Alright, had a bite to eat and did some research and it seems like I'll be learning about taps and dies (i've seen it done before dunno why I was blanking on that earlier), will probably need to back that terminal out to fiddle with it a bit.

I can see that you really have a lot of time on your hands. I have owned an 1987 Buick Electra, a 1989 Olds Regency, a 1990 Buick Le Sabre and my daily driver is a 1989 Buick Electra. The coils don't always ooze the green goo to warn of impeding failure. The last one I swapped onto the 1989 had no goo and ran good except an errant dead miss coming up to a stop sign. The one before that ran good until I went to pass another vehicle while flooring the throttle, the car would almost shut off until I lifted my foot. And, the one before that would miss in overdrive going up an incline. I'm too old to play around under the hood of a car, "fix it and forget it" is my motto . With these old cars u-pull-it is our friend. Any vehicle that came with the 3800 and the 3 coil pack will fit.

After a successful test drive yesterday, Betty is up and running.

Details follow here:

I cleaned and then oiled the original screws for the coil pack. They have a tapered tip and successfully self-tapped into the blank holes on new ICM. I believe the screws are #10-32 and three quarter inch. Returned the tap and die set as it was unnecessary.

New K-Lock nuts are on the way, and the bracket was scraped and cleaned (steel wool and contact cleaner), and a few bumps and dents on the bracket face were filed down to ensure a flat surface for grounding. I did not add any compound or grease between the ICM and the bracket. I plan to add a secondary ground from the ICM to the engine block.

The connector terminals seem to be from the metri-pack system. A sewing pin helped me find and press down on the T-shaped locking tab. The tab is practically invisible -- especially the leading edge of it. When seated, the leading edge grabs a ridge in the connector and keeps the pin from falling out. There is a dimple or channel adjacent to the top of each terminal. The dimple indicates where to enter with the pin or other tool…I went in with the pin on an angle, slightly scraping/digging up into the plastic to get above the edge of the tab…then the pin levels out…the width of the pin depresses the tab. The wire to the terminal may be used to push the terminal forward and out of the connector while the pin holds down the tab…the terminal should slide right out with the pin. To quote a friend, “if your forcing it, you’re doing it wrong”.

A layer of dielectric grease (from a tube) was added to the clean electrical terminals and connectors, then I read a few different opinions about avoiding the application of dielectric to metal parts of electrical connectors. If I had a do-over, I’d probably use an aerosol contact protectant instead of all that grease. I’d use the heavier grease to insulate around the plastic edges of the connector or boot only. I suppose the question is whether or not to use anything at all on the terminal surfaces.

A few new spark plugs and a new bumper are next on my list.

Thanks for your suggestions…for all the posts from past and present members. Hopefully my long-winded posts will be useful to someone.

Thanks for letting us know how it got repaired . . . and for thinking of the future users of our information!

Howdy,

I'm getting ready to remove and clean the bracket, and torque everything down.
I've seen some torque specs but can not decipher all of the information...the values are associated with the following terms: Nut, Stud, Harness, Bolt.

Seems to me like:
"Stud" the three studs coming out of the icm.
"Harness" the one bolt on the electrical connector
"Nut" the nut at the top of the bracket, which secures the bracket.
"Bolt" don't know what this is referring too -- there is a 15ft lb difference between nut/bolt.

I do not see anything about the coilpack screws, maybe they are just hand tight.

Please help me clear up the nut/bolt thing above. I'd rather not end up damaging the mounting plate or having something come loose or not ground or whatever. I have referenced three online sources for the torque specs and they seem to all match up except for that 22 ft-lb bolt...assuming that i'm assigning them to the correct parts.

Thank you.