intermitant stalling????

[arizona satellite]

I am working on a 340 and it will stall out while driving and sometimes just idling.i have checked float level and fuel press( electric pump) and that does not seem to be the problem. I notice that the ballast resistor is freaking HOT once it cools down it will start and run. I was thinking of replacing the system with an MSD box. it has the mopar electronic ign in it now( not a mopar performance kit but a stock harness spliced into the original harness. Am I on the right track thinking ign?? it is not a vac leak, fuel overload or at least not that i can tell. the 340 has a rather large cam(unsure of the spec) and a 2500 stall that I dont think is enough for the cam but the motor will stall in park so that eliminates the trans dragging down the motor.

 

[PoppaSmurf]

Just went through the same EXACT thing the last 2 days...lolol Heres what I have found on my ride.. Ballast resistor scalding hot, coil was hot, let car sit 3-5 mins she'd run fine for a short while...anyway if you have an Volt-OHM meter, when cool check resistance across the top 2 lugs of your ballast Resistor with NO wires attached, then check the bottom 2 if applicable..your top lugs should read 1.12-1.40 ohms the lower if applicable should read 0.5-0.6 ohms... if either are out spec Replace...
If it checks out, go to your coil...pull the pos and neg wires off, and pull the coil wire to distrib...meter first, the pos and neg (Primary) it should read 1.5 to 3.5 ohms, Now go to center lug to NEG side of coil (secondary) meter there...should read 9.4k-11.7k ohms... as it was, my problem was the coil was way far from spec...was causing a Major Heating problem all the way bock to the control box and it was shutting down.....My coil was 13 years old.......Hope this helps

 

[arizona satellite]

thanks soooo much, that was what I needed- some direction! LOL I will test them when I get home today.

 

[PoppaSmurf]

Az, if it turns out to be the coil, please lemme know, I may have found a few things that might just help you out, pending just how much of a traditionalist you are...after market stuff that comes HIGHLY recommended, and looks stock... I also have some input for you on the MSD...

 

[PoppaSmurf]

Were you able to take a look at her???:icon_study:

 

[Ron 73]

I just emailed a friend about a similar problem on my truck.. I just want to add that the ballast resister will get hot, i wonder if its not working properly in this case with you, it gives you 12 volts to start your car (crank position) and when the key is in run position its SUPPOSED to kick the voltage down to about 7 volts... if not and your getting a constant 12 volts it possibly could damage the coil, back in the old days guys would by pass the resister and have to replace points all the time, and wonder why .. Im not telling you this is the problem but how and why we have the ballast, and if you know, i apologize for wasting your time. Just my 2 cents guys.. Good luck Arizona... BTW, I have a coil here if you need one... free

 

[PoppaSmurf]

hey Ron did you get my reply to your error code issue ?

 

[Ron 73]

Yes i did , i emailed you back just a couple min ago.. Thanks yes it helped, im waiting on prices from the local Chrysler dealer.. Thanks a bunch, i figured you would know!

 

[70rr-brian]

Just for the record....ballasts are going to be hot. They are essentially reducing voltage under operating conditions by bleeding the voltage off as heat.

 

[PoppaSmurf]

Duely noted and I think everyone is aware....but theres hand warmer hot...and there thermal breakdown, SMOKIN Hot...no pun intended

 

[PoppaSmurf]

AZ satallite, were you able to correct your stalling problem ??????? if so what did it turn out to be....asking so I can close my notebook of problems occured...and use for future refference.. Thanks..

 

[john.thompson068]

I have not read the entire post because I am about to get offline. However, I had a similar problem with my car stopping running when it warmed up and it turned out the pick up coil was bad. I ran the test and the pick up coil failed. I replaced the pick up coil and the problem was solved.

 

[1toolguy]

I also had a similar issue several years ago, it turned out to be the Accel supecoil. There are two of them one that is "universal" and the other for electronic ignitions, I spoke to the Accel tech line and they informed me that the universal one worked for just about everything except Chrysler electronic ignitions.