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advice on most affordable mopar electronic ignition.

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by model A hooligan, Jul 31, 2012.

  1. hemi
    Joined: Jul 11, 2001
    Posts: 1,959

    hemi
    Member

    I just went through my 360's ignition. Make sure your ignition module is grounded, (and matches the distributor for the right amount of wires, 4 or 5 depending on if you are using the lean burn distributor with two pickups... non-lean burn only has one) and the brown wire is really in there on the module plug. I am sure you have... If it's not that triple-double check your coil. It's easy and not uncommon to pop the ignition module while tinkering with other stuff. Also make sure the little radio condenser thing isn't grounded out, if it's still there. The non-lean burn Mopar ignition system is very simple and works good. There are only a few things it can be... and even if they all are new, one part might be bad. Triple double check everything...
     
  2. hemi
    Joined: Jul 11, 2001
    Posts: 1,959

    hemi
    Member

    So you have spark - good spark, coming out of your coil wire? But not the plug wires? Izzat right?
     

  3. thats correct.
     
  4. if your getting spark at the coil when cranking, the whole primary side is doing its job. Did you say the wires, plugs, cap and rotor are all new as well? Look real well at your cap and rotor.
     
  5. wires are the ones off the 318 but they are pretty new,i think i was using the old cap and rotor cause the new ones didnt fit at all. they were sloppy. so i cleaned the contacts on the older ones.(wich are only about 3 years old)
     
  6. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,903

    need louvers ?
    Member

    Double check the cap. Some of the aftermarket caps don't have the plastic "dams" around the center electrode and the contacts and will tend to scatter spark in these things.

    To answer squirrells complaint of earlier about his wifes car shutting down randomly, I figured something out about these distributors years ago. The vacuum advance plate doesn't travel in quite as accurate an arc as it should. Most of us gap our stuff to the low end of the scale in the name of accuracy. I found if i gapped the reluctor to the pickup at the low side of tight, as the vacuum advance pulled in it would at some point just graze the tip of the reluctor grounding it and shut the whole works down. Randomly. Shutdowns like that could only be judged by how important the meeting for work I had to be at was or how well I was dressed and how hot the day was. The upshot is this, gap the pickup to the reluctor at the factory high end (can't remember, maybe .015?) then add another .001 or two, problem solved. How I figured that out is entirely different story altogether...
     
  7. Schmidy
    Joined: Mar 1, 2011
    Posts: 58

    Schmidy
    Member
    from Minnesota

    You say you lined up your timing chain marks and then dropped in your distributor. You are 180 degrees out. I would say, you should start over, take all your plugs out and your distibutor. Find TDC on a compression stroke, both of the rockers should be loose on #1 and the timing marks should be on at the balancer. Put your distributor back in, make sure the rotor is pointing at #1 on the cap and then check your firing order and set timing. Also make sure your rockers are on the shaft properly they are marked left and right. I have seen these on wrong. Make sure the igniton box has a good ground, put a test light on the positive side of the cable, touch the ignition box it should light if it does not you have a bad ground.
     
  8. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Could be a bad pickup. Connect a multi meter to the pickup, when the engine turns it should make a small voltage. The pickup coil is actually a tiny alternator.
     
  9. daliant
    Joined: Nov 25, 2009
    Posts: 692

    daliant
    Member

    Check the wiring between the distributor plug and the ignition box, sometimes the wires can break off the connector inside the molded rubber plug for the ignition box. If the wiring checks out ok then its most likely the pick up coil in the distributor.
     
  10. Print out and study that wiring diagram. Learn which wires are doing what. That is how I learned these systems.

    With the key in the RUN position, the + side of the coil should light a 12V test light, but a bit dimmer than the battery would (coil voltage is cut down by ballast resistor). With the key in the CRANK position, the + side of the coil should have the same voltage as the battery (ballast resistor is bypassed during cranking).

    While cranking, the - side of the coil should make a test light blink as each cylinder would be firing.

    The ignition module MUST be grounded for the MoPar Electronic Ignition system to operate. Poor ground = poor or no spark.

    My auto shop teacher taught me a little time-saving trick over 20 years ago for troubleshooting these ignition systems: With the key in the RUN position, disconnect the two-prong molded rubber bullet connector at the distributor for the pickup coil. Take a screwdriver and make contact across the two terminals (on the vehicle side half of the connector). There is enough electricity in your hands to trigger the ignition box to trigger the coil, and there should be sparks coming out of the coil like crazy when you make contact across the two terminals. If there is no spark when doing this, the problem is on the vehicle side of the connector, not the pickup coil inside the distributor.

    As many others have said already, these ignition systems are very durable. I have literally hundreds of thousands of miles with them with very little problems at all. I also replaced a troublesome Duraspark box on a Ford with a MoPar Electronic Ignition box and that truck has been running perfectly ever since. Points are fine, but this system is much much more maintenance-free. To match the dwell (spark intensity) of these stock EI units it would take a dual-point distributor.
     
  11. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,903

    need louvers ?
    Member

    I do have to say, that after I figured out my Mopar ignition woes on my car, Is tepped the whole deal up to a MSD distributor and MSD 6AL box. Lots more tunable and almost bullet proof.
     
  12. tommy
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 14,757

    tommy
    Member Emeritus

    That tells me that the ignition is working fine or you wold have no fire at all and that you are are having problems getting the fire from the coil to the plugs.... coil wire, dist cap, rotor button, plug wires or plugs. If you have fire from the coil the problem must be in the above listed items. You did put the rotor button back in right? Boyd's guys left one out on TV once. I've done stupid things like this so don't take my question personally. So many times when I check a no start problem and everything seems correct, I'm making the same error over and over again. If you have fire then you are close and just need to find the problem with the distribution of that spark.

    I recently had a hell of a time trying to start a new engine with spark but it wouldn't start. My friend figured it out and my car starts and runs like a champ now. (I did nothing wrong. We pumped some oil in the cylinders to get some compression and it started right up.)
     
  13. hmm well the plugs are new,the wires are fairly new and look great,and we re-used the cap that was on the running 318,as well as the rotor
     
  14. tommy
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 14,757

    tommy
    Member Emeritus

    All we can go by are your answers. If you have spark at the coil, the ignition is working. Only you can tell why the spark is not getting from there to the spark plugs.
     
  15. IF you really have spark from the coil wire, and not at the spark plug wires, then it can really only be a couple of things - Cap, Rotor, or Plug Wires - PERIOD! Seriously, it is simple at this point. If you get a spark at the coil wire, the ignition is working. If it is not getting to the end of the spark plug wires, then it can ONLY be the Cap, Rotor or Wires.

    BUT you said in and earlier post that you only get spark when you first turn on the ignition and when you turn it off, non e while cranking. THAT is something different and it tells me that you don't have the starter relay to ballast resistor wired correctly.

    The problem is what you have posted are somewhat conflicting reports as to what is actually happening and that makes it really hard for us to diagnose.
     
  16. 53 COE
    Joined: Oct 8, 2011
    Posts: 688

    53 COE
    Member
    from PNW

    Ever ger this running?
     

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