Texas97
Well-Known Member
Friday morning, getting out of my driveway, car (1970 Charger 440, TKX 5 speed) is having a hard time starting and staying running. dies on me once (manual but i didnt kill it with the clutch) and then i get it going, revs up and down the driveway. dash lights start blinking, radio wont come on and the A/C wont blow, then it does. i look down and there is smoke coming into the tach. i immediately turn around and go home, park in garage, unhook the battery. while all this was going on, lights were getting brighter with RPM (it was before sunrise).
So, i comb over the engine bay at 530 am. only thing i find loose is (i think) the number 1 wire and #4 wire at the distributor cap. i find nothing else.
i pull the instrument panel saturday, find where the tach has been burnt on its control panel. no other wires under the dash have any problems at all. so... here is where i am at:
1) battery is almost 4 years old, tested at Oreilly, they say its good. my home load tester says its only 50% good but it will work.
2) ballast resistor and external voltage reg have been removed out of the system by a previous owner who re-wired the car. alternator is internally regulated. i have no idea how many amps it is, but the casting reads its a '72 and its likely been rebuilt at some point. since i didnt test it before i took the car apart, i dont know what it puts out. Autoparts store tested it and said its fine.
3) i pulled out the instrument panel voltage reg and the capacitor next to it. i will be replacing those.
4) pulled the coil, tested it across positive/negative. i cannot get it to hold a reading to tell me what it has. looking for that 1.5 ohms and it will not hold long enough to give me a reading. numbers flash 7 ohms then down a couple more numbers then hit zero. i am replacing the coil. MSD high vibration coil.
anyone have any thoughts? i am having to replace the tic-tok-tach since its circuit board is fried.
So, i comb over the engine bay at 530 am. only thing i find loose is (i think) the number 1 wire and #4 wire at the distributor cap. i find nothing else.
i pull the instrument panel saturday, find where the tach has been burnt on its control panel. no other wires under the dash have any problems at all. so... here is where i am at:
1) battery is almost 4 years old, tested at Oreilly, they say its good. my home load tester says its only 50% good but it will work.
2) ballast resistor and external voltage reg have been removed out of the system by a previous owner who re-wired the car. alternator is internally regulated. i have no idea how many amps it is, but the casting reads its a '72 and its likely been rebuilt at some point. since i didnt test it before i took the car apart, i dont know what it puts out. Autoparts store tested it and said its fine.
3) i pulled out the instrument panel voltage reg and the capacitor next to it. i will be replacing those.
4) pulled the coil, tested it across positive/negative. i cannot get it to hold a reading to tell me what it has. looking for that 1.5 ohms and it will not hold long enough to give me a reading. numbers flash 7 ohms then down a couple more numbers then hit zero. i am replacing the coil. MSD high vibration coil.
anyone have any thoughts? i am having to replace the tic-tok-tach since its circuit board is fried.
