18 years ago today I got the Charger. Today it left me stranded!

[Kern Dog]

What the heck??? 18 years ago, March 12, 2000....I bought the 1970 Charger 500 for $1700. It ran and drove great. 318, 904, 4 wheel drum brakes.
A lot of improvements have been made over these years. Today I was heading down to weigh the car before I started taking the stock A/C stuff out and swap in the Classic Auto Air stuff.
It was easy to start but ran a bit rough and stalled a few times until it warmed up. It was 75 degrees today. I was at a traffic light and the car stalled and would not restart...spinning the starter but no start. It acted as if it were out of gas. I was lucky to roll it downhill and through a left turn to a wide shoulder to park safely.
I had gas but no spark. The car ran great yesterday, zero troubles in about 20 miles of cruising around. I have a MP electronic distributor, chrome box, a 1.0 ballast resistor and an MSD Blaster 2 coil. I had the wife come get me. We went back to the house to get a few tools and parts. First up I tried pulling # 1 plug wire and stuck a spark plug in it. I spun the engine and got no spark. After that, I replaced the ballast resistor because it felt as if the engine wanted to start as I released the key. The replacement ballast is a .6 ohm, pretty close to the other. It did not help, still no spark.
Must be the spark box, right? No....the replacement box did not help.
I checked the air gap in the distributor. It was at .014. The spec is .008, again, not enough off of the mark to stop the engine from starting and running.
Lastly, I replaced the coil with some generic unlabled black coil from the parts stash. It instantly fired up and ran. Why? The MSD coil looks fine and isn't that old. I got it back home and decided to put the original chrome spark box back in. It was difficult to start and ran the battery down. It is an Optima battery and is not simple to charge. You have to attach jumper cables to another battery and then charge the other battery.
Happy birthday, huh?

 

[eldubb440]

today is your birthday?

edit....... nevermind

 

[Kern Dog]

Maybe "Happy Anniversary" makes more sense?

 

[khryslerkid]

Maybe "Happy Anniversary" makes more sense?

I guess the old girl wanted some attention on your anniversary! Did you get her anything special?

 

[Kern Dog]

I burned some rubber once I got it back home.

 

[WileERobby]

The way it is with electric devices, one minute they work.. the next minute they don't.

 

[DeltaV]

Darned gremlins!

 

[CoronetDarter]

Hey Greg, having the car act up on it's anniversary is....well...its Mopar. Half the time they frustrate the hell out of you and thoughts of selling it creep in. But when it's running good and you're cruising, all is forgotten and you silently apologize for even thinking of the "S" word. Glad you got it back home.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Don't sell it!!! Give it to me! It just might want to take a trip to fl! I'll treat her good!!!

 

[wagonman]

I had an issue today as well. Nice day here so I pulled the Runner out and headed to my buddies shop,about a 15 mile ride, car ran perfect. Spent about an hour shooting the breeze. Climbed back in and fired it up and started home, same route. Pulled into a store to get a pop, came out fired up and started out again. About 1 mile it starts bucking and surging, let off the gas and got back into it, again surging. WTF . Took it real easy and got it home thankfully. It acted weird about a week ago also. Stumbled farted through the carb after a heat soak. It was only 70 today.. Tomorrow I will pull the fuel filter and replace, almost felt like vapor lock. ARCO 93 premium on the last fill maybe go back to the Texaco I usually run and see what happens??

 

[PP1RT]

Well Kern, now you know what you need to carry with you all the time. Get a nice little vintage toolbox to hold everything. Just like American Express....Dont leave home without it!

 

[Dennis H]

I'm shaking mine down for an upcoming roadtrip. About 3000 miles. Fixed the windows, brakes are next. Then detail and oil/filter change. Have an annoying throttle hang up intermittent. Kicks right down. If you hold it steady, it will hang briefly at 1100 rpm. I really don't want to break down on the road. Return spring is doubled up, and lubed everything. I've carried belts and hoses all over the Country for years til they rotted. Never needed them. Bulbs and coolant too. Gas can. You name it.

 

[Xp29h]

Just over a year ago, mine stranded me with a brand new msd 6al-2 box, blaster 2 coil and no ballast. Would run, then stall. Thought loose wire, moved one around from starter relay would fire back up then stall after a few seconds. $80 bucks and a flatbed home, the brand new 6al-2 was junk! Replaced it with regular 6al at no charge and store credit for remainder no issues. From what I've found and heard, msd can go to junk anytime out of the box. I've now got my spare parts and tools in the car. Learned the hard way.. Good luck!

 

[Dennis H]

Early MSD. 10 years. Not a hiccup.

 

[Xp29h]

This box I've got now just the basic 6al. Been good no issues.. It was one of the first 6al2 digitals so who knows. I know lots of folks that run msd with no problems. Leave it to me to get one that messes up though!

 

[747mopar]

There's nothing I hate more than the embarrassment of your baby breaking down on you!! You almost feel obligated to represent the Mopar community by having a perfectly dialed in muscle car so when that one part decides to fail it can be aggrevating.

I've had one breakdown since putting mine on the road, fuel pump took a dump in the mall parking lot. I called my buddy that owns a wrecker service to come fetch the car and whataya know... I later find out he took a picture of my Charger on his wrecker and posted it on his companies Facebook page.. I get that it makes for a cool posting having a 69 Charger on your wrecker but it pissed me off!! A Carter fuel pump failed not workmanship or anything Mopar just a junk pump but it didn't look good. Now it's got an American made Eddelbrock pump, see how this one last? Nowdays it's harder than ever to know what your getting with so many going global, first pump was a Holley from Tawain!

 

[dart4forte]

Hey Kern, you bringing it to SF? You might want to consider a Firecore dizzy. I have a RTR on my motor. Doesn’t miss a beat.

 

[beanhead]

Ya know, at one time I had an MSD blaster-2 coil on my car, with the included ballast resistor. It worked fine with orange & chrome mopar ecu's and distributor for about three months, and then it started cutting out, luckily in the driveway...swapped in my backup cheapie accel and solved the problem. I noticed on inspection, the slightest amount of oil around the rim where the metal can met the plastic top. If I remember you could feel a little more sloshing than normal when you shook it, like it had lost some oil...I had some summit bucks so I bought the black epoxy-filled MSD and it's been fine ever since, regardless of hot or cold weather(knock on wood!) Hey Wow....you got your car one month to the day after I got mine...Feb 12 2000

 

[Moparstyle]

My 98 durango just did the same thing ran great got home was in the house for a hour went to leave fired right up died in the middle of the street stuck a new coil on it fixed being out in the southwest seems to eat electronics a lot

 

[Kern Dog]

Ya know, at one time I had an MSD blaster-2 coil on my car, with the included ballast resistor. It worked fine with orange & chrome mopar ecu's and distributor for about three months, and then it started cutting out, luckily in the driveway...swapped in my backup cheapie accel and solved the problem. I noticed on inspection, the slightest amount of oil around the rim where the metal can met the plastic top. If I remember you could feel a little more sloshing than normal when you shook it, like it had lost some oil...I had some summit bucks so I bought the black epoxy-filled MSD and it's been fine ever since, regardless of hot or cold weather(knock on wood!) Hey Wow....you got your car one month to the day after I got mine...Feb 12 2000

I too noticed some oil film on the coil. I put in that generic coil. It was dry but with flaky paint and a few dents.... it started up, but I could not just leave that ugly coil in there. I had a new Mopar Performance coil in the parts shed so I swapped that one in.
For distance trips, I always bring all the electrical spares: Coil and ballast, TWO spark ECUs, starter relay, even a whole distributor. I have never needed them but they are always in the trunk. This was the first time ever that the car left me stranded. That is a stretch of a statement though, I was only 5 miles from the house and the Wife was there to help in short order.
I do plan to bring it to Van Nuys next month but I am just getting started on the A/C retrofit. I have everything here except the actual water pump. It all hinges on the first step: Getting the car weighed. I am interested in seeing what the car weighs before and after the work. It was a 318 with A/C when new but I never put the stuff back on when I switched to the first 440 in 2002. It still has the stock HVAC box inside and compared to the replacement CCA box, it looks like I'll lose a few lbs there. The compressor and condenser will add weight but the aluminum WP housing saves about 8 lbs. All the back and forth of the parts are still going to result in some weight gain. My bonehead estimate is approx. 20-25 lbs.
The car weighed 3660 with the 318, 904, 8.75 axle and 1975 Dart front disc brakes.
It was 3751 with the iron head 440, 727 and dual exhaust. Since then I have added aluminum heads, frame connectors, torque boxes, bigger wheels and tires. lighter rear disc brakes, lighter seats, sound deadener and a stereo. With all of the back and forth, I am guessing it is under 3900 now. It is raining so I have to wait to weigh it. The guy that installed the windshield a few years ago didn't seal it right and it leaks right over the $1200 gauge cluster I installed 2 years ago. I do not want to risk damaging them. I should just pull the glass and reseal it myself.