Hello again all,

I've made it to the point of the initial start up of the new engine in my Red. Actually, i have procrastinated a bit for the very reason i am here......failure!

Ok. So I filled all the fluids and simply wanted to start the engine by filling the thermoquad with starter fluid. I hooked up a remote starter so i could see and hear everything going on. Very first bump of the starter and it caught and ran for about a second......shorter than i am used to with as much starter fluid as i had sprayed in the carb. no backfire through the carb no ill results. I sprayed the carb again and gave it another go......it spins, makes oil pressure buy no attempt to start. (to be completely honest, i had just installed a new distributor and had forgotten to re-attach plug wire number 1 to the plug).

With all wires attached I tried to start it one more time.....same results, spins, oil pressure.....no attempt to fire.

So i pulled the wire from #1, turned the engine over checking for spark (and typically a sore elbow for a week) first between the wire and the tip of the spark plug and next between the wire and an exhaust manifold bolt. No spark.....no sore arm!

Some other facts. The key was on, the truck was in park. I have replaced everything.....plugs, wires, distributor (stock replacement), coil (accel), ECU from Mancini's, voltage regulator (i did not change the ballast resistor.....should i?)

Other things I have noted: the motor spins over fine with the remote starter connected to the posts on the starter, but when you turn the key to engage the starter, nothing happens but the tachometer needle briefly jumps up to 1000rpm and then settles back down.

its been about 20 years since i've lost sleep and knuckle skin over mopars so I've forgotten more than i care to admit.

Please ask any questions and give me things to check and i will begin the troubleshooting process.

Thank you everyone for your help.

 

There are two souress from the ignition switch, the first one is the crank position and the second is the run position.. So first see if the is voltage at the coil in crank and then in run position.

 

Do you have the key in the run position while trying to start with the remote starter controller? Because it should be.

 

yes.

This truck seized its engine about 20 years ago. I rescued it from a barn, built a new motor.

One concern, it will not crank with the key and I am pretty sure that it did last week when i finally got a battery back in it but wasn't ready to fire it up yet. Now, nothing with the key.

I am concerned I damaged something.

Is there a fuse that could be causing this?

I will check the coil voltages.

 

coil voltage measurements:

standard multimeter DCV

neg lead to ground
pos lead to pos side of coil

Key in "run" position = 5.8v
Ken in "crank" position = 5.8v (no change on the meter at all)

 

Ok, 3 days later and still nothing......this thing is killing me like only a mopar can!

The problem is definitely no spark. A friend stopped by and we swapped out the following: Distributor, ballast resistor, ECU, and coil. Still no spark.

I checked the resistance on the Mancini/Moroso wire set and got the following:
28" wire = 12.5k ohms
36" wire = 14.3k ohms

That seemed really high to me so I went and bought a parts store plug wire set ......same measurements.

After a little light reading on line i have taken the following voltage readings. From what I have read, everything seems reasonably in tolerance (or am I mistaken).
There is absolutely no spark at the spark plug. What the hell could it be? Yikes, its so frustrating!

Thanks again for any help.

**Not on the drawing but the pick-up coil reads about 380 ohms.

 

Did you check the points and replace the resister?

 

Hook A jumper wire up from the battery + and go straight to the I1 on the ballast resistor and see if the spark is better? This should give the ECU the 12 volts it needs. Report back. Also, Make sure the ECU box is grounded well to the metal.