Ignition switch problem?

[Tonefiend]

My car has had an intermittent problem starting from Park.  Every so often it would only start in Neutral.  <904 auto '70 Challenger>

Today I started it up and it started fine.  As soon as I release the key from the start position it dies.  If I hold the key forward in start position, but not forward enough to engage the starter, it will keep running as normal.   Also the buzzer sounds in full forward engage starter position.   

ANy ideas?  Neutral saftey switch?  Ignition switch?  I just rebuilt most of the cooling system today thinking I would finally be able to drive the car before the new year, now this! 

Incidentally it happened immediatly after replacing the water pump.  I arced the battery could this have caused this?

[Tonefiend]

Thanks, I have a meter and will test the ballast resistor. It's resistance correct?  What ohm reading am I looking for?

[CHL2T]

Get a new resistor, under ten bucks
See the thread below this one. (suddenly lost spark) Hopefully you don't have electronic ignition

[Tonefiend]

Get a new resistor, under ten bucks
See the thread below this one. (suddenly lost spark) Hopefully you don't have electronic ignition

  That is a helpful thread I hadn't seen it before.  The car has been converted to electronic ignition. 

Does the ballast resistor have another name?  I can't find it at Napa.

[Chryco Psycho]

the ballast resister is not called anything else

[Bullitt-]

NAPA's new online store sucks bad...#s from Oreilly / NAPA equivilent #

SINGLE


BWD - Coil Resistor

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/ECH ICR23   
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DUAL

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Part Number: RUE1

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Online:

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Store:

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Price

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 / ECH ICR24   
Price
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OR
MPE ICR24SB   
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[Tonefiend]

Thanks Bullitt I will go to Kragen and pick one up on my way to my folks house where the car is. 

Yeah Napa online sucks.

[Tonefiend]

I just dug through some pics of the car, and it looks like I have 2 of the 2 connector versions in place.

Here are some pics.   I'm wondering if I should get 2 - 2 conductors, or one 4 conductor?

[Bullitt-]

The values of the resistors in the 4-pin are different, you use a 4-pin if you have a 5-pin ECU.   Did you do the conversion originally?  If the second resistor is for a 5-pin ECU it is limiting the power too much & would make starting harder. 
   

[Bullitt-]

Dual ballast 5-Pin ECU


Single ballast 4-Pin ECU

[Tonefiend]

I didn't do the conversion.   I have a 5 pin ecu.  I guess i will get a 4 pin ballast resistor and wire it up as per our diagrams.  Thanks a ton, you made my sunday! 

[CHL2T]

I hope either of us can get this trouble figured out, this is totally distressing since we have had over a week of nice cold/ sunny weather here in western WA and I wanted to take advantage of it by driving the Ratty R/T

[Tonefiend]

Good luck with that Handm!

Before getting to the car today I stopped by Kragen and bought a dual ballast. 
I checked both the single ballasts and they both checked out.   I had a loose wire as it turned out, and 2 more wires that were attached haphazardly. The wires were stretched and would have come apart again if I merely reattached them. 

I installed the dual ballast, mounting it in a good spot that would allow the wires to be attached correctly.  Then I soldered the wires that did not have connectors on the prongs.  Then I reattached the 4 wires after cleaning the contacts with deoxit.

The car fired right up faster and more powerfully than it ever has. It's always been a sluggish starter.  Now it roars to life. 

So it fixed that part of the problem.  It still intermittently starts in park. I can live with that though until I gigure it out.  Any ideas?  Starter safety switch or maybe the shift linkage?  Tody for the first time the trans ground like it was half in gear when I tried starting it.   

Thanks everyone for the help!   

[72rtchallenger]

i dont think the neutral switch is bad ,sounds more like its the linkage,,hopefully its not in the tranny internally,,try adjusting the linkage to make sure its in park better

[Tonefiend]

The starter relay and the wires are all pretty grungy and loose.  I wiggled them around, and seated everythign up by hand and drove it around all night. It started in park every time.  I will go through and clean everythign up and make sure all the connections are 100% and am betting that will solve the problem.

My linkage is pretty worn and sloppy as well. I think I will address that next.