was careful to keep topping up the water. Have since plugged leak with epoxy putty but had to drop cap pressure from 20psi to 13 psi so it didn't blow the putty off. Unfortunately that meant the engine was boiling well short of the red zone on temp gauge. Hence the overheating too. So the Bosch TFI has had overheating and water and I put the original coil back when it first started playing up, this coil may be NQR.

So my shopping list is going to be a Bosch TFI, Bosch cap and a Bosch coil then. When the engine runs again I'll be pulling the radiator to get it cleaned properly and a new tank then I can go back to 20psi cap. The delay on radiator was due to me having a temp back problem which radiator work was sure to aggravate.

At the moment I just need the car back on the road so when its all running properly I'll look at the remote mount TFI.

Thanks guys!

Hey Phongus that thread of Timmy's is the beez kneez! Big thread though. Thanks for the link. I've had an idea about water cooling the TFI which I've tacked onto Timmy's thread for comment. Might be easier than remote mounting the TFI.
Its at the bottom of page 77 I think
the-garage-f53/timmya-s-93-ed-falcon-t79040-1140.html
Thanks again mate.

On the road again after replacing TFI module coil & cap

Good news.

Might be a bit late, but when you replaced the TFI module, did you replace the o-ring around the connection that goes into the distributor? I lost mine the first time I did it and ended up plugging it in without it. The leaking coolant didn't help the cause there. I used some gasket maker instead of o-ring to make sure it seals properly. Working so far.

Well I ran into that problem of the 'O'ring/seal last time, when I discovered it wasn't fitted properly at the factory on the RAE distributor/coil/lead kit that I fitted. When the RAE TFI blew, I replaced it with a Bosch TFI but the RAE seal was stuffed, so I scavenged the seal from original dizzy which was still good.

So that Bosch TFI is the one that's just blown after only 14 months and 10,000 km. Pics before and after dismantling show that it was properly pasted with heat-sink compound and the seal fitted.

The motor has boiled several times recently and a crack in the radiator tank has been spraying water in direction of dizzy. Still there was no evidence of the TFI overheating, bad connection or water entering or damaging the distributor. So in my opinion, I'm going to put the failure down to either faulty TFI module, RAE coil caused TFI failure, overheating, or the ECU or hall effect somehow caused it. This is why I also changed the coil to a new NGK unit at same time. Will also be watching the temp gauge and keeping it away from overheating, until I flush the cooling system and pull the radiator for reco. The radiator tank crack leak was repaired with epoxy and stopped leaking however, only using 13psi cap to keep the epoxy in place. This is causing the engine to boil well before it gets to red on the temp gauge. So the cooling system needs flush and a 20psi cap so I need to replace the radiator tank to achieve that.

Other pics show pasting the new Bosch TFI and the dizzy ready to go in (I put the cap on after installing dizzy otherwise you run out of room under the intake manifold).

Distributor installation trick:
I've had the dizzy in and out many times now and have it down pat. You can be trapped trying to re-install dizzy because the male hex pump drive in bottom of dizzy hole can slump over and/or rotate on extraction of the dizzy. It usually springs back in rotation half a hex notch or 30 deg. As we know, dizzy body & rotor button orientation is critical so simultaneously trying to engage the male hex pump drive with the fem hex on end of dizzy shaft can be impossible. As the access hole to the pump drive is small and deep you need long reach thin wall 5/16" or 8mm hex socket to straighten and rotate the pump drive. Use a long series ball end Allen key 3/8" or 10mm size, fit some 10mm heat shrink tube to the key with 1" on the key and 10mm un-shrunk overhang. Insert 5/16 or 8mm Allen key to the overhang and shrink that to the key with the hex points lined up. You now have thin wall long reach 5/16" hex socket. You can substitute thick shake straw for the shrink tube or a rod for the 3/8 key but it works better with hex so the tube doesn't slip. Ball end long series Allen keys work best.


Anyways poke the 5/16" hex heat shrink end down the block hole and use a strong torch see which way the male hex drive is pointing (rotation). Rotate your shrink tube to match then engage the male drive and rotate it 30deg and withdraw straight up. Important to look where its pointing before you disturb it, otherwise you wont get anywhere. Hope this helps in the future for someone.