ELECTRIC PROBLEMS CONTINUTED...Sanity Tested (RANT/ plea)

[Vagrant]

Okay, I really have no fuckin clue where my damn gremlin is hidding and I am just about as far on the edge of sanity with this...Car was running and then stalling...now the fucker won't start at all...

Here's what's going on. As I posted not too long ago, my chevy (350)was mysteriously dying on the freeway, only to start up again after much cursing and cooling of various items.

Currently, I have a Edelbrock 600 cfm carb w/ electric choke. doesn't look like the choke is fuckin up ...car stalls , yet the choke is wide open....then again what do I know..especially at this point?

I have one of those Mallory Unilite dizzys. For 10 years the damn thing NEVER, ever let me down. Then I start to wonderin with all this running good and then dyin shit. So I do some research...find that the unilite control modules are prone to go out after a while... OR when a friendly spike hits it just right...(yep I was dumb enough to NOT run a inline fuse or a MALLORY ACTIVE POWER FILTER ...before hand) So again...who knows what actually happend? Maybe it's the Unilite...

To speed this up, so far I have , out of despiration and lack of patience and so on, changed out my coil, checked the ballast (looks okay), changed the fuel filter, re-routed the fuel line away from the engine with new hose, confirmed I AM pumping fuel (mech pump by the way), changed out the old alternator (pulled a new 100amp one wire off another project...which was working fine orginally) pulled out my thermostat (seemed to be running hot...and it was a few years old...figured I'd give it a try) and since the problem seemed to be getting worse...broke down and bought a new Unilite control module AND the damn Active Power Filter , which I just installed (1:33 am now) and ...yes, the gremlin is still there, and I cannot get a fuckin spark. I'm definitely at that point of not being able to see straight.....&^*%$^#@!@#$%^^&!!!!! What the hell am I missing? Is it the fuckin unilite ?? do I need to burn it in a glorious blaze and just get a HEI??? Let me point out that I have no other daily driver...and the damn bike just got a flat (5 Goddamn holes in one day) and yes, I'm just about out of money.....ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED . THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME...... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[Missing Link]

This is a shot in the dark, but I have seen this happen before. Do you have a condenser on the distributor? If you do and have not replaced it, I would try that. It may sound stupid but I have experienced those things creating major headaches once they go bad. I would try it, for a couple bucks it may do the trick.

[Fatchuk]

I don't know what it is your runnin this in but is it possible to just dump in an old G.M. hei temporaly to see if your problem is the mallory ignition system at least that may keep you runnin till the weekend, to let you have some time to check it, or could you just dump the mallory into a buddys car to see if it works o.k. in his car..if you have primary ignition to the coil but no spark I would say it sure looks like the module or igniter is shorted internally... or something is causing it to short.. but you could also have an ignition switch problem try bypassing the switch to see if it will start and run.feed direct power to the positive side of the coil and fire it with a remote start switch.Fatchuk

[mrrocket]

ON a customers 63 Caddy, I was/am redoing another shops shitjob of wiring. He had a hesitation on accel and hard start and it would DIE after about 10 minutes of driving....then it would LIMP along at about 25 spitting and sputtering. After many hours of multi-metering, and some parts swapping, I found the power wire going to the coil was getting hot(to manch resistance), which in turn was overworking the Coil, and not feeding enough current to the coil. Check your ohms on the power lead from the switch or starter, AFTER it is hot, however yours is wired. Also make sure your electric choke is NOT on the same circut as the coil feed. GOod luck

[Vagrant]

LINK- my Unilite is one of those electronic breakerless distributors.. just has a control module - no points..so they don't use condensers. Thanks though...I think I'll try to stay away from going back that direction, seeing how fed I am already.


FATCHUK- I was reading about problematic Ignition Switches on another board and didn't bother, because I didn't think my symptoms related to the switch...Figured the engine wouldn't crank AT ALL (like when a solenoid goes...you just get that "click" sound)...but what the hell I'll give it a try..


MRROCKET- That's interesting that you mentioned OVERWORKING THE COIL...my last coil, a Mallory Promaster, had oil comin out of the brass terminal...According to the local auto parts shops, the coil was running too hot and forcing the oil out ....(So I swapped in a Accel Super Stock, which seemed to be helping for a few days ...) I guess that should've been my first clue. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I'll double check the choke wiring too. Thanks

[wingnutz]

Vagrant

Try disconnecting your Tach..., It worked for "krupanut" and it worked for me! (intermitent internal short!)

And I used to race with a "Unilite" until the bearings wore out (odd thing but that happened twice). Later "chucked Mallory altogether and went MSD and have been happy for the past ten years!

Mark

[Fatchuk]

Hmm! oil leaking from the coil ....I didn't see that symptom in your fisrt trouble post diagnosis....I would definetly check the current on the primary circuit of that first...could just be a coincidence but most definitly sounds like a related issue.... coils will and do fail if they get hot, when your key is in the run position it supplys the primary circuit to the coil....I have run into many bad switches over the years, not the mechanical portion of the switch but the electricl part usualy mounted on the colum below the dash....or the nuetral start switch...could also be a slim possibility...not likely but if other things check o.k. as it is in the loop who knows how some one has wired it....but it sounds like something is frying your coil or module...good luck...Fatchuk

[Vagrant]

Thanks fellas for your ideas...Now that it's the weekend I'll have more time to try some of this out...I'll let you know what happends.

-Vagrant