318 won't stay running

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72demon96

72demon96

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anna IL
hello all I was driving my 72 demon with 318 I was driving down the highway and it died. It will fire up but has soon has it starts it dies what do you guys think could be wrong
Thanks
 
bypass ballast for a few minutes. see what happens.
 
72demon96 said:
It has electronic ignition
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Do you smell gas....?
Check the needle and seat, maybe flooded it.
Wait. You said driving down the highway it died...if you have no spark...and you're cranking it over depressing the peddle ...you should smell gas if the fuel pump I working.
 
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MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Do you smell gas....?
Check the needle and seat, maybe flooded it.
Wait. You said driving down the highway it died...if you have no spark...and you're cranking it over depressing the peddle ...you should smell gas if the fuel pump I working.
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don't smell gas i messed with the wiring and after it cooled off it fired right up
 
I had an aftermarket tach once that went bad. Would kill the car and after sitting, fire right up. Thought I had a vapor lock issue at first.
 
72demon96 said:
D

don't smell gas i messed with the wiring and after it cooled off it fired right up
Click to expand...

Guess you know where to start looking...
Sort of. "It cooled off" sounds like component overheating, maybe. Messed with the wiring...well if it were that, it'd fire right up with no needed cool down time.
 
Check the wiring around the ballast resistor and replace the ballast. A failed or disconnected ballast resistor shows exactly the symptoms you describe.

Don't get just any ballast; the resistance is critical in the Mopar system. The MSD 0.8 ohm ballast is close to the OEM ballast. The next best commonly found ballast is a BWD RU19, but you should try to get the OEM (eBay) or MSD.
 
Yeah, the easy stuff. From what I recall, the OP says it starts and runs for a while, then dies. Would a ballast do that? My experience with ballasts is that #1 you carry a spare in the glove box, # 2 when they go, they go, they burn out causing an open in the circuit. The car will start, when you release they key to run, it stalls. Reading post # 1 this is a possibility.
 
Dartswinger70 said:
Yeah, the easy stuff. From what I recall, the OP says it starts and runs for a while, then dies. Would a ballast do that? My experience with ballasts is that #1 you carry a spare in the glove box, # 2 when they go, they go, they burn out causing an open in the circuit. The car will start, when you release they key to run, it stalls. Reading post # 1 this is a possibility.
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Well if it starts and idles for a while, that's not likely to be a ballast. But that is not what post #1 indicates. Post #1 definitely points to an overheated ballast.Or an overheated connection somewhere in the primary wiring. Or an overheated coil.
However,post #18 now adds the possibility of the float bowl running out of fuel.There is an easy test to eliminate one or the other.

So now, all previous helps are back on the table.
 
And it depends on exactly what the OP's word means; if it starts and dies immediately upon releasing the key from START to RUN, then it's the ballast. If it starts and runs after the key is released, and then slowly dies off, then it is likely fuel.
 
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