ignition problems

[jason340]

I have a 73 cuda 340 and I was driving down the innerstate and every thing was running fine i got off and pulled up to a light and it just shut off. I tryed cranking it it turned over fine but never fired. I changed the coil & ignition control unit & it still wont fire i pulled a spark plug and theres no spark when i turn it over so i pulled the coil wire from the distributor and i could never get it to ark off of anything. any help?

[72rtchallenger]

does it have a ballast ?

[jason340]

yes like this one.

[72rtchallenger]

that could be causing you the problem,,and make sure you have a good ground on the ignition controller

[72rtchallenger]

check out these

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=53295.0

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=52658.0

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=65086.0

[jason340]

ok ill check that and it there any way to check if the Ballast is bad?

[72rtchallenger]

you can check the coil ballast & pick up with an Ohm meter
 pick up should only have a couple of ohms resistance
Ballast is about the same

[dodj]

If you have a dual ballast like the pic, one side will be about 1.2 ohms and the other side will be about 5 ohms.

[72rtchallenger]

If you have a dual ballast like the pic, one side will be about 1.2 ohms and the other side will be about 5 ohms.

 

[ShelbyDogg]

If the ballast resistor was bad, you would get spark in the start position then it would die when moved to the on position. Check with a test light on the ballast's 2 brown wire end during start, and the blue wire end during run. Make sure that your ECU has a good ground. Plug another distributor into the ECU's pickup wires and spin it to check for spark because you didn't say that you checked your pickup coil yet.

[Chryco Psycho]

you can test with a volt meter also , 13v in , 7 out the other end

[dodj]

If the ballast resistor was bad, you would get spark in the start position then it would die when moved to the on position.

Depends on which side was bad. One is for start, one is for run. With the dual resistor, if the start side (1.2) was bad, it won't start, if the run side(5.0) was bad it will fire then die out.

[jason340]

If the ballast resistor was bad, you would get spark in the start position then it would die when moved to the on position. Check with a test light on the ballast's 2 brown wire end during start, and the blue wire end during run. Make sure that your ECU has a good ground. Plug another distributor into the ECU's pickup wires and spin it to check for spark because you didn't say that you checked your pickup coil yet.

Ive replaced the restrictor ballast, the ignition control unit, and the distributor coil and i am still not getting any fire... Is it possible that its its in the mangnetic pick up in the distributor, and is there any way to test it??

[dodj]

Ive replaced the restrictor ballast, the ignition control unit, and the distributor coil and i am still not getting any fire... Is it possible that its its in the mangnetic pick up in the distributor, and is there any way to test it??

Plug another distributor into the ECU's pickup wires and spin it to check for spark because you didn't say that you checked your pickup coil yet.

ShelbyDogg's way would be the best. You can check the gap, I think it is supposed to be 0.006. Non-magnetic feeler gauge. Not sure how to check if it's working without swapping in another.

[72rtchallenger]

(Here is some info from previous post)
Make sure the ECU is grounded properly and have you checked for proper voltage with the key switch,, In start turn the ignition key to start, the IGN1 "Run" wire that goes to the ballast resistor (the power for the coil while key is in "run" position) is not hot. Only the full voltage IGN2 "Start" wire that gives extra power to the coil while starting is hot. This is the wire that is connected to the same side of the ballast resistor as the wire that connects to the + terminal on the coil.
And make sure you have good connections at the wiring bulkhead.
Also check on the ECU is to put one ohmmeter lead to a good ground and the other lead to ECU unit pin 5,,the ohmmeter should show continuity between ground and the control unit pin 5,,if it doesnt exsist ,try removeing the ECU unit and clean the mounting on the back side to make sure it is grounding properly ,,if it doesnt get continuity to a ground and to pin 5 it is bad