71 ROADRUNNER NO START ISSUES

[LowBikeMike]

The ballast resistor will get hot. Its just a coiled wire set in a ceramic insulator. Normal.

 

[TURBOSCHILZ]

Okay, well mine does seem to be there and in fair working condition, worked flawlessly yesterday. Perhaps it just needs some time to work back in, I'm sure the car had been sitting an easy 20-30 years before I rescued it, pics attached. As of yesterday, the car is almost back to 100%. I have just two last remaining issues, the tach won't work and the hood turn signals won't work. Not originally a tach car but someone had already installed a tach cluster in it, just had no wiring to it. It now has the correct wiring running thru slot #20 in the bulkhead connector as instructed, but hasn't moved. Being run thru the bulkhead connector, is it not supposed to tie into the fuse panel somehow? Hood signals are also brand new and simply don't work. One of the originals did work before I restored the car. I assume these ground thru their connection to the hood, yes? Could it just be too much paint between the two? I did scrape off a little to see if it helped, no go.

 

[TURBOSCHILZ]

Oh and thanks Mike about the ballast resistor, that one did have me worried a bit...lol...

 

[71Beeper]

Is the tach an original 7 grand tach or is it a re-pop 8 grand tach?

 

[TURBOSCHILZ]

Just a standard old 7k original.

 

[AllanLindberg]

So the ole 71 has been giving me some issues as of late, could sure use some help figuring it out. First off, purchased the car as basically a barn find, in horrible rusty shape. Engine is still all original but car has been completely restored since. Ever since I got the old engine started, seems to run great, but restarting it has always been an issue, the starter just spins, but it acts like it's going to start fire every time, in fact if you leave the clutch in, throttle to the floor, the car almost stays running as long as the starter is engaged like it's keeping it running, but once you let off the key, it dies immediately. Carb seems to be getting plenty of fuel, according to the timing light, all cylinders are firing. New cap, rotor, points, coil, regulator, starter and solenoid. Anybody have an idea what else it could be? Am I missing something?

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Hi there. My gut feeling is that it is rich in fuel/air ratio when warm. You write that you have the pedal to the floor, which is good when starting a warm engine, but is it constantly kept to the floor or does the pedal get pressed and released and pressed again. If you have´nt already tried it, put the pedal all the way down and keep it there. It will help an overly fuel rich motor every time which warm motors have a strong tendency to be most of the time. Some aircraft piston engines are started warm starts with the throttles full wide open and the mixture control lever to engine cut off. Then as it fires, the throttle has to come back and the mixture control must be moved from "engine cut off" towards "rich". Have flown a lot of piston single and twin engine airplanes in my youth, therefor I know this little trick with which I have helped a few vintage car owners that have "excercised" the gas pedal trying to start their warm motor, which only aggravates the overcarburation situation they´re in.

 

[70chall440]

Okay, well mine does seem to be there and in fair working condition, worked flawlessly yesterday. Perhaps it just needs some time to work back in, I'm sure the car had been sitting an easy 20-30 years before I rescued it, pics attached. As of yesterday, the car is almost back to 100%. I have just two last remaining issues, the tach won't work and the hood turn signals won't work. Not originally a tach car but someone had already installed a tach cluster in it, just had no wiring to it. It now has the correct wiring running thru slot #20 in the bulkhead connector as instructed, but hasn't moved. Being run thru the bulkhead connector, is it not supposed to tie into the fuse panel somehow? Hood signals are also brand new and simply don't work. One of the originals did work before I restored the car. I assume these ground thru their connection to the hood, yes? Could it just be too much paint between the two? I did scrape off a little to see if it helped, no go.

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Reference your lights, you need a power probe so that you can apply power to the light in place and see if it works before anything else. If it does then there is either a ground problem or a power problem, just need to play with it until you figure it out. I believe that they do ground through the hood but is the hood providing a good ground via the springs? Point is that scraping the paint under the light is fine but that doesn't mean that the hood is making contact.

 

[TURBOSCHILZ]

Okay, thank you for that. I did get the hood signals figured out yesterday and it was indeed too much paint between them and the hood metal for ground. Only thing left is the tach, it just simply doesn't work, power is plugged into yellow acc plug, ground goes thru bulkhead #20 and out to negative side of coil. What am I missing? Does it need to splice into the fuse panel perhaps?

 

[70chall440]

Do you have a wiring diagram?

 

[TURBOSCHILZ]

Do you have a wiring diagram?

This is what I have.

 

[70chall440]

Ok so you have at least that diagram which shows that the T11 wire (which is the signal wire) goes to cavity #20 on the BH and then out to the negative side of the coil. The other wire T13 is a "feed" wire and should go to a keyed 12V source, meaning that it is hot when the key is on.

First check for power on T13 which is a dark blue wire connected to a yellow accessory junction. I don't know if the tach requires a ground but I would assume it does and would get one through the instrument cluster in some way (I would have to and look at a cluster to be sure and I am sure someone here will chime in), but you could also try and connect a wire to it or even just touch it and ground the other end. The feed side is pretty straight forward but you might get a continuity tester and test all of the wires to make sure that they are in fact making contact.

If it is getting power, the ground isn't an issue and the feed wire is connected then the tach is broken.

 

[GFuller]

I would like to get in this conversation as well. My 69 RR 383 is giving me trouble as well starting. A number of months back I changed the spark plug wires, plugs, distributor cap, and coil expecting for more performance. My car has always been hard to start when cold with a number of pumps to kick it off. But warmed up, I only had to hit the key one time and she would crank fine. I have noticed that it had gotten progressively harder to crank and even just dies on occasions. Over the past month when I go to crank her she just turns over and over and does not fire. I am baffled at her problem. I checked voltage at the coil with key in run position. I am getting anywhere from 5 - 7 volts. Is that what I should expect. I have not fooled with ballast resistor and not sure how old it is. Could it be a timing issue?

 

[GFuller]

Carrying further with my situation, I checked with key on and on the single wire side of ballast resistor and got 9.5 volts. On other side was 7.44 volts. At the coil positive side was 7.06 volts. As well, pulled one spark plug and as it turned over, got fire at plug. I am leaning to distributor or timing issue. Any thoughts?

 

[Don Frelier]

You should have battery voltage from the ignition side of the ballast.
Pull the bulkhead connector apart and check/clean the contacts.

 

[TURBOSCHILZ]

If you haven't replaced the ballast resistor, I would start there. Mine slowly got worse as time went on, replaced the ballast and it starts way better than it has in some time.

 

[70chall440]

Carrying further with my situation, I checked with key on and on the single wire side of ballast resistor and got 9.5 volts. On other side was 7.44 volts. At the coil positive side was 7.06 volts. As well, pulled one spark plug and as it turned over, got fire at plug. I am leaning to distributor or timing issue. Any thoughts?

Start with the basics and a known position meaning do not start twisting the distributor unless you are sure there is an issue. If it ran before you did something and then didn't after you did something, then you need to go back to whatever you did and make sure it is correct. It is possible that something took a crap after you did the work but you need to prove that before just randomly turning screws, moving the distributor, etc. If you don't have a FSM, get a download and look up the ignition system, there is a lot of good info in them.

You said you replaced the cap and wires? Did this include loosening or moving the distributor? If not then this is not your issue since it ran before. If you did move the distributor then you need to start from scratch, get the motor to TDC on the #1 on the compression stroke, then rotate the distributor so that the rotor is under the #1 spark plug wire terminal.

Recheck the firing order, inspect and check all of the wires. From your description it sounds like you were having some carb and ignition issues from the beginning, you need to address these as separate systems and address them under their own merits meaning the carb probably needs a kit, the fuel filter might need replacement, the fuel pump could be weak, etc. You have already put parts into the ignition system so spend some time making sure that is sorted correctly, oh and the ballast resistor is always suspect! They usually work quite awhile but when they go they can cause fits.