Yet another ballast question, maybe different this time

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furyus2

furyus2

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Ok guys, I built my 69 Dart over 10 years ago. 340 swinger.
It has run flawlessly the whole time. When I built the car, I installed a electronic ignition kit from Direct Connection. I think the kit was from the 80's.
So, it has a single ballast. I went to drive it today, after sitting for a couple months. Started it up, and it died. Swapped another ballast, and it started again, and died again. I looked at the back of the ballast, and the windings were red hot.
So, I know that the ballast is getting fried. I need to know why? Is there anything that would cause it to fry 2 resistors?Thanks.
 
Did you use a VOM on the ballasts to determine they are bad? Getting red hot is normal.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Did you use a VOM on the ballasts to determine they are bad? Getting red hot is normal.
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I haven't started looking yet. I had to winch it back into the garage. After that, I left it for when I have some idea where to start. I know hot is normal, but I question is red hot, and smoking normal?
 
furyus2 said:
I haven't started looking yet. I had to winch it back into the garage. After that, I left it for when I have some idea where to start. I know hot is normal, but I question is red hot, and smoking normal?
Click to expand...
Sometimes. If it had some grease or dirt or something on it, yeah. I would check the ground at the ECU box and make SURE it's grounded good.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Sometimes. If it had some grease or dirt or something on it, yeah. I would check the ground at the ECU box and make SURE it's grounded good.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will check that.
Will an ECU still start the car if it is defective? Because whatever is wrong, the car ran for about 20 seconds each time, and then shut off, but the ballast didn't stop being red hot, and smoking, until I disconnected the battery.
 
The ballast feeds the coil not the electronic box.

Screenshot_20240127-175633.png


The ballast will get hot but should never get "red hot"

I suspect a bad coil or a shorted wire between the ballast and the coil positive.

Disconnect the positive coil wire from the coil. Put some tape on it so it can not short to anything.

Remove the same wire from the ballast and check with a multimeter to see if there is a short to ground on the ballast end of the wire.

If it shows OL (or whatever your meter shows when measuring resistance and the leads are not touching anything) than the wire is ok

Next would be to reattach the wire to the ballast and turn the key to run.

If the ballast gets hot than there is something behind the ballast making contact with it to the body.
 
Dana67Dart said:
The ballast feeds the coil not the electronic box.

View attachment 1716198451

The ballast will get hot but should never get "red hot"

I suspect a bad coil or a shorted wire between the ballast and the coil positive.

Disconnect the positive coil wire from the coil. Put some tape on it so it can not short to anything.

Remove the same wire from the ballast and check with a multimeter to see if there is a short to ground on the ballast end of the wire.

If it shows OL (or whatever your meter shows when measuring resistance and the leads are not touching anything) than the wire is ok

Next would be to reattach the wire to the ballast and turn the key to run.

If the ballast gets hot than there is something behind the ballast making contact with it to the body.
Click to expand...
Thanks, very helpful
 
I agree with Dana's observation. A bad ground would not cause this; you would actually need a very good grd to pull enough current to get the BR red hot/smoking. There is a good chance that the box is damaged as well as a result.
 
First, a big thank you to those who replied.
Second, the problem turned out to be the choke wire slipped off the terminal, and was grounding out. I went through everything and made sure it was all good. Oddly, the first ballast resistor didn't fail. But I am going to get a couple spares.
 
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