Ready!

[Challenger RTA]

Did you check Ignition 1 and 2 have power? ballast resistor not getting power or bad? Don't make it harder then it is. A ballast resistor will go bad if you blink twice.Seen it happen,SOB and it was new!

 

[Challenger RTA]

next I would check for play in the distributor shaft and pickup clearance. freshly painted car.bad grounds. will burn something up.voltage reg,ECU,ALT. bulk head connections now loose or other. Only in a Perfect World every thing is perfect.

 

[Challenger RTA]

A lot of people talk them down, but the factory electronic ignition is a very reliable system used on millions of cars for decades and parts are available if needed at almost any chain auto parts store.
Simple system, inexpensive parts and a long track record. Easy to diagnose. Just keep and extra ECU and Ballast resistor in the trunk .
I read on all the forums about ignition problems and almost all of them are with non stock distributors or coils.

Can't agree more. You be better off laying a $100 bill on you motor,so you can pick it up when you find out whats wrong.I think it's something simple.

 

[Juan Veldez]

Did you check Ignition 1 and 2 have power? ballast resistor not getting power or bad? Don't make it harder then it is. A ballast resistor will go bad if you blink twice.Seen it happen,SOB and it was new!

The ballast resistor is brand new. If it takes a dump that fast and easy, I am starting to lean towards a different setup eventually.

 

[Juan Veldez]

next I would check for play in the distributor shaft and pickup clearance. freshly painted car.bad grounds. will burn something up.voltage reg,ECU,ALT. bulk head connections now loose or other. Only in a Perfect World every thing is perfect.

I will switch things out one at a time to confirm which part is bad. Any suggestions on which one I should start with? Not sure if one of these parts that may have went bad will fry any others in that circuit?

My grounds "should be" pretty good. I made sure to scrape paint totally away, used the special washers that "cut" into the metal, and sparingly used dialectic grease at each contact.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

From personal experience I have had MSD strand me 200 miles from home & you cannot walk into mst parts stores & get parts , so yes I would rather have a Mopar system & carry some extra parts rather than a spare MSD System .

You need to start checking things fisrt
The coil should fire with power on & the negative wire disconnected , if you use a jumper& ground the negative side of the coil for a few seconds & break the ground the coil will fire if it is good , Check the gap between the rotor & pick up , it should be .008 , fold a piece of paper over 2-3 thicknesses & you will be close enough if you don't have a feeler gauge , if you pull the dist & & spin it while it is plugged in the coil should fire multiple times , check the ground on the ECU , the body has to be grounded to function properly .

 

[Challenger RTA]

Hot wire it to eliminate cars wiring.check spark right off coil spark wire not spark plug. If it fires up look at wiring. use a in line fuse if you have one. if not run for a few seconds to see if it fires.

 

[moparleo]

Well todays parts unfortunately are not always as reliable as they were in the old day as most are imported now.
The point about the spare was that most failures occur with these 2 parts. You may never need them but if you did, they would be right there with you. A quick few minutes and back on the road.
And they are inexpensive.
Here a few links on diagnosing the mopar electronic ignition system. You will see that it is really very simple.

 

[Juan Veldez]

Well todays parts unfortunately are not always as reliable as they were in the old day as most are imported now.
The point about the spare was that most failures occur with these 2 parts. You may never need them but if you did, they would be right there with you. A quick few minutes and back on the road.
And they are inexpensive.
Here a few links on diagnosing the mopar electronic ignition system. You will see that it is really very simple.

PERFECT! Gonna check my tool box. I think I got the old school test light, but I'll need to purchase the spark tester. I know I have a working multi-meter. These videos are fantastic. Thanks Boss!

 

[Juan Veldez]

The ballast resistor is brand new. If it takes a dump that fast and easy, I am starting to lean towards a different setup eventually.

Ha, I lied. The ballast resister was old, very old. I checked it with an ohm meter and nothing. Bought a new one and it has the 1 ohm noted on one side and 5 ohm on the other. I checked it, and it has the correct resistance. I did not know they were rated different per side when I installed it, so I had a 50-50 shot at it when I first hooked it up and ran the car. I assume I had it backwards and that is the problem? If I wired the ballast resister backwards, would that cause any other component to take a crap?

 

[moparleo]

Do you have the factory type plug for the dual ballast ? If so, you can't mess up . It have indexing stubs to go into matching holes in the resistor.

 

[Juan Veldez]

Do you have the factory type plug for the dual ballast ? If so, you can't mess up . It have indexing stubs to go into matching holes in the resistor.

View attachment 101930

Yes, I have those. What I didn't know was how the circuit ran in the ballast resistor. I initially thought is was the short run, side to side, not the long path. So, I did have it hooked up correctly all along. Wonder what caused the old one to fail? I think my Ignition Control Unit may have been grounded poorly, maybe that? I took it off, ground off more paint and even installed a grounding strap from the engine head to the Ignition Control Unit just to be sure. I purchased a spare Ignition Control Unit and will now purchase another ballast resistor for backup. I'm gonna switch out the MSD coil with an original standard black coil before trying to start it up again. Finger crossed. Thanks again for your input.

 

[Challenger RTA]

The ballest resistor reduces the voltage. So no even if switched. Worst thing is leaving the key in the run position when not runnig. Coil heats up from not discharging and the wire feeding it is known to become melted. And if you have points they burn. For the most part I would say your ok

 

[Chryco Psycho]

1 side reduces the voltage to the ECU all the time , the othr side reduces voltage to the coil when running but is bypassed to start , always carry a spare !
Most ECUs are 4 pin & drop voltage internally so you really only need a single resister for the coil .

 

[Juan Veldez]

Ballast resistor changed out. Did a better ground to the ECU. Started right up. Ran it for 20 minutes at 2000 to 2500 rpm's. Hydraulic cam should be broken in. Ran it through the gears (rear wheels up on jacks). Time to change oil and check the torque on the heads. Big smiles all around.

 

[moparlee]

Ballast resistor changed out. Did a better ground to the ECU. Started right up. Ran it for 20 minutes at 2000 to 2500 rpm's. Hydraulic cam should be broken in. Ran it through the gears (rear wheels up on jacks). Time to change oil and check the torque on the heads. Big smiles all around.

Fantastic, good job!
But without a video it didn't happen.

 

[Juan Veldez]

Fantastic, good job!
But without a video it didn't happen.

The video is an .mp4 file. Doesn't look like I can upload that?

 

[Challenger RTA]

Ballast resistor changed out. Did a better ground to the ECU. Started right up. Ran it for 20 minutes at 2000 to 2500 rpm's. Hydraulic cam should be broken in. Ran it through the gears (rear wheels up on jacks). Time to change oil and check the torque on the heads. Big smiles all around.

Be sure to cut open oil filter and inspespt. Keep on keeping on.