88 Buick LeSabre Ignition Control Module? HELP!

Can anyone tell me why the ignition control module on a 88 Buck LeSabre 3.8 would do this? The car was running fine one day and the next, it is running like CRAP!, backfiring and would not stay running when you put it in gear. Now it will not run at all. I took the ignition coil off and this is what I found. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated because a new one is $160 and a new coil is $52 and if something else is causing this, I want to fix that problem before I spend the money to replace these two parts.
http://pages.suddenlink.net/carpics/carpics/100_0966.JPG

How long since a tuneup? bad ignition wires, bad grounds, lots of things to cause it to overheat.

its a 20 year old part that has been living in the elements with very likely oil leaking on it for most of that time.

I have seen this before on very old modules. The sealant they use sometimes has a reaction to something in the enviroment, or just age and heat cycles.

I wouldn't worry about it reoccuring, not for another 20 years anyway.

But if you want to make sure that the module is the actual problem, you would need to verify inputs, verify outputs and illiminate everything but the module. Unfortunately, that is the only way to test them, to test everything around them

Is this the "3800" series V6?

Change BOTH the module AND the coil pack (3800 series) or the module and ignition coil, for the older style V6 (both were offered in '88).

If one is bad the other is bad too, or will go bad soon.
It is possible a bad ignition coil or coil pack will cause such damage, so just changing the module alone might produce another failure.

I'm having a similar problem with an 87 lesabre. The car ran rough for a few days, then wouldnt start one morning. Car cranks but wont start. Battery is fine, fuel pump is kicking on and fuel is getting to the fuel rail (checked schrader valve on rail). Replaced plugs and wires. Removed coil and ignition module and had tested; tested fine. :banghead: I'm ready to junk it! I can't get it started to take it in and I really dont want to pay to have it towed. Any ideas? Thanks!