Orange/Chrome Box ?s

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DartGTDan

DartGTDan

'71 Dart GT Fan
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Is it possible for the electronic ignition orange/chrome box to be intermittent? Or once it's dead it cannot be revived?

I ask because a friend has the chrome box on his A100 pick-up (360, Edelbrock Torker 340 (single plane), Edelbrock 750, unknown headers, 727, 8 3/4" with 3.55 sure-grip).

After driving the vehicle (city or freeway) it reaches a certain temperature and sputters/farts/dies. However, it will re-start immediately (put into Neutral after the sputter/fart/die, turn the key & start, and drop back into Drive and wait for it to do it again). It will continue this scenario until it is parked/cooled for a while then repeat as you hit that certain temperature (no actual gauge just the C-H range).

At first I thought "vapor lock" but the immediate re-start kind of shoots that theory.

He's tried wrapping the headers, re-routing & insulating the fuel line, and using the doghouse evacuation fan (not sure if the fan is a factory or previous owner install).

The vehicle has never puked the radiator fluid during this scenario.

Any ideas? The Woodward Dream Cruise is coming up in August and he wants to be able to drive the silly thing.
 
A temperature related intermitant failure is fairly common. It could me the ballast resistor, coil, pick-up in the distributor, the ecu or the wiring. These problems can be difficult to diagnose. I would stop by your local Radio Shack and pick up a can of freeze spray and grab the hair drier and alternately heat and cool the mentioned parts and see if you can force it to happen.
 
dgc333 said:
A temperature related intermitant failure is fairly common. It could me the ballast resistor, coil, pick-up in the distributor, the ecu or the wiring. These problems can be difficult to diagnose. I would stop by your local Radio Shack and pick up a can of freeze spray and grab the hair drier and alternately heat and cool the mentioned parts and see if you can force it to happen.
Click to expand...

Hey..... thats a good Idea. Ill remember that one, my sons been having trouble with is boat.
 
Check the studs on the back of the amp gauge also. See if the wires are loose or if one of the posts has turned brown meaning the swedge in the gauge has come loose.(gets hot, looses contact) My truck has gone through 2 gauges so now I have it bypassed.
 
I bought a brand new orange box a number of years ago. It was DOA. The dealer said no warranty whatsoever on "P" parts. I took it to the nats and showed it to Larry Shepard. He said each one is tested and it couldn't possibly be defective. It still hangs on my garage wall as a souvenir.
 
My dodge 360 pick up is doing this as well, but takes a sec. To fire back up. I'm going to start with the coil as it just looks old compared to the orange box.
 
The chrome box is WAY too hot for the street. It can overheat a coil in a jiffy.
 
Had the same thing happen to my 74 Challenger (Chrome Box), replaced the box all fixed. Oh almost forgot took the box to NAPA and they tested it, and said it was bad.
 
StrokerScamp said:
The chrome box is WAY too hot for the street. It can overheat a coil in a jiffy.
Click to expand...

The chrome ecu (nor does the orange or gold ecus) does not have the ability to cause a coil to fail. The performance ecu's have the ability to handle more current than a stock ecu thus they won't overheat and burn out when mated to a low resistance high perfromance coil and ballast resistor.

The chrome ecu is not recomended for street use when mated with the mopar perfromance coil and that coils ballast resistor because the coil could fail due to heat from long periods of idling and low speed operation. But mated with a coil and ballast intended for street use the ecu will run fine.

The ecu is nothing more than an electronic switch that turns the current flow through the coil on and off.
 
chrome box needs 1/4 ohm resistor

My stock resistor failed .............. died just after leaving driveway

Going to put my orange box back on

Chrome box isn't designed to be run on the street

no clue why it is doing what it is doing
 
I got carried away - I actually like the chrome & gold ECU and enjoy the chats about them.
 
FYI, it ended up being a pinched, nearly severed, distributor harness. I built and installed an overlay harness and it ran perfectly.

This is one of the last pictures I got of it before he sold it!

DSCN7092-John's A100.jpg
 
I gave up on the Mopar boxes. MSD now. Too many of thos swap boxes tend to die. When I used them I would ad a ground wire at one of the mounting holes. Grounding seems to be the major culprit. That and made in China
 
dart4forte said:
I gave up on the Mopar boxes. MSD now. Too many of thos swap boxes tend to die. When I used them I would ad a ground wire at one of the mounting holes. Grounding seems to be the major culprit. That and made in China
Click to expand...
dart4forte said:
I gave up on the Mopar boxes. MSD now. Too many of thos swap boxes tend to die. When I used them I would ad a ground wire at one of the mounting holes. Grounding seems to be the major culprit. That and made in China
Click to expand...
Ten 4 , yes any made in china are junk the min they are made !!!
We talking about the [REAL] Mopar ones which were US made and then made in Mexico toward the end of production.
 
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