Armchair QB's UNITE! -MOPAR Ignition - Fixed.

[redneckjoe69]

been there at the 2 steps forward,.............

make sure you air-bleeds arent dirty. blow some compressed air in there. i've seen the same exact symptons on a buds car. but, it could be anything. could be a sticking float? can you see the fuel level when it shuts off?

i've seen where coils get hot and shut the car off. sometimes if you pour water on them to cool it off, and it starts right back up, it might be a bad coil.
im not a mopar guy but the older guys tell me those ballast risters were very problamatic. said you could toss one in the freezer for 10 minutes, then the car would run perfect. before my time, lol.

hope you get it figured out and its a simple fix.

[STINEY]

Is that coil supposed to have the resister?

I ask, because I've run across a new-to-us Malibu that had a coil with built in resistor, AND a chrysler ballast resistor. The poor thing was trying to light the fires with about 3 volts after both resistors had their way.

Same problem showed up later with a hard to start condition.....this time I found a pair of wire-nuts inline to the + side of the coil. Yep, 2 piss-poor wirenut connections within 8" of each other. Eliminated them both with one soldered connectection, started easily then.

Have also had similar problems with a choke sucking itself shut, but only under load. Hard to diagnose these issues are.

[JOES66FURY]

yeah, this one is a real conundrum...I like the ability to brainstorm with like minded folks because if I try that at work I get blank states and then someone will ask if I want to play golf. It is how we've solved some big issues with out aircraft and it has helped me figure a lot of stuiff out with my vehicles over the years.


Yeah, mopar systems require the balast and this was a mopar specific unit from MSD.

[Ron Ward]

Joe, check and recheck the ground strap from the block to the firewall. Make sure those connections are clean and tight. Also... are you running a vented distributor cap? Mopars are bad about building ionized air in the distributor (ozone) which can lead to crazy spark scatter.

edit: while you have the distributor cap off, check to make sure the centrifugal advance weights in the distributor aren't corroded and sticking. Also check to see that the reluctor isn't banging into the magnetic pickup. I've had a couple cases where the crap they use to secure the pickup to the plate breaks loose and allows the pickup to "wander" around on the plate. Took a month of Sundays to figure that mess out...

[JOES66FURY]

Reading and researching and I think I may have figured out my "issue"

There is an old mod to by pass the resistor and ensure you have 12V to the coil. I did that mod when I swapped over to the ICU ignition system per the wiring diagram I had. The old coil was puking oil out around the terminals so I went and grabbed a coil from the parts store...... Well I am suspecting that the coil I got is not made to take a full 12v.....I think it is made for a lower voltage and used to run with a points system....I did not think to check it at the store so thats on me.....

This would cause the coil to get too hot and/or fail and in turn cause the car run like a 2 legged cow....

I am going to run with this theory this afternoon and see where it gets me.

[anotheridiot]

dont forget the condenser. The condenser stores electricity to give the coil a bigger jolt, so if the capacitor is bad it can be storing too much current and overcharging the coil.

[JOES66FURY]

I went home at lunch and pulled the front bowl. Blew everything out, cleaned the needle and seat and set the float.

I checked voltage to the coil and it is 6v.

Now-----The car will start no problem, turns right over and falls into a smooth as silk idle. It will idle for a minute then just stop. Voltage at the coil is the same, it doesnt change. The car just gives a little sputter and then shuts off.

I reach in, turn the key and it fires right up, falls into a smooth as silk idle then wash, rinse and repete.

If it starts to die and I try to feather the throttle...it just dies, it doesnt try to recover...it just cuts off...and fires right back up.

[STINEY]

The condenser actually stores the current to prevent the spark from jumping the points when they are open. True, the coil cannot operate correctly with a bad condenser.

[JOES66FURY]

Well, I found an ancient thread on a random forum where the guy describes exactly what I am seeing and has done everything I have seen....His issue was a bad ground. I am going to shoot the charging system and then my gounds to ruel that out...or in. Pulling my hair out with this one....

I think the key to this being an electrical issue is that it will not recover with the addition of fuel. I would thing that if it was fuel delivery once the squirters shoot some fuel it should perk right up....not the case.

[STINEY]

99% of my fuel issues are electrical in nature.

[JOES66FURY]

That is the direction I am leaning...

I hope that when I jacked the engine up to get the pan off I broke a ground wire .....

But...it probably wont be that easy.

[JOES66FURY]

well I found something but I don't know WTF to do.

All systems are as they should be...everything is peachy.....but.

I checked voltage at the positive side of the coil. 12.3V.....it will hold steady then...it will flux a little and then drop to 0v...a split second later the engine shuts off.

Coil Ohms check in range (150 to 950)


Thoughts?



AND THE COIL EXPLODED...


went inside to look something up, left the key in run position...came back out 10 minutes later and the coil blew the hell up...

[68scott385]

YIKES!!

I think the problem found you.

Or the result of the problem...good thing you weren't standing next to it when it let go.

[redneckjoe69]

WOW!
i hope a new coil fixes your problem.

[JOES66FURY]

The shitty thing is this was a BRAND NEW MSD dstributor......Guess what I will not be buying ever again...75 bucks down the turd bucket.