Electrical Head Scratcher

[Hanover Mopar]

I will be up front on this matter. The problem is on my 302 ford powered duece and not my mopar but I have a mopar that should give me 1/2 credit (and I never had a chevy).

The car starts fine idles perfectly, after a minute or so it just dies, no stumble or anything. I check for spark and have none. A wait a minute or two and it fires right up. After it warms up its fine and has never died on me.

I know it's spark but what the hell would cause to get spark back after (literally) a minute or two. It's a 20 year old build never driven in winter. I have replaced plugs, rotor and cap on a Mallory Unilite distributor. I will keep going with new coil and resistors as it is an old build but I never heard of a problem like this.

Any help would be appreciated

Jack

 

[khryslerkid]

Does the system use a condenser?

 

[aeon280]

Check the battery cables . I had a 65 tbird with a 390 that had a similar issue. The battery cables were just old and corroded internally and positive side would heat up car would die and not restart. Once it cooled the car would crank again but sometimes not provide spark. Then some time later it would crank and start like nothing ever happened. I went through similar troubleshooting process as you are. Replaced a bunch of ignition parts and even the starter and starter relay before finding the cables were the problem all along. If it truly is a ford system even normal starting over 20yrs will kill the cables. The ford starting system is probably the worst designed system on the road. Its very taxing on the battery, cables and relays.

 

[Mike67]

Personally I have never had much luck with Unilites but it sounds like something is heating up and opening electrically.
I think ford has one of the best starting systems with the remote solenoid, prevents heat soak from the exhaust and contacts seem to be beefier... I know some Ford's that still run the original solenoid.
I would try to locate a different dizzy and test it...

 

[mopar 3 B]

Put a curtin between it and the mopar.

 

[Lets Roll]

Years ago I had a coil do that. Lets us know when you find the problem.

 

[Hanover Mopar]

Put a curtin between it and the mopar.

They seem to play well together

 

[Hanover Mopar]

Years ago I had a coil do that. Lets us know when you find the problem.

Coil is next. Let you know

 

[Glenwood]

Years ago I had a coil do that. Lets us know when you find the problem.

X2. Did that on my ram 5.2 with a new coil from napa.

 

[Badvert65]

What year is the Mustang? The electronic ignition modules would cause this on Fords in the late 70's through the 80's. If you replace the module, you will likely be asked what color your 'grommet' is. This will be the plastic piece protecting the wires as they exit the module body. If you match the color or the original with the new one, you have the correct module.
I worked as a counter man at an auto parts store back in the day. What you describe is very common to the Ford products of the day.

 

[Hanover Mopar]

I have been told it's a 1985 302. The Unilite was converted to electronic ignition and I'm installing a new module on Monday when it comes in the parts store. If that's not it, new coil. I will probably replace it anyway as I know nothing about this build other than it's 20 years old.

 

[67 coronet]

i would shake all your connections along the ignition parts paths while the vehicle is running. just to eliminate a loose connection that moves into and out of contact.if it stalls, you found your problem. just found this on a buddys old gmc truck.

 

[451Mopar]

The unilite modules do fail , but I got 20-years out of my first module. On the other hand, it was just being used to trigger the MSD ignition, so it really had little electrical load on the module.

 

[Hanover Mopar]

Lets us know when you find the problem

Sorry never finished story. It was the module. Starts great now