Help! No start... drove to gas station, filled tank, car won't restart!

[russg]

Strange thing today, car fired right up, streets are dry so thought I would take for a quick drive and get some fresh gas in the tank.  After putting a few gallons in, I jump back in and it feels like the battery is dead, some clicking and nothing.  I moved the battery wire around for a tighter grip on the post and it turns over very easily but the engine won't fire.  Had to leave it at the gas station down the street.  What's wrong with this thing!  Running perfect one minute and litteraly 5 minutes later I can't get it won't fire.  Coil?  Can ballast resistor be an issue?  It's old and crackly looking in back.  All connections are tight and again the car turns over very well, no problems with battery or starter, I smell gas in the carb when I work the throttle.

[FLG]

Might not have spark. Pull of a wire and have someone crank it and see if you get some arching. If you dont get a nice blue arch than somethings wrong. Check for voltage at the ballast resistor, and at the coil. If they are correct then check out the ignition module.

If your literally "Down the block" from your house and its a bad ballast resistor, you can run a temp wire direct to the coil if its a short period of time, but you do run the risk of burning it up.

[russg]

I am just a couple blocks, use a jumper from positve battery post to positive coil post?

[FLG]

Yep,

Your using electronic ignition correct? Just making sure, because with the old school points the extra voltage might burn em up.

[sixty8charger]

Check the rotor under your distributor cap, might not be making a good contact..

[russg]

Went back out, jumper did nothing from bat to coil, turns over good but no fire. Will have to give in and pay for towing back to the house I guess.  Hate to leave it overnight but it's in a decent area and well lit.  Maybe the ECU?  The box looks older than dirt and maybe it finally gave in?  Is the ECU something I can do easy in the lot?  The rotor is fairly new and looked good, just put a new dist cap on.  This car started up and ran like a top to the gas station, then just nothing all of a sudden.

[firefighter3931]

Russ, have a close look at the bulkhead connector on the firewall. Make sure there is good contact and no corrosion inside the connector. It could also be the ballist resistor....very common problem.

Ron

[FLG]

Russ, have a close look at the bulkhead connector on the firewall. Make sure there is good contact and no corrosion inside the connector. It could also be the ballist resistor....very common problem.

Ron

Ron,

He tried jumping from the bat to the coil, thus eliminating the problem being the resistor.

[russg]

Went to meet the tow truck this morning and she fired right up, dohhh! Paid the guy a small fee for wasting his time driving out but didn't seem to mind as he spent another few minutes asking about and checking the car out.  Anyway it's back in the driveway, now back to diagnosing what the heck happened.  I will unplug, clean and put di-electric grease on the firewall connections, is there a way to test the ballaster and ignition box?  What would run perfect one minute, be completely gone the next, then work as if nothing happened the next day?

[FLG]

Hate when that happens!!

Check your connections.

If you have some extra cash and its due, might as well do a tune up, and just change the ECU (fairly cheap).

Is it possible you flooded it? Ive done it before when i had no choke, usually holding the pedal down to the floor and cranking did the trick but sometimes i just let it sit and came back to it.

[TylerCharger69]

My "orange box"   did the same thing.....nothing one minute...then starts right up another.....took me a while to figure that it was the culprit

[russg]

Just called our local authorized dealer, $49 for the orange box.  Worth doing wheather it needs it or not at that price!

[R2]

My orange box did that as well.  Very intermittent,,,
I drove it around till it "died",,,,hopped out,,,swapped in the ECU to confirm the diagnosis,,,,bad box.......

[firefighter3931]

Just called our local authorized dealer, $49 for the orange box.  Worth doing wheather it needs it or not at that price!

Upgrade to the "Chrome" box....it's much more reliable than the current crop of orange boxes.  



Ron

[tan top]

  prolly the magnetic pick up in the distributor , mine done the same  , spent all  morning  doing a tune up & stuff , went  out for a blast   came back parked it in the garage , started it the next day  nothing  , checked every thing ,  with known good parts ,  turns out it was the pick up $29 from mancini    

[R2]

ps,,,i am going to post a article,,,( see the Enging, Trans, Rearend section) ,VERY GOOD,,,,written by Rich Ehrenberg ( old Mopar Tech article ),,,, called " Dead in the Water",,,,
it is a roadside guide,,,to getting your Mopar home,,,,and not get stranded,,,,read it,,,,very good,,,,,

maybe it would make a good archive ?  ( if it needs to be moved,,, ? )


hope it helps you guys,,,,,,

Doug

[Sublime/Sixpack]

My "orange box"   did the same thing.....nothing one minute...then starts right up another.....took me a while to figure that it was the culprit

I had one orange ECU do that as well. The engine would die then would fire right back up until one night. Dead as a door nail! Slipped in a spare ECU and no more problems.

[Sublime/Sixpack]

ps,,,i am going to post a article,,,( see the Enging, Trans, Rearend section) ,VERY GOOD,,,,written by Rich Ehrenberg ( old Mopar Tech article ),,,, called " Dead in the Water",,,,
it is a roadside guide,,,to getting your Mopar home,,,,and not get stranded,,,,read it,,,,very good,,,,,

maybe it would make a good archive ?  ( if it needs to be moved,,, ? )


hope it helps you guys,,,,,,

Doug

[TylerCharger69]

ya know....in an emergency situation....i bought a Sorenson ECU from Autozone....never had any problems since!!!  17 bucks even!!   After 2 failed orange boxes

[72dodgecharger]

I also had the same problem with the orange ecu, except mine died while I was driving down the road. I also had a similar problem with my charger where it would run fine one minute, then go to restart it and nothing the next minute. I would let it sit over night then restart it and would run fine. When I first got my charger it had a 318 in it and I did all the usual tune up stuff including fuel pump and filter. I never put 2 and 2 together until I took the gas tank out to get it cleaned (before I put the 440 in).The guy at the shop called me and told me the tank basicly fell apart after they dipped it in there cleaning tank. I cut open the newer filter I had installed and it was loaded with rust and dirt. I even cut open the old filter and there was no element inside of it. Thats just something to consider if it is not the ecu.

[ipstrategies]

I had a similar problem that was caused by the rubber fuel line from frame to filter. It looked fine on the outside but when I went to remove filter the inside layer was collapsing I replaced and have not had those issues since.

[Corellian Corvette]

Slight point - do you have your coil mounted horizontally? The oil-filled coils can overheat (esp. if you have a hotter one like MSD) if they are on their side. They're designed to be mounted standing up. They make a special "high vibration" coil that's epoxy filled if it's laying down. Just a thought b/c it's happened to me a few times.