97 S10 4.3L. On the way to work this morning the tachometer cut out and the engine died for a brief second, then came back. When I got to work the engine died completely, same scenario (Tach goes to zero, engine dies). The headlights and stereo were still on. It started back up after a few tries.
I hope its the ignition control module, I have a spare under my seat.

 

I had something similiar happen. It would just stop. The tach stopping is because the engine has stopped. Turned out to be a wire in the large wiring harness/loom coming from the fuse box under the hood. I got lucky in finding it by wiggling wires till the fuse popped again. Then narrowed it down & found the wire broken inside the insulation.

 

+1 pull and wiggle. Did you ever have the ignition switch changed. 97 could about it's life span.

 

+1 on the ignition switch, very common on 1997.

 

Replaced the ignition switch and no more problems.

Thank you.

The contacts on the original one:

 

I just had a similar stall on my 98 (gauges jumping, lights flashing etc.), is the 98 prone to this ignition switch problem?

 

1997 ignition switch was unique to that year, and it was common for them to act up. It can happen on any year though.

 

Thanks. I should probably start a new thread on the subject, but are there any other issues that could cause something that would appear as shutting the ignition off/on while driving?
To me it sounds like improper grounding/battery connection, or a broken wire to an ignition module or similar. Anyone got any experiences like that?

The engine just cut while driving, and the gauges/lights in the dash flashed like they do when you turn the ignition on in the morning. First time this happened was after hitting a bump in the road. Engine starts right up afterwords.