No Continuous Spark

[1970 Charger 500]

My '75 Dodge van with a 318 and electronic ignition will not start.
We took the coil wire off of the distributor and held it to a ground and started the engine.
The spark came as the key was first turned and had no spark as the engine was cranking. Did that every time
Because of that we do not get any spark at the plugs.....
?
Coil is good, new plugs, new distributor, good cap and rotor..

[Chryco Psycho]

gap could be set wrong in the dist , or you could have a bad control bow
dist gap is .008

[sext7366]

Have you tried letting off the ignition switch as soon as possible, when my ignition switch went out it wasn't sending a constant signal, but I could still get the car to  start and stay on just by barely cranking it and letting off when it tried to start.  Course that was last summer in Oklahoma maybe 90-100 degrees so the engine would start more readily.

[mally69]

i just had this exact same thing happen to me
i needed a new voltage regulator try that  but being that the voltage regulator was bad i burnt up 2 electronic ingntion boxes until i found out that it was the voltage regulator thats was bad

[resq302]

I had this happen to my 69 Charger.  Turns out the ballast resistor went bad.  It allowed the engine to crank over but as soon as I took my hand off the key in start postition and allowed it to go back to run or on, the engine would die.  From what my dad has told me, that was a very common problem back in the day which is why I keep a spare in the glove box.

[chrisII]

I had this happen to my 69 Charger.  Turns out the ballast resistor went bad.  It allowed the engine to crank over but as soon as I took my hand off the key in start postition and allowed it to go back to run or on, the engine would die.  From what my dad has told me, that was a very common problem back in the day which is why I keep a spare in the glove box.

ill second that!   watch as you turn off the ignition. you shuld get a pules when you turn the key on another when you turn it off. second most likely is the ign module. if i replace an ign box i always run a piece of wire with 2 crimp connected eyelits from the mounting bolt to someplace on the engine. bad grounding is a major issue with these boxes. if the problem is the ballast the engine will run with a jumper wire from the bat + to the coil + do not run the engine for long periods like this! it is a good testing method however.

[1970 Charger 500]

Ign. Mod. is new
We changed the voltage reg. and tested the coil and it had no spark...will try the ballast resistor next
Thank you, keep the comments coming until we get her started...

[TylerCharger69]

Bad  ballast...or bad or loose ground somewhere.    It happened to me, and it was the Ballast.   When you upgraded to electronic....did you change that Ballast?    Very important that you do.    I had to change  because the ohms resistance is different on electronic  than it is on points systems.   Electronic version is rated at .1 OHM.

[1970 Charger 500]

It's not an upgrade
It's factory

[resq302]

We took the coil wire off of the distributor and held it to a ground and started the engine.
The spark came as the key was first turned and had no spark as the engine was cranking. Did that every time

That is exactly whate mine did when the ballast resistor went bad.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Did you verify that the distributor is actually rotating?

[1970 Charger 500]

yes

[SE72]

Hi, have you got it started yet? Im curios coz i have the same problem with my 72 SE. I have a new ballastresistor new starter and relay- new coil-new sparkplugs and wires- new controlunit- new rotor and cap and still will not start. ANYONE HAVE AN IDEA OF WHAT TO DO

[caddman]

have you checked the gap on the pickup in the distributor, or check for damage, (i have had this problem but never stopped the car from running). but the gap being to wide could stop it from running.  i would have said ballast resistor first thing as well.  nasty little things if you have one on your car you better carry a spare.  i switched to MSD and tossed my resistor.  good luck to you all.

[1970 Charger 500]

I gave this van to my brother and he doesn't seem to care to get it started
I don't know if replacing the resistor has fixed the problem
Will keep you informed

[SE72]

Hi again, got it started now It seems to be just a bad groundconnection on the voltage regulator, i run a wire from it to the ground on the engine and it fires right up