My MoPar let me down today, but not for too long

[Meep-Meep]

First time ever and I'm sure it didn't mean to! I took my green 66 out to run a few errands and while waiting at a stop light the idle hiccuped a couple of times and died! Yes, this is the car that was running high 12's just a few weeks ago. When I heard the RPM drop briefly (like a miss) I tapped the throttle and the RPM's went up then another hiccup and it quit like I turned off the key. I cranked it while giving it a few pumps and nada. I then popped the hood and saw I had fuel in the carb (wasn't out of gas) and tried to restart and again nothing. Then I pulled the dist cap to have a peek but didn't see anything obvious so I put it back together and checked for spark at coil wire and it was good. Tried to start it again and still nothing. At this point some guy offered to help me push it across the street. Finally out of traffic I popped the dist cap again and saw the carbon tip in the center worn but at the time it didn't look alarming so back together it went. I was going to check for spark at the plug but decided to try and start it again and it fired up and ran like normal! WTF! I drove it back to my shop and when I got there it died again. It restarted right away and did the hiccup thing but it was too dark to dig into it.

Here's what I have: Orange box and the stock black coil that was on the car when I got it. I'm 99.9999% sure it's electrical and sort of want to blame the orange box but need to do some basic tests before I condemn it. My question is: Has anyone had similar issues with their car? Could this be a temperature related issue - as in the orange box get's hot after ~10 mins of driving - not necessarily from engine heat but from the electrons racing around - and crapping out because of a bad component? Screwing around for a few minutes trying to start it might have given the box an opportunity to cool off. Or similar issue with the coil? I will dig into it tomorrow one step at a time and hopefully find the smoking gun. :edgy: Thanks for the input.

 

[Red63440]

I had that problem with a coil many years ago. Once it cooled down it would start right up, run for a little while and die again. Finally changed it out and the problem went away.

 

[70rr-brian]

I will throw this out there. I had a bulkhead connection that was semi corroded that would act like what you are describing. I eventually figured out that if I jiggled the bulkhead connector, the car would fire right up. A few minutes later...same ****. Got home, sprayed electronic cleaner into the connectors, scruffed the pins and haven't had an issue since.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I will throw this out there. I had a bulkhead connection that was semi corroded that would act like what you are describing. I eventually figured out that if I jiggled the bulkhead connector, the car would fire right up. A few minutes later...same ****. Got home, sprayed electronic cleaner into the connectors, scruffed the pins and haven't had an issue since.

When I got the car I did clean every connection in the bulkhead so that wouldn't be my first guess. But I hear ya; that's a real issue with old MoPars.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I had that problem with a coil many years ago. Once it cooled down it would start right up, run for a little while and die again. Finally changed it out and the problem went away.

Good to know. The coil is the one thing I didn't change so I will pop a new one on there and report back. I hope it's that easy!

 

[plymouth67]

coil

Good to know. The coil is the one thing I didn't change so I will pop a new one on there and report back. I hope it's that easy!

I have never had a coil do that. They are either good or bad. I think its prolly the box. I have heard of them doing the same thing you are describeing. Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[A383Wing]

I have had coils do that also...once it cooled down, it started again....

I would replace the coil and also get a spare ECU to keep as a spare in case that orange box goes out...they are prone for failure as well

Bryan

 

[goose69]

That coil thing haunted me before also. Threw me for a loop until I changed it out. Always carried a couple extra parts in the tool box. Rarely needed them but sure handy when I did.