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How to test ignition components.

The left side looked okay.

8395746E-33E7-4E40-8BB9-EC45D36555C6.jpeg


I just squeezed the connection a bit and put the plastic insulator back on.
The right side though…

633BDFC5-15EF-4D30-B819-BEFA73A8F9CB.jpeg


That looks like solder in there. I must have been in here some time ago. I squeezed this one a bit like the other one. The crimp was okay but the end had loosened up a bit and wasn’t a snug fit on the ballast spade.
I put in this ballast:

BFFD444A-D7FA-41B9-8978-B0A9239D61C7.jpeg


It started quickly and idled down right away.
Placebo effect?
I hope not. This resistor has the lowest resistance of every one that I have here and is the one closest to the proper spec.
 
Roger stated in post #37 that corrosion will not affect the resistance.
I don’t know if I disproved that or if something else happened.
This resistor tested dead several times.

View attachment 1704745

It has this on one side:

View attachment 1704747

I did mark it just to remind myself…

View attachment 1704746

But after soaking in this:

View attachment 1704748

It did at least look better. The segment between the terminals has a coiled spring around it. There was a lot of corrosion on it before.
Just for grins, I tested it.

View attachment 1704752

This one tested dead even with me aiming the probes every way I could, scraping the terminals on the front for a clean connection and all. Zero. Now it reads a .8 ??

View attachment 1704753

Now it dropped to a .7. Why?

View attachment 1704755

Regardless, I won’t trust this one to last. I don’t know what I did different. Testing it the same way each time is how you’re supposed to eliminate variables.
What has likely happened is the resistor inside (the actual resistive wire) has broken and is making contact as you apply the test leads occasionally. I have seen them broken before....and by wobbling around you can make contact, but of course the resistor is screwed.....junk.
 
Excellent observation and quite likely.
I’m not willing to trust it.
 
No comment on the clown at this time.
(I reserve the option to comment later as the situation unfolds)
 
Given the rate of inflation, does he still go by the name Pennywise ??
 
Hello again.
I'm curious about how to test ignition components to know if they are good or bad.
Let's say that I buy a box of parts at a swap meet and get them home. Of course I'd want to keep the good stuff and dump the junk.
I take my electrical multi-meter and do an ohms test, right?
Ballast resistors, coils, distributors, ECMs....
Yes. Or as posted here a DVOM Will rule out almost anything by Resistance or Output.
(ASE6)
 
i do stupid stuff all the time, and can't see me stop any time soon !
case in point.........got my charger running last year for the first time since around 2006 or so. ran great ! then, for some reason early this spring, it got to be hard starting, then would run ok, but got to sputtering, banging around and just quit. sometimes it would restart ok, sometimes not. as there was just me, i tried the "usual" trouble shooting techniques, finding nothing amiss, so maybe i got a bad batch of gas ? drained & refilled the tank, and all seemed well, as if the problem was that all along. came to a stop light on main street, and the car quit. pushed it into a parking space, tried to restart it and run the battery down. a couple of guys saw the car and came over to check it out, and were good enough to give me a jump to get going again. car started through the intersection, banged a couple of times, then quit again ! several guys helped me push it through the intersection and into another parking spot, where the car wouldn't start. great ! got another jump, and while the car was trying to start, but not quite getting there, one guy hollered about seeing sparks.......what ??? great ! now it's gonna burn up ???? as the hood is up, and i can't see what is going on, i hop out with the wrench i always carry under the seat to disconnect the battery, so i can keep the fire damage to as minimal as i can ! under the hood, i can't see any "magic smoke", [what a relief !] so i ask where the sparks were coming from ? guy points to under the coil, where the coil wire plugs into. i pull the coil wire, and i discover a slightly loose crimp on the brass connector that has slightly discolored the brass terminal to a brownish color in a line about 1/16" wide, the length of the connector. digging out my trusty,rusty, dull pocket knife, i spread the connector off the coil wire, cut the wire about 1/2" shorter and strip the end, scrape the connector inside and out to shiny brass everywhere, reassemble the coil wire by "crimping" the connector on the wire by bashing the terminal with the end of my pocket knife with the wire laying on the curb. plugged the coil wire back in, and the car lit right off instantly ! amazing ! ran the car back home [only a few blocks], made up a new coil wire [the correct way this time !] and it has been starting and running perfectly ever since ! why didn't i think of this before ? probably a too simple solution, when it should have been something taking much longer to check, such as bad ballast, bad ignition, bad coil, etc.
:rofl:
 
i do stupid stuff all the time, and can't see me stop any time soon !
case in point.........got my charger running last year for the first time since around 2006 or so. ran great ! then, for some reason early this spring, it got to be hard starting, then would run ok, but got to sputtering, banging around and just quit. sometimes it would restart ok, sometimes not. as there was just me, i tried the "usual" trouble shooting techniques, finding nothing amiss, so maybe i got a bad batch of gas ? drained & refilled the tank, and all seemed well, as if the problem was that all along. came to a stop light on main street, and the car quit. pushed it into a parking space, tried to restart it and run the battery down. a couple of guys saw the car and came over to check it out, and were good enough to give me a jump to get going again. car started through the intersection, banged a couple of times, then quit again ! several guys helped me push it through the intersection and into another parking spot, where the car wouldn't start. great ! got another jump, and while the car was trying to start, but not quite getting there, one guy hollered about seeing sparks.......what ??? great ! now it's gonna burn up ???? as the hood is up, and i can't see what is going on, i hop out with the wrench i always carry under the seat to disconnect the battery, so i can keep the fire damage to as minimal as i can ! under the hood, i can't see any "magic smoke", [what a relief !] so i ask where the sparks were coming from ? guy points to under the coil, where the coil wire plugs into. i pull the coil wire, and i discover a slightly loose crimp on the brass connector that has slightly discolored the brass terminal to a brownish color in a line about 1/16" wide, the length of the connector. digging out my trusty,rusty, dull pocket knife, i spread the connector off the coil wire, cut the wire about 1/2" shorter and strip the end, scrape the connector inside and out to shiny brass everywhere, reassemble the coil wire by "crimping" the connector on the wire by bashing the terminal with the end of my pocket knife with the wire laying on the curb. plugged the coil wire back in, and the car lit right off instantly ! amazing ! ran the car back home [only a few blocks], made up a new coil wire [the correct way this time !] and it has been starting and running perfectly ever since ! why didn't i think of this before ? probably a too simple solution, when it should have been something taking much longer to check, such as bad ballast, bad ignition, bad coil, etc.
:rofl:
:rofl: :thumbsup:
 
Roadside fixes for the WIN !
 
Roadside fixes for the WIN !
Bad road-side fixes include;
* Using the foil out of a cigarette packet as a temporary fuse - they rarely get changed back to a real fuse,
* Peeing in the radiator when you've run out of water - it will make your heater smell like a brewery initially, before blowing out.....

Good road-side fixes include;
* Using the spring from a ball-point pen as a temporary centre spring for a distributor cap (I know a Kiwi guy who did this to help a Corvette owner get running again)
* Using a cake of regular hand soap to stop a fuel leak.
 
Testing the MOPAR ELECTRONIC voltage regulator with a DVOM is fruitless. The electronic voltage regulator has several series (internal temperature compensated voltage divider networks) and two NPN transistors in series connected to the main current sinking transistor (grounded emitter) that actually switches, or varies the alternators field voltage. Measuring the two pins externally with a DVOM will not show any defective components inside......test by substitution.....just my opinion of course.....thought you might like to know.....
BOB RENTON
 
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The Dead Dodge Garage series on YouTube. He has a good grasp on the electrical and explains it so we can understand. Also some of his clips are titled to specific electrical troubleshooting.
 
I cannot stand to hear that guy speak. His tone rises and falls multiple times in a sentence and it is extremely annoying.

I think that Mopars are the best but not everyone thinks so except the hardcore guys like me.
 
I cannot stand to hear that guy speak. His tone rises and falls multiple times in a sentence and it is extremely annoying.

I think that Mopars are the best but not everyone thinks so except the hardcore guys like me.
Yep he's about as cool as that Worman guy
 
Looking through my notebooks, I saw that when a ballast resistor failed, about half the time the ECM crapped out too. I wonder if the failing BR somehow led to the early demise of the ECM.
 
Looking through my notebooks, I saw that when a ballast resistor failed, about half the time the ECM crapped out too. I wonder if the failing BR somehow led to the early demise of the ECM.
Oh yes, I would have to agree with a ballast resistor goes down or stops resisting the lower current from the way we figured it out at a Dodge dealership some 35 years ago it underpowers the ECU causing it the ECU itself to work harder and try to draw more current which would cause transistors and diodes to fail and then the ECU would overheat from overworking, and everyone that I ever personally saw stop working, one (without removing a bolt or a screw,)see the gooey looking sap material that seals the electronics running down the firewall/ bulkhead, you can tell right then the ECU was toast.
 
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