lost the fire

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marksmopars

marksmopars

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I just put a newly rebuilt 340 in my car, running through breakin nicely, putting a few miles on it to get bugs out. Get brakes to work properly and all that stuff, ran to a local show at Blacksmith Lounge for a few hours, when I got home I had a leak valley gasket in front. I cleaned it up and blew some sealer on the gasket to seal it, or try to. Let the car sit over night to let the sealer dry, now I have no spark, I am flustered and hoping someone out there can point me in a reasonable direction, it is thursday and mopars in the park is on Saturday about an hours drive away.:violent1:
 
Recount your steps, on re - assembly first.After that,what setup are you running?
 
The car is a 1970 challenger with modifications to utilize the mopar mag pick up system. I drove the car into the garage, it ran nicely, just leaked a little oil. Worked on the oil leak and then no spark. The engine is a 340 6 pak the car is my avatar. other information needed? The fire wall connector is 1970 i.e 40 years old and has been problematic.
 
do you have another EI box you can plug in? it might be that simple if you have power going in. i always keep extras around to try if need be. do you have power at the coil? are your grounds good?
 
You have to check the voltage on the output of the ballast resistor, also check the voltage on the input of the coil. To do this the ignition key must be in the run position. My opinion is the "brain" (ignition module) is toast. Try reseating the plug on it. Does it try to fire when your starting it?
 
Robbie2734 said:
You have to check the voltage on the output of the ballast resistor, also check the voltage on the input of the coil. To do this the ignition key must be in the run position. My opinion is the "brain" (ignition module) is toast. Try reseating the plug on it. Does it try to fire when your starting it?
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No fire, held the spark plug in my hand zilch. I have voltage at the coil and at the brain box. The ignition module or brain box got washed with hot oil as a result of my leak, I am thinking this is the source of the problems, will try to find one local? Difficulty is this is a hybrid installation and doesn't have the dual ballast resister, but has functioned for years like that so don't see a problem with it, but what you don't know can be frustrating and expensive.
 
marksmopars said:
No fire, held the spark plug in my hand zilch. I have voltage at the coil and at the brain box. The ignition module or brain box got washed with hot oil as a result of my leak, I am thinking this is the source of the problems, will try to find one local? Difficulty is this is a hybrid installation and doesn't have the dual ballast resister, but has functioned for years like that so don't see a problem with it, but what you don't know can be frustrating and expensive.
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dont take this the wrong way but have you pulled the coil wire out of the distributor to ground and checked for spark?
 
"No spark" is fairly easy to trouble-shoot. Connect an in-line spark tester ($4) from coil output to gnd or try the old "hold coil lead 1/8" from metal approach. Disconnect wires on coil- and install a wire. With +12V on coil+, connect coil- to gnd briefly and remove. You should see a spark. If not, verify that coil+ when the wire is grounded is 7 V or more. If not, suspect the ballast or the coil. If spark is good, reconnedt the ECU. It's only job is to short coil- to gnd as you did (and sense the mag teeth). Maybe try that from its connector. I think the ECU case must be grounded. Longer-term, consider replacing the Mopar box w/ an HEI module and losing the ballast. In your current setup, the 2 pin ballast is fine as long as you use a later 4-pin ECU or a 5-pin where the 5th pin is a fake (goes nowhere, test with multimeter).
 
All - I want to extend my thanks for your support here. After checking as you all have suggested I found things were as they should be, but no spark. Did try the coil direct still no spark. I purchased a new control module and my car is alive again. Look for me at Farmington tomorrow, I will bring my avatar as my means of transport, hoping to get there before they do their challenger thing at 2. My car will be in the display only area as I have not had opportunities to even clean it properly. I think BillGrissom has presented a good idea here for me and I would like to pursue, perhaps I can convince him to tutor me through what is needed to achieve the transition. Please accept my sincere thanks for all your support.
Mark
 
I had the same issue, turns out my ignition box was good. The box case need a chassis ground to function. My car started and ran fine your years then one day nothing. Spent days testing only to find that it needed a better ground.
 
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