loose wire ????????

[HEMIHUNTER]

71 barracuda vert.   318/904    car starts and runs fine.....10 min later just stops running but with full elec. and fuel to carb.      turns over endlessly and pumps gas to carb....   move wires around, take off dist. cap   put back car runs fine for 1 min and turns off.......  has MOPAR electronic ignition and new (but old) distributer, when i took off the cap and grabbed the toothed sprocket the lower assembly moves...is this normal....

[Jamiez]

Ballast resistor and the coil are common failure points,  both are easy to swap and relatively cheap.  I'd probably start with the resistor.

[tman]

Check wire connection to Ballast resistor.  Slightly pull on the wires to it.  That's what happened to me.  They look secure, but when I slightly tugged on one of them, the wire came right out.  I retightened the wire down and even soldered it together.  Problem went away.  It was not a pleasant experience with my car dying in the middle of somewhere until I fixed the problem.  As suggested, coil and/or ballast could be the problem if the wires are tight. 

[HEMIHUNTER]

tomorrow its off to the auto parts store to get a coil and resistor.... any idea if the internals of the actual distributer should move to the touch, ie the  magnet

[Strawdawg]

the pick up should not move

and it should have the correct clearance from the lobes...

[ShelbyDogg]

The insides of the distributor move. When you turn the rotor  and reluctor side to side, you are moving the advance weights against the springs and the stops. This is normal.

The pickup and plate also move when the vacuum advance is sucked in, then released. You can watch it move by sucking on the hose with your cheeks, then holding the vacuum with your tongue.

As soon as it stops, plug a spare distributor on to the connector. Pull the center cap wire and lay it next to ground, then spin the distribitor shaft. If you get sparks, it is the pickup in your old distro.

[Chryco Psycho]

I have often seen the pick up coil in the dist fail as it warms up also

[HEMIHUNTER]

Sorry for the delay in responding huge health issues but all good now anyway I took the car to my mechanic buddy and he found a loose wire behind the distributor such a simple fix

[Topcat]

Good to hear and welcome back.

[dodj]

Took your mechanic 3 years to find that wire?!?