No fire

[Barfyspitz]

Well I've been having trouble getting spark. One day out of nowhere there was no spark. I was getting power to the ballast resistor to the voltage regulator and to the coil I replace the ballast resistor and the ECU then I heard a hissing and sizzling sound coming from ballast resistor. It was too hot to touch. I tested the grounds on the voltage regulator and the balance register and they both light up my test light. will leaving the key on  run position while checking cause the ballast resistor heat up? I don't understand the wiring system too well and I've run out of ideas. How would leaving the key on the on run position would cause it to heat up like that?  I check the brown and blue wire that plugs into the right side of the resister and now it doesn't light up my test light. It did before I changed the resistor. Can anyone offer some advice.  Thanks

[John_Kunkel]

It's normal for ballast resistors to run hot, that's why they're encased in ceramic.

The blue wire(s) at the ballast should have power with the key in RUN but the brown wire is energized only in START.

If your ignition is Mopar, try this:

Disconnect the engine harness connector at the distributor, turn on the ignition switch and touch the male prong on the engine harness to ground. Each time the prong is grounded and pulled away you should get a spark from the coil. If it sparks, the distributor pickup is the problem, if not it's the primary wiring, ECU or coil.

[firefighter3931]

The brown & blue wires coming from the bulkhead are engine start & engine run. One will be 12V with the key in the forward position and the other will have 12V when you crank the engine over. Both of these need to be functional for the engine to fire and run.  

The ballist resistor is a step down transformer that reduces voltage to the coil. This is done to keep the coil from overheating and burning up under extended use. As such the ballist will get hot to the touch and they are prone to burning up as well.



Ron

[Barfyspitz]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your knowledge and insight. I'm gonna keep plugging away at this. Hopefully I'll get it figured out Soon! 

[Barfyspitz]

It's normal for ballast resistors to run hot, that's why they're encased in ceramic.

The blue wire(s) at the ballast should have power with the key in RUN but the brown wire is energized only in START.

If your ignition is Mopar, try this:

Disconnect the engine harness connector at the distributor, turn on the ignition switch and touch the male prong on the engine harness to ground. Each time the prong is grounded and pulled away you should get a spark from the coil. If it sparks, the distributor pickup is the problem, if not it's the primary wiring, ECU or coil.

Lok so When I test this, I just have to put the key on the Run Position and touch the male prong that's off the distributor to any ground and it should spark..right?

[Barfyspitz]

The brown & blue wires coming from the bulkhead are engine start & engine run. One will be 12V with the key in the forward position and the other will have 12V when you crank the engine over. Both of these need to be functional for the engine to fire and run.  

The ballist resistor is a step down transformer that reduces voltage to the coil. This is done to keep the coil from overheating and burning up under extended use. As such the ballist will get hot to the touch and they are prone to burning up as well.



Ron

.  I've been running all kinds of tests. the single blue wire on the left of the resistor  this Is reading 11 V with the key on the run position and the blue and brown spliced wire on the right gives me inaccurate readings  anywhere between six and 15 V? (The numbers rise and fall and never stop).  I checked the wire harness on the orange box ECU.  the first and second cavity is showing 11 V with the battery reading 12 V.The third cavity comes disconnected from the manufacture (I guess since its a four pin setup.)  I checked continuity between the fourth and fifth cavity and got inaccurate readings. One time it showed 275. The rest of the time the mtimeter just said "ol"?                                 
       Therefore i disconnected the dual lead connection that runs into the distributor. I ran one lead from my multimeter from the fourth the cavity into the male end of the duel lead and it showed .01 ohms.I then ran one lead fof my multimeter from the fifth cavity into the female end of the dual connection  and it read .02 ohms. I then took the connection that comes from the distributor and put a multimeter lead into each end of it
To test resistance and it read 275. I saw an old manual that sAysthe resistant should be between 400 and 600 ohms. Does this mean my pick up coil is bad in the distributor? I also measured the airgap which is what appears to be way more than .008. is there any use and readjusting it or does it sound as if I need to replace the airgap sensor?

[Barfyspitz]

The brown & blue wires coming from the bulkhead are engine start & engine run. One will be 12V with the key in the forward position and the other will have 12V when you crank the engine over. Both of these need to be functional for the engine to fire and run.  

The ballist resistor is a step down transformer that reduces voltage to the coil. This is done to keep the coil from overheating and burning up under extended use. As such the ballist will get hot to the touch and they are prone to burning up as well.



Ron

.  I've been running all kinds of tests. the single blue wire on the left of the resistor  this Is reading 11 V with the key on the run position and the blue and brown spliced wire on the right gives me inaccurate readings  anywhere between six and 15 V? (The numbers rise and fall and never stop).  I checked the wire harness on the orange box ECU.  the first and second cavity is showing 11 V with the battery reading 12 V.The third cavity comes disconnected from the manufacture (I guess since its a four pin setup.)  I checked continuity between the fourth and fifth cavity and got inaccurate readings. One time it showed 275. The rest of the time the mtimeter just said "ol"?                                 
       Therefore i disconnected the dual lead connection that runs into the distributor. I ran one lead from my multimeter from the fourth the cavity into the male end of the duel lead and it showed .01 ohms.I then ran one lead fof my multimeter from the fifth cavity into the female end of the dual connection  and it read .02 ohms. I then took the connection that comes from the distributor and put a multimeter lead into each end of it
To test resistance and it read 275. I saw an old manual that sAysthe resistant should be between 400 and 600 ohms. Does this mean my pick up coil is bad in the distributor? I also measured the airgap which is what appears to be way more than .008. is there any use and readjusting it or does it sound as if I need to replace the airgap sensor?

[Barfyspitz]

My buddy keeps trying to talk me into replacing the whole system with the MSD ignition. Would that be the way to go? Want to be very hard the diagrams I read look pretty simple

[Windsor]

I have the Firecore R2R dizzy with the CD coil. Easiest setup I've done. Plus, no big red box to find a home for.

[303 Mopar]

I have the Firecore R2R dizzy with the CD coil. Easiest setup I've done. Plus, no big red box to find a home for.

  Go with Firecore RTR and don't look back.  Plus you get to ditch the ballast!

[Barfyspitz]

I have the Firecore R2R dizzy with the CD coil. Easiest setup I've done. Plus, no big red box to find a home for.

  Go with Firecore RTR and don't look back.  Plus you get to ditch the ballast!

.    Cool thanks guys. What equipment will I have to buy? I don't know too much about the system. Well I have to buy a new distributor and a new coil? As a set up fairly easy?

[Windsor]

I got the R2R dizzy with the CD coil since mine isn't an original setup, so I wasn't worried about keeping a canister style coil or other OE style components. Basically wire up the coil with 12v,  run one wire from dizzy to coil +, one to coil -, and one to ground.
Ron would be the one to talk to about what to get and how to hook up. Much easier to setup than the MSD setups I had on my Chevy vehicles.

[Nacho-RT74]

I wouldn't say no to any upgrade, but would find the problem first. It's becoming really weird.

[Nacho-RT74]

The blue wire(s) at the ballast should have power with the key in RUN but the brown wire is energized only in START.

Correct if we talk the original source ( ign switch ), but when both are conected to ballast, both will be energized with diff voltages rates at diff stages, since the ballast works as a splice.

[69wannabe]

Are you running an orange mopar box? If so it may be wise to run a ground wire from the engine to the box to make sure you have a good ground on the box itself. Scratch some of the orange paint off where the mounting screws go through the box too. I worked on one for three days and it wound up being a bad ground. It is something that is cheap and easy to try. I took a 10-12 gauge wire and crimped a couple of eyelets on it and bolted it on and it started up and it never gave another problem like that...