Car won't start - Day 2

blown motor · April 03, 2020, 01:05:37 PM

I went out to do the first fire up of the year this morning. After a bit of cranking it fired up, ran about five seconds and died. Now it won't start. The squirters are putting gas into the carb but I have no spark. I pulled the distributor cap. Reluctor looked a bit rusty so I cleaned the ribs and pick up with a little sand paper. Test light tells me there is power at the coil with the key on. I swapped the coil with the one in the Charger. I know that coil is good because I had the Charger out yesterday. Charger started right up with the Challenger coil so both coils are good. So I have power to the coil and a good coil but no spark at the plug so it has to be in the distributor. What now?

71383bee · April 03, 2020, 01:19:53 PM

Quote from: blown motor on April 03, 2020, 01:05:37 PM
I went out to do the first fire up of the year this morning. After a bit of cranking it fired up, ran about five seconds and died. Now it won't start. The squirters are putting gas into the carb but I have no spark. I pulled the distributor cap. Reluctor looked a bit rusty so I cleaned the ribs and pick up with a little sand paper. Test light tells me there is power at the coil with the key on. I swapped the coil with the one in the Charger. I know that coil is good because I had the Charger out yesterday. Charger started right up with the Challenger coil so both coils are good. So I have power to the coil and a good coil but no spark at the plug so it has to be in the distributor. What now?

Did you reset the reluctor gap with a non magnetic gapper? It doesn't need much 0.008" i believe.

Very similar thing happened to a friend. Tore everything apart till I looked inside his dizzy. Had a huge gap in there that somehow worked loose. Reset it and it fired right up. Sounds like you are on the right track though.

Brads70 · April 03, 2020, 01:32:47 PM

Good old dependable Mopar ballast resistor?

JS29 · April 03, 2020, 01:46:12 PM

From what i remember, A bad ballast resister will let it start, and as soon as you let off the key it dies.

Rich G. · April 03, 2020, 02:13:27 PM

Swap out the control module also with a known good one.

blown motor · April 03, 2020, 02:14:39 PM

Quote from: 71383bee on April 03, 2020, 01:19:53 PM

Did you reset the reluctor gap with a non magnetic gapper? It doesn't need much 0.008" i believe.

Very similar thing happened to a friend. Tore everything apart till I looked inside his dizzy. Had a huge gap in there that somehow worked loose. Reset it and it fired right up. Sounds like you are on the right track though.

Reluctor gap is.008.

Quote from: Brads70 on April 03, 2020, 01:32:47 PM
Good old dependable Mopar ballast resistor?

I never thought of it Brad. I have a spare, I could swap them.

Bullitt- · April 03, 2020, 03:57:00 PM

There's 2-ignition power wires. One is blue & gets power when in run mode. The other is brown & gets power in start mode so you have to have a meter on the coil while cranking to see if that power is getting delivered.
Make sure the Ignition module (ECU) plug is in tight.... Pull the coil wire from the distributor & see if you get a strong arc to a ground about 1/4", if so look at the rotor button & distributor cap contacts.

dodj · April 03, 2020, 04:11:26 PM

You went from all good to nothing good. So...I think you have a component failure like the ECU, reluctor, or a connector failure where you lost continuity. It's a crap shoot for the first guess. I'd go with checking the column connector first. Make sure your foot didn't tug on it or something. If that checks out fine, check the connector on the passenger side valve cover. If both connectors are fine, recheck the reluctor gap, check the dist connector didn't come unplugged. Re-check the spark plug wires on the dizzy cap. If all good, swap out either the reluctor or ECU. Your choice as to which one to swap out first.
Good luck

blown motor · April 03, 2020, 04:49:27 PM

I have a Rev-N-Nator ecu and it lights to indicate where the rev limiter is set. I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean it's putting out right. I have the original so I can swap them. I don't have another reluctor. I thought it would lift out of the dizzy but it didn't come easily so I didn't force it. How hard is it to remove? Wires on the dizzy cap are all in solid.

dodj · April 03, 2020, 04:59:07 PM

It's been a while but I think there are two screws from the side that mount the plate.
Connectors were good?

Chryco Psycho · April 03, 2020, 08:24:25 PM

Could be a bad pick up coil too , I would suspect that before the ECU being a Rev N ator box

kawahonda · April 04, 2020, 01:36:41 AM

I asked in last thread, but did you take air cleaner lid off and assure that choke is correctly closed with correct clearence?

blown motor · April 04, 2020, 05:19:27 AM

Yes the air breather is off and the choke was closed but this is a spark issue.

blown motor · April 04, 2020, 05:20:42 AM

Where do I get internal distributor parts?

dodj · April 04, 2020, 05:51:18 AM

Maybe you did it already, but I would check ALL connections before you start buying parts.

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