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dodge 318

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coronet44067

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I am new to the forum so I hope I have posted in the right area. I am needing some assistance with my 1967 dodge coronet 440 318. I have replaced the alternator, ignition coil, voltage regulator, carb, PCV, spark plugs, points, cap, rotor, battery, cables etc. It was running great for about two weeks. Then it started to almost stall on acceleration, idled fine. Then it got worse, and almost stalled when stopping and intermittently when accelerating. Now it does this all the time and will stall constantly. I put engine to TDC and everything is pointing the number one position correctly. Voltage at ignition coil is 12.5. Carb jets work well, choke is behaving correctly. Even replaced the ballast resistor. Same thing. Timing is +10 with advance off and carb capped. Intermittently it will pur well and then stall after running very poorly first. It is a remanufactured carb so maybe it is failing? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
 
Have you rechecked points dwell / gap? Did you put a tiny bit of lube on the points rubbing block or the distributor cam?

Also, "with points" it is important not to leave the key on / engine off. This burns up points. Also, a bad condenser (capacitor) in the distributor will give trouble. "New" does not mean functional.

So far as voltage measurement, how did you take this measurement? Let's say you did this with key in "run" and engine stopped

If the points are OPEN you will measure "same as battery" or about 12.5-12.6 on a fully charged battery. This is because with the points open, there is no current through the coil and ballast resistor.

If you bump the engine so the points are CLOSED the voltage should drop to "somewhere around" 6-9V. This is not really important, but should NOT be much higher. This shows the points are closed, are drawing current through the coil, and through the ballast. The ballast will quickly heat up, be careful touching it. They run HOT.
 
Points

I set the points to near .018 on the highest point of the lobe rotation, everything looks fine there, yes I did drip some oil as you asked. I had the same thought. I will get another capacitor today and I am also going to replace the fuel pump. I noticed it runs well when it first starts in high idle, then as it warms up it starts to hesitate and then finally after a bit of struggling will stall, then it is hard to start and wont run well at all until it gets cold again. I also ordered some Edelin points which will arrive in a few days. Thinking to switch to electronic ignition, but I really want to leave it original. I checked it with a volt meter. I think the points were on the top of the lobe and open. I will confirm this. Prior to that it was a 7.1 v so I switched out the voltage regulator thinking it was faulty. There is no play in the distributor at all with the rotor. Timing is +10 with advance off and carb capped. I have left the key on when it was stalling, no more than a minute or less. The ballast was super hot when I checked it was seated correctly.



440roadrunner said:
Have you rechecked points dwell / gap? Did you put a tiny bit of lube on the points rubbing block or the distributor cam?

Also, "with points" it is important not to leave the key on / engine off. This burns up points. Also, a bad condenser (capacitor) in the distributor will give trouble. "New" does not mean functional.

So far as voltage measurement, how did you take this measurement? Let's say you did this with key in "run" and engine stopped

If the points are OPEN you will measure "same as battery" or about 12.5-12.6 on a fully charged battery. This is because with the points open, there is no current through the coil and ballast resistor.

If you bump the engine so the points are CLOSED the voltage should drop to "somewhere around" 6-9V. This is not really important, but should NOT be much higher. This shows the points are closed, are drawing current through the coil, and through the ballast. The ballast will quickly heat up, be careful touching it. They run HOT.
Click to expand...
 
Changed out fuel pump no improvement. Next will be newer points. I also have a question, with the ignition coil, I found a resistor of some kind mounted to the block with a short wire. I must have been missed by me or the other who owned it. Does this go on the positive side or the negative side of the coil? It would seem negative to aid in voltage to the points. I have it on negative side to the points until I hear otherwise from you all.

- - - Updated - - -

Newer condenser not points I meant above to follow your original suggestion.
 
sounds to me like it is flooding , crap in the needle/seat or float needs adjusting, im guessing this is a 2 barrel. fyi, it does not matter where the rotor is pointing as long as its firing the number one cylinder at tdc
 
Without a photo, no idea on your ballast / resistor question. The original is a ceramic block about 1/2 to 3/4" square X maybe 3-4" long.

I agree, sounds like might be getting "crap" up into the carb from the tank or something similar.
 
Yes it is mounter to the block I feel like it was on the negative side of the ignition coil. it is not the ballast resistor which is ceramic and square,

- - - Updated - - -

I replaced the condenser in the distributor and it started and did not stall. I replaced the entire distributor from factory it seems to run well. I set the time again at TDC . I have the timing advanced to +10, but the vavcuum advance attached raised it to +15 when attached.
 
The only thing that should be hooked to coil NEG is the distributor primary wire, and a tach wire if you have one of those.

What you LIKELY have there is the radio noise suppression condenser / capacitor, and it should be on the POSitive coil

This COULD be causing the points to deteriorate, as you are effectively doubling the capacitance on the "ignition capacitor" (condenser) which is inside the distributor. "Too little" is as bad as "too much"

There used to be drawings "in the old" manuals showing points pitting caused by capacitance value. Don't file them, and it's better, FAR better to use a dwell meter rather than a feeler.

I never even used to USE a feeler at all. I simply would "rough" in the gap by eye, then run the dwell meter "on the starter" to set the points, and finally, check dwell "running." It usually changed a bit, you learned to compensate.
 
WP_20151103_002[1].jpgI will take a photo, it is not the ceramic one mounted on firewall. I did replace that which I think is the ballast resistor .... it is right next to the voltage regulator, on passenger side. The one I am wondering about is mounted to the block under the ignition coil next toward transmission.

- - - Updated - - -

It was skipping/hesitating really bad and stalling which got progressively worse. I replaced the condenser in the original ignition and it quit stalling and skipping really badly but still had an intermittent skip. So I replaced the distributor as well brand new all around (with points etc.). Still a skip. It goes skip,skip,skip ....runs great, skip, skip, runs great, skip, runs great. This is at idle thus far.

Ok so I removed the mystery "resistor???" and I still have a skip. I am checking the ignition coil as I might have killed it somehow.

Any other ideas except for carb (which is remanufactured date of June 2015).
 
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The silver canister in the pic is the condenser..........it is a capacitor actually. It looks newer, but it can fail. It is a very important part of older systems.

If you familiar with electrical and magnetic systems.........
When power is interrupted from the ignition coil the field collapses and this induces a current and basically is a feedback of spark.........pretty much a constant misfire issue. Removing it will make no change compared to when it is not working. Test it if you can........same as a capacitor ..or just replace it....cheap part.
 
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When I first started working on it, this in the picture was attached to the ignition coil, in the 78 times I moved everything around I can't remember which side it was on +, or -. I do have a condenser in the distributor attached to the points. If it is a capacitor as stated by NCC1968 does it go on negative or positive side? Right now I am on negative side but above it was stated only the distributor cable should be on negative. Also is it called an ignition coil capacitor then?
 
Yes so it looks like it had one on the block inline (picture I posted) on the negative and also one in the distributor in both the original one I replaced and the replacement. So I have taken the one on the block out of the line. So now I just have the condenser in the distributor. Thank you for the diagram.
 
The skip is still there and intermittent, there is no regular skip pattern like you would expect on the rotation at a certain spot. I was reading an online service manual and it is showing timing should be at +10. I set this at plus +10 with carb and vacuum advance plugged. Then when I put on vacuum advance it is steady at +15. No fluctuations except on higher RPM's which it advances steadily. So what I mean by a skip is at the exhaust you hear a nice harmonic pur, then an off beat fire. At the engine I see the motor shake or rather move a little when I hear the off beat fire. Idle is at about 800 RPM. It does this when cold when the choke is engaged and even when fully at operating temp. Give me some ideas to check on for this when you have a moment.

- - - Updated - - -

also there is no popping or back fire at the carb, even on deceleration. Engine shuts down well when turned off no back fire or chugging etc.

- - - Updated - - -

It also starts on the second rotation easily.
 
I would clean the carb out and check the fuel system for debris. Same thing happened to me one day 318 2 barrel 1967 dodge. Ended up being there was crap in the needle and seat.
 
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