Not Getting 12 Volts at Coil
that makes me think,,its gonna be pricy to get it back
I was told $1068.00. See below. Now you know why I was spent so much time asking for abodiesonly member's help. OUUUUUCH!
At 4:30 this afternoon, I received a phone call from the mechanic who has had my Dart for the past two weeks. Many of you who have followed my posts know the headache and time I put into getting this car to run. Unfortunately I could not get to the shop before 5:00 close, so it will be Monday before I retrieve the car.
The mechanic is Eric. He is in his early fifties and claims he is familiar with the 74 cars. The first thing he told me was the car would not crank because the ECU was dead. He had to replace it. Very odd. Two days before I took the car to him I put a brand new Standard Bluestreak 5 pin ECU on the car. This was the third ECU I tried in many months of attempting to get the car to run. He put in the fourth ECU and disconnected the wiring connector that plugs into the seatbelt interlock unit on the driver side fender between the ballast resistor and the wiper fluid bottle and the engine fired and ran. He told me he reinstalled my Bluestreak ECU and it would not fire. He seems to think the Bluestreak went bad because he thinks there is a short in the seatbelt interlock unit and I probably ruined the Bluestreak by many attempted cranks prior to taking the car to him. He advised me not to re-plug the interlock unit for fear it may short the fourth (good) ECU.
Does this sound correct? Could that damn interlock short out three previous ECUs?
He also changed the neutral safety switch. I'm not sure if it was the switch or the plug. I'll find out Monday.
One think that struck me as odd was Eric mentioned the car would crank yet not fire until he disabled the interlock unit. Many of you will remember that in 1974 (and a short time for the 75 models) you had to fasten your seatbelt in order to start the engine. If you turned the key off, you had to unfasten the belt and then fasten it again prior to cranking. Eric did not know this and he never unfastened and rebuckled the seatbelt. I used to hate that damn interlock, however I never disconnected it. I just plugged the middle passenger belt (bench seat) into the driver buckle to start the engine.
As strange as this may sound to many of you, I want that interlock unit to work properly. I want to reconnect it, however if Eric is correct that doing so will fry the ECU, then I will not reconnect it. Anybody know if Eric is right?
