68 road runner dies while driving

[DoomRunner]

Me and the wife cruising along in 4th gear on smooth road. Lose everything. Car dies stone dead, no electric. Dart off the road and stop. Nothing. No fuel pump, no electric at all. After about 45 seconds car comes back to life. Head back home about 10 miles away. Halfway there same thing. Get home and cannot reproduce but I notice my voltage meter and ammeter are “on” even with key off. Volt meter shows 12ish volts. Checked battery and it is 12.6 volts. Alternator putting out 14.6 (which has been normal) when running. Gonna start troubleshoot at ignition switch unless y’all change my mind. 68 road runner with 1974 440. Stock alternator. Mallory distributer and coil.

 

[hunt2elk]

Also check the bulkhead connector for loose/corrosion/burnt terminal ends.

 

[BearDodge67]

Where is your fuel pump relay and volt meter wired up at, if come from different locations (before or after ignition switch , that'll give a good idea of where to start)

Based on what you posted, I'd start at battery connections, starter relay connections. I've had dash lights/volt meter but no start or fuel pump and it was slightly loose neg cable. Don't think it's fusible link or ammeter frying, but could be loose connection like hunt2elk mentioned.

 

[DoomRunner]

I’ll do that 1st. Thanks.

 

[DoomRunner]

Where is your fuel pump relay and volt meter wired up at, if come from different locations (before or after ignition switch , that'll give a good idea of where to start)

Based on what you posted, I'd start at battery connections, starter relay connections. I've had dash lights/volt meter but no start or fuel pump and it was slightly loose neg cable. Don't think it's fusible link or ammeter frying, but could be loose connection like hunt2elk mentioned.

Not sure but I’ll check on the wiring arrangement of the fuel pump relay and voltage meter.

 

[The Rebel]

Perhaps a bad ground / loose wire.

 

[DoomRunner]

Bulkhead connectors look good. Better than I thought the would be actually. Tested ignition relay since I was already right there and it seems good. Ground tight on it. Going to look at ignition switch next. Voltage meter wired directly to ignition. Different from pump.

 

[Geoff 2]

Could be the battery. Had an Optima do that. Recovered a few hrs later but I replaced, didn't trust it.

 

[DoomRunner]

Found 3 things and fixed each. Going to test drive tomorrow. The ignition switch had bad continuity in the start and run position. Replaced it. The deleted port on the firewall for the heater hose has a cap and evidently still had fluid in it. The cap was loose and the coolant was dripping onto the ballast resistor connections. The voltage regulator **** the bed either during all this or was going out anyway. Replaced it. Steady voltage all around now. Fingers crossed tomorrow.

 

[68suprB]

Did you by chance check the interior side of the bulkhead connector? When I bought my car the entirety of the engine bay wiring was all new, but connected to the original wiring inside the cabin. Same thing happened to me- driving fine one second and completely dead the next. Let it sit a few mins and it started again. This only happened once but it was enough to scare me into giving the bulkhead a good look. Once I got it apart it was pretty evident some of the original packard connectors were dirty and corroded-and the (black if i remember correctly) alternator wire insulation was melted. Increased resistance= heat= failure. I cleaned everything up and did the connector delete here-
Catalog


no issues for the last 3 years.

 

[DoomRunner]

Did you by chance check the interior side of the bulkhead connector? When I bought my car the entirety of the engine bay wiring was all new, but connected to the original wiring inside the cabin. Same thing happened to me- driving fine one second and completely dead the next. Let it sit a few mins and it started again. This only happened once but it was enough to scare me into giving the bulkhead a good look. Once I got it apart it was pretty evident some of the original packard connectors were dirty and corroded-and the (black if i remember correctly) alternator wire insulation was melted. Increased resistance= heat= failure. I cleaned everything up and did the connector delete here-
Catalog


no issues for the last 3 years.

Thanks for the info. So far I haven’t had it happen again and I have driven a lot further and harder than when it happened before. I also have the delete already done with solid wires. Hopefully what I did fixed the problem. I will update here if the problem resurfaces though and if it does I’ll pull the bulkhead connection all the way out but for now it looked really good from the engine side.