• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Ignintion causing stall while driving...help

Quick update: Changed out the bulkhead connector with one I picked up from Mega Parts. No change, still cuts out after driving a few min.
I have a new ignition switch on order from Classic. Until that arrives I decided to change out the ballast resistor and give that a shot.
Will update with the results.
 
Final update, hopefully: switched out the ignition switch and it seems to have solved the issue. Picked a new 69 ignition switch up from Classic.
 
Awesome hope that's the fix electrical gremlins are a bitch. especially when you buy a car from someone who doesn't know anything about mopars or electrical for that matter and they hack up just about everything just makes fixing it that more work.
 
They are a bitch because it is still happening. Took a while for the stall to show itself again.

I'm going to throw in an MSD 6AL. Hopefully that does the trick.
 
Please do this test . I am assuming your ballast resistor is mounted on the firewall as in the pic on page 1. Turn on your key to the RUN position, no need to start engine . Pull off the wire on the driver's side of the ballast resistor and check the wire for 12v .if there is 12v there , leave the wire off . If no 12v there put the wire back on the ballast , now take the wire off the other side and check for 12v if you have 12v leave that wire off Now take a 4-5ft piece of wire with a female spade nose connector and push it on over the ballast resistor pin . Now , put and alligator clip on the other end or safely secure it to the pos. side of battery. Start the car and take it for a run. make sure the wire is secure and don't burn on the manifolds or get caught in the fan or belts . you know what I mean . By doing this you eliminate all the wireing ignition switch, amp gauge, , fuse panel . bulkhead connector etc etc . All that is running now is the ignition wires from the ballast to the coil and coil to the dist . if the engine is still stalling out , the problem (or one of them ) is at the engine ....coil, dist etc . If the engine don't stall now , the problem is from the ballast resistor back to the ignition somewhere. I have been told there is a situation where your engine may not start because some units were built where boths sides ign1 and ign2 go through the single coil ballast resistor but I haven't seen one . give it a try if it works ok , well you know where to look , if it don't back to square one .
 
Please do this test . I am assuming your ballast resistor is mounted on the firewall as in the pic on page 1. Turn on your key to the RUN position, no need to start engine . Pull off the wire on the driver's side of the ballast resistor and check the wire for 12v .if there is 12v there , leave the wire off . If no 12v there put the wire back on the ballast , now take the wire off the other side and check for 12v if you have 12v leave that wire off Now take a 4-5ft piece of wire with a female spade nose connector and push it on over the ballast resistor pin . Now , put and alligator clip on the other end or safely secure it to the pos. side of battery. Start the car and take it for a run. make sure the wire is secure and don't burn on the manifolds or get caught in the fan or belts . you know what I mean . By doing this you eliminate all the wireing ignition switch, amp gauge, , fuse panel . bulkhead connector etc etc . All that is running now is the ignition wires from the ballast to the coil and coil to the dist . if the engine is still stalling out , the problem (or one of them ) is at the engine ....coil, dist etc . If the engine don't stall now , the problem is from the ballast resistor back to the ignition somewhere. I have been told there is a situation where your engine may not start because some units were built where boths sides ign1 and ign2 go through the single coil ballast resistor but I haven't seen one . give it a try if it works ok , well you know where to look , if it don't back to square one .
I have the 4 pin ballast resistor. Which pin, top or bottom, should I test on each side?
 
Please do this test . I am assuming your ballast resistor is mounted on the firewall as in the pic on page 1. Turn on your key to the RUN position, no need to start engine . Pull off the wire on the driver's side of the ballast resistor and check the wire for 12v .if there is 12v there , leave the wire off . If no 12v there put the wire back on the ballast , now take the wire off the other side and check for 12v if you have 12v leave that wire off Now take a 4-5ft piece of wire with a female spade nose connector and push it on over the ballast resistor pin . Now , put and alligator clip on the other end or safely secure it to the pos. side of battery. Start the car and take it for a run. make sure the wire is secure and don't burn on the manifolds or get caught in the fan or belts . you know what I mean . By doing this you eliminate all the wireing ignition switch, amp gauge, , fuse panel . bulkhead connector etc etc . All that is running now is the ignition wires from the ballast to the coil and coil to the dist . if the engine is still stalling out , the problem (or one of them ) is at the engine ....coil, dist etc . If the engine don't stall now , the problem is from the ballast resistor back to the ignition somewhere. I have been told there is a situation where your engine may not start because some units were built where boths sides ign1 and ign2 go through the single coil ballast resistor but I haven't seen one . give it a try if it works ok , well you know where to look , if it don't back to square one .
Both my bottom connectors have 12v. So I am assuming I would make a wire that connects both to the battery.
 
Both my bottom connectors have 12v. So I am assuming I would make a wire that connects both to the battery.

Is your ballast resistor mounted horizontal or vertical? If the BR is mounted horizontal and as you say both bottom pins are 12v , well the ballast resistor is not doing it job, the voltage should drop to maybe 9 v . Not sure I can successfully tell you how to do this test on the net . lol . you don't want to burn up your points or worse . I would get a Mopar buddy that is familiar with digging into this stuff and do some wire tracing for you rather that going full tilt into this and causing more trouble than you need. would love to help but too far away .
 
Here is what I have.
image.jpg
 
Ok . I see it's vertical . so the two red wires are from the ignition. Didn't know the car was rewired to electronic ignition , thought it was points . What you still can do , if you have a spare ballast . make up a wire with the resistor in line from the pos . on battery to positive on coil , now start the car and remove the two red wires on the ballast . the engine will run in this mode , but if it shuts off, it won't start and it I don't think it will shut down if you turn the ignition off but that depends how the ECM is wired. right now you are only trying to find out if the problem is out in the engine bay or the other side of the bulkhead connector . if the engine stays running smooth through a test run , you know the problem is under the dash . You can remove the jumper wire and install the two red wires on the ballast to go back to square one . Again make sure your jumper wire is secured .
 
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top