Hi Everyone

A friend of mine has a Dodge Dart 1977 4 door sedan, 318 V8 with automatic transmission. The car is great but has a problem, usually when anyone is driving it the car suddenly turns off. Some "experts" told to my friend that the problem could be the automatic transmission but it works well and shifts fine

What could be the problem?

Thanks

 

Your Dart is probably a 70-75 77 was the Aspen. When it stops ? Does it restart right away ?? When it stops. Check the carb for fuel-work the throttle with the motor off. Then check for spark- Carry an extra spark plug, when it quits hook up the spare plug and check for spark.
A sudden stop is probably electrical. I would be very surprised if it was the trans, the trans would have to lock up and the tires would skid

 

If you have an ohmeter there is a 2 prong plug on the distributor. Measure across the two prongs it should be between 380 - 580 ohms resistance. If it is under that buy a new magnetic pickup for the distributor and put it in.

 

Hi and thank you for read my post.

When the car stops it restarts again well. I too think the problem could be electrical but some days the car works fine and not stops and other days it suddenly stops some times while he's driving it

I'll check it with my ohmeter

 

Sounds to me like a South American Dart, which would make it a '77. Probably built on the early 70's Valiant platform. It may not have electronic ignition.

 

TVLynn gave some good advice. Determining if it's spark or fuel is about the first step.

I would start by examining the distributor internally for obvious wear, IE shaft side to side slop. There is a setting to adjust the pickup coil to reluctor clearance using a brass feeler gauge at .008" That's inches, not mm.

Pull all connectors, the one at the distributor, the connector off the ignition box and off the ballast resistor. "Work" them in/ out to scrub the connections clean, and to "feel" for tightness. Examine them internally for tightness

The igniton box MUST see a good ground. Remove the box, scrape around the bolt holes on the firewall and box, and remount. Use star type lock washers if you can get them.

 

Had a very similar problem in another make that was traced to a worn ignition key cylinder. The weight of many keys and the normal wear actually caused the ignition to "turn off" when driving. It always restarted right away.

Something to consider.

 

yes, is a Colombian Dodge Dart 1977 (same specs of US Dodge dart).

The car has an electronic ignition from a Jeep Grand Cherokee 1994 V8 318


Hmmmm If I´m right, some months ago the ignition key cylinder had problems but my friend fixed it. How can we check if this key cylinder is working properly?