she died again........@$^@#^...just need to vent a little

[shadango]

Last season, once I got the car up andrunning I had an issue with the engine just suddenly dying out...just cuts out....well, I went after a number of things and thought I finally solved it.....no issues the rest of the season once I went over stuff...what I THOUGHT it was was either flooding out, starving out or an electrical issue....after ruling out the first two I went after the 3rd and found loose connections in my Bill Evans wiring harness...Well, fixed the ones that were loose.   No issues, like I said, after that.

Well, last weekend when I was pulling her out of the garage, she just quit.  Wouldnt start....kind of like a short start where it seems like she is starting but immediately dies. Catches and then dies immediately.  No sputtering or anthing, just what seems like one good revolution runnin gand then it quits.   Looked under the hood a minute or two and then tried again, fired right up and no issues. 

Well, this evening, on the way to a cruise and about 3 miles from my house she did it again....sitting in traffic at a light and she just quit.   Same symptoms.  Pushed her off the road and looked at stuff.....after several minutes I messed with the wiring harness plugs at the firewall a little and then tried again....started up.

While it was running I wiggled, jiggled and otherwise moved the wires all over and could not make her die out, so now I have my doubts if that was actually it....maybe just a coincidence.

So I guess here we go again, checking everything again....no idea what I missed....I thought maybe it was the igntion switch even.....so I wiggled the key etc but nothing.

I did notice a time or two where it seems like when I try to start the car the ignition doesnt do anything for a split second....but the ignition switch was in good shape when I had all that apart......the previous owner put a new lock unit in it.

I dont know...I just hate these intermittant things.   

Made it the rest of the way to the cruise and back, and then around the block again, with no further incident, even with me pounding on her a bit....

i guess I just needed to vent a little...LOL.  Its un-nerving dying in traffic.....bright green car holding up rush hour traffic. 

Nice.....

[GoodysGotaCuda]

How does it die? Kinda sputters out, or just stops?

[Cooter]

Chrysler Electronic ignition? Sounds like a bad ECU box to me...Try running an auxilary Ground from the box mount bolt to the battery...I've seen those boxes give people hell about cutting off intermittently...

[500Stroker]

Did you try replacing the coil?  I went nuts trying to find an intermittant shut down problem like yours.  Mostly when hot and after a restart the car would shut down. I finally put on a new coil and it has been fine ever since.  A friend of mine had the same problem.  His coil was bad also.

[Strawdawg]

when it dies...immediately check to see if it has spark...it has to be lack of fuel, or lack of spark....

from the symptoms, I would guess the ecu was the culprit, but coils can also act that way

[shadango]

when it dies, it just cuts out immediately from what I can tell.  Like someone killed the key....which is why I was ruling out fuel last season.  Sure "feels" electrical.....

The coil was replaced (twice) already due to leakers (accel super coils) and the problem occured with each....plus it wasnt that warm yet......just a few miles from the house.  The first time it did it, the car was cold....which is why I thought maybe fuel...flooded it....

SO my guess is it could be the ECU.    I did try that as well last season.....thats how I ended up with a spare ECU.... LOL

The issue has been each time it happens I am alone so cant have someone crank while I check for spark.....

[Strawdawg]

Well, something has to be wrong....in spite of whatever you did last year

Find a means to position the coil wire when you pull it out of the cap so that you can reach thru the window and hit the key while watching the coil wire for spark...or....carry an old plug with you, pull number one wire, and connect it to the old plug and lay it on the valve cover with the electrode aimed toward you so you can see it while turning the key....sometimes when alone you have to improvise

Now, if there is no spark, one would guess that the problem is not on the start side of the ignition circuit because it was not in use when the car was running and died.  One would also guess that if the problem was in the run side of the circuit that the car would try to fire when the key was turned to start and not run when the key was released from that position...

For that reason, I would think the problem was under the hood in the ecu, or the coil, but you can make a jumper to bypass the ignition switch...from the battery to the ballast so you know it is getting power.

[dodj]

The connector (the one with the large gauge yellow, red, brown, and blue wires)at the bottom of your steering column, could give you the problem you are describing. 
Wouldn't hurt to examine/take it apart and check it out.

[shadango]

I like the jumper idea...to bypass the igntion switch "run" basically, right?  So I would run a line from battery hot to which side of the ballast (i have a 4 pole ballast)

[shadango]

The connector (the one with the large gauge yellow, red, brown, and blue wires)at the bottom of your steering column, could give you the problem you are describing. 
Wouldn't hurt to examine/take it apart and check it out.

Ya know, that was going across my mind.  I did have that connector apart a few times now, but maybe there is a funky connection there.....last season, it seemed like it would cut out during a turn.....this time, not...and whereas before it would crank and crank, this time it cranks , sounds like it is starting, and then just dies....all in about 1 second if that makes sense....

Will recheck that connector tomorrow....

I just added another ground strap, this one going from the ECU to the valve cover bolt....figured I would rule out ground issues to the ECU.  i already have one of those going from the VR to the same bolt....looks a little cluttered I guess, but i figure more ground is better.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

The issue has been each time it happens I am alone so cant have someone crank while I check for spark.....

Sure you can. Leave the key 'on', go under the hood with a spare spark plug (grounded hooked to a plug wire) or keep a timing light with you. Jump the starter relay either with a screwdriver (spark!) or a remote starter switch from under the hood. With the key 'on' it will spark...if it can.

[tman]

Another alternative is the Ballast resistor.  I had the same symptom of the car starting when I crank it.  The engine starts, but as soon as I let go of the key, it died immediately.  Did this over and over.  Before it got to this point, my car would die when Im driving and then start right up.  It got worse where it died at a red light and it would only crank. 
Ruled out fuel problem because it did not sputter when it died.  It was just like you said, dies immediately. 
I finally found my problem.  One of the wires was loose in the terminal that is connected to the ballast resistor.  So another thing to check is the connections to the ballast resistor or the resistor is going bad as it heats up.  So my problem was big, but it was a simple fix. 

[Chryco Psycho]

ECU is possible , have you checked the gap in the dist , it should be .008

[Bullitt-]

2-ideas from personal exp.
   New Ballast Resistor less than $5.00, Mine would start, most of the time sometimes not or would quit for no apparent reason.
   The Big Screw that holds the connector on the ECU was missing on my Duster. Sometimes the car would not start, wiggle the connector & it would...Found a screw to fit, problem solved.

[shadango]

2-ideas from personal exp.
   New Ballast Resistor less than $5.00, Mine would start, most of the time sometimes not or would quit for no apparent reason.
   The Big Screw that holds the connector on the ECU was missing on my Duster. Sometimes the car would not start, wiggle the connector & it would...Found a screw to fit, problem solved.

I have done the ballas tresister thing (I now have a good spare LOL) I guess I could replace the bal;ast again.....but thescrew thing......INTERESTING!  Mine is missing the screw too.....That would be an easy fix.....the connector seems to be on there really tight but who knows, right?  Now, finding a screw that tiny may be a real PITA...LOL

Any chance you remember the dimensions for that screw?