Dead AGAIN!!! AHHG..

[Canadian1968]

The Car was running great the last 8 times I took it out.

I was out for about  a 20 min drive.  About 2 turns from my house I slow down for a stop and as I am doing so, the car dies. I coast over to the side, and try to start no go.

Get the car home, I have no spark.

Reading an article from Mopar Muscle about testing the pick-up coil.  I test the leads from the distributor getting 336 Ohms,  ok thats fine.  I then try cranking the engine,  apparently I should be able to get a AC of 1V at least .6 at the very least is neeed to trigger the ECU apparently.  ANyway I tried it twice and I could get not get a reading.

I pulled the distrutor out of the car, pulled it all apart with plans to buy a new Pick up coil.  Once I figured out how to take it all apart I threw it back together again to bench test it just for fun.  With the multimeter hooked up and spining the distributor by hand, I am now some how gettting a reading of anywhere from .4 to 1.2 V depening how fast I spin it. The slower , the less I get. I know how fast it turns during crank ( had the cap off when doing test on the car) and if I try to imitate the speed it hard to get a reading .

I am confused does my pick up coil sound like itis acting up ??

before people ask, I have 2 ECU's - 2 Coils- 2 reisitors which I all tried before looking at my pick up.

[A383Wing]

do you have 12v power to the resistor & "+" side of coil when key is on? Also check when it's cranking too.

[Cooter]

Does it wait till it gets HOT to die???
Are you running that damn Mopar Perf. junk? 'Orange/Gold/chrome" box???

If so, I had the same problem with about 5 "ECU" boxes I kept in the car. NONE would start it up. Swapped to MSD and never looked back.

[A383Wing]

if you are getting an "AC" voltage signal when spinning the dist on the bench, you just proved the pick-up coil works

[Canadian1968]

Yes I am using the MP distributor and orange ECU.
Yes the problem always comes up after the vehicle has been warmed up.  This time I cannot seem to get it started again. The previous times I only needed to let it cool down and it would start again for me.

I will try putting everything back in again and see if I can still get my readings I guess

[Cooter]

Sounds like a sh*tty ECU to me.

[b5blue]

Check that the bulkhead connections are clean and in good shape and get an aftermarket ecu as a test mule part to try.

[ottawamerc]

Rip it ALL out and put in a firecore RTR and then go driving and enjoy the hobby stop messing with old tech stuff summers too short for that

Scott

[Dino]

Check that the bulkhead connections are clean and in good shape and get an aftermarket ecu as a test mule part to try.

YES!  Last year when my car died it turned out to be a loose connection in the bulkhead.  Pull the bulkhead connectors, clean them and put a generous dab of dielectric grease on them before you reconnect.

[69rtse4spd]

Don't know if this helps or not but last year in the 70, went to town to have lunch with the wife. Got there just fine, later got back in to leave, nothing. Long store short, the air gap in the pick up some how opened up to wide. Everything was tight,  , replaced the dist. no more problems.

[Canadian1968]

I took the ECU out of the car, took it to work and hooked it up to the boss's 67 GTX ( exact same setup ).  It fired the car, so that proves that the ECU is ok.

Now I was trying to bench test Coil, by simply hooking up the + right to to the battery and then dragging the negavie across the bolt of the exhaust manifold, to see if I could get a spark from the coil.  I can get a tiny spark to jump from the end of the coil wire.  But during the test I get big spark from the negative lead  I am dragging on the bolt a the same time.. Should I not be getting my large spark from the coil wire itself??

[A383Wing]

sounds like coil went out

[Canadian1968]

What is normal resistance for a plug wire. I just tested the coil wire I am getting 7.5 (20K) = 7500 ohms.   And for the life of me I can't seem to get a continuity check from the ends of the wire. But I can get a resistance??

[Canadian1968]

Still trying to figure this out. 

When I turn my key to the run position my ammeter shows almost a -20 draw.  When I disconnect the ignition coil, this draw goes away, is that normal??   I tested the coil,  by raking the negavie lead across exhaust bolt, and watching the spark jump the end of coil wire.

Could my coil still be bad even though it passes this test???

I had the distributor tested by a local shop as well , the pick up coil is working fine.

[bakerhillpins]

69 in the garage with the silver box is showing less than -10 (how accurate is it??) with key in run and no lights on (dome, parking, exterior).

[firefighter3931]

Excessive resistance in the ignition wires will place an increased demand on the components. 

At 7500 ohms you're at least 7400 ohms over what i would consider acceptable on a coilwire 



Ron

[Canadian1968]

LOL,

Sorry but the draw is there if evem there is no spark wire connected. I agree 7500ohms is to much , but I odn't think its my no spark problem

Nothing is on, other than my dash , obvioulsy the gauges are powered up in RUN position. As said the draw is dropped as soon as the coil is disconnected

[firefighter3931]

I'll bet that the coil is shorted internally 

Have you tested the coil ?


Ron

[Canadian1968]

yes , as explained 2 post earlier

[A383Wing]

yes , as explained 2 post earlier

did you test it when it was hot? that's when they usually break down & fail...then when they cool, they will work again

[Cooter]

Just FYI here, but I have replaced my Coil [MSD first, then another MSD, then I bought an accel, then fourth one is back to MSD], FOUR times in the last two years.


I think even what was considered to be the "Good sh*t" is now "Cheap, Japanese Junk" as my pop used to say...

[Canadian1968]

I can't believe that every part for these cars seems to be "JUNK" these days, at least the electrical parts that is !!  Is quality control really that bad now? 

Geez really does not give me ANY confidence to drive the car ANYWHERE , it might just die cause of a crappy part?? BAH!!!


I ask around and people are telling me they have the exact setup on their car for 14 -5- 10 years. I can't seem to get one to work for more than 2 months

I guess the coil is to blame even though it acutally passed the test

[A383Wing]

pick up coils have been known to go bad when warm as well. Are you running a ballast resistor? If so, what is the OHM reading of it?

[firefighter3931]

yes , as explained 2 post earlier

You need to run a primary and secondary resistance test. That will tell you what shape the coil is in  


Ron

[Canadian1968]

I must have been looking at the wrong model for the coil. I just looked it up again and it said primary .325 ohms and secondary 7500 ohms .

My test gave me .9 ohms and 10500 more than double the primary. I took it back and will get a new one on monday