Electric problems with a mopar 440
 

Hi there,

I'm new in forum and in mopar too from Majorca, Spain. I recently bought a Jensen Interceptor with a 440. Well the problem is that it has been a cut-paste car in electrical system. Mallory distributor....burnt wires.....burnt voltage regulator.... Well, with original diagrams i placed everything correctly and once I run the engine ive seen distributor burn on exhaust....i place timming and everything ok then, when i run it again ive lost spark. I dont understand why. from the ignition key i have 12v. then from the electronic ignition device to ballast resistor i only have 1,5v :yikes: and ballast resistor overheats. And, at the coil I only receive 8,5 volts. I dont understand nothing. Maybe Electronic device is burnt to?

Thanks a lot for your help.
Luis

the main Q to be answered is WHICH mallory system you have. IMHO swap to the Chrysler electronic ignition. here is an idea. make the chrysler electronic ignition just like it is in a chrysler. that diagram is on the internet easy to find. and keep the Jensen the way it should be. be sure any wiring connections are done right. and any dead end wires are don right.

you measure this with engine off? normal

Better yet, go to a point distributor ... much easier to trouble shoot.


The electronics work better when they actually work, but when they don't ... it gets messy.


Tell us more about the Interceptor? Is it an Interceptor III or is in an SP? If III, is the engine original (8.2:1) or is it rebuilt with higher compression ratio?


D

This is not a complicated fix depending on the distributor your using. If it's Mallory Unilite you need to determine if it's operating correctly. Go to Mallory's site to find your distributor and the FAQ's related. Do not overlook the ignition switch as you have one voltage to the distributor in "start" and a different voltage in "run" position. "Start" bypasses the ballast or so it's suppose to. Better yet, get rid of the "problem" stuff and stream line the ignition system with a " ballastless coil" and rewire. It is not recommended to use any electronic OEM boxes with either certain Mallory or MSD ignition systems so you need to find out just exactly what equipment you have. The car obviously ran when you bought it so something's gone south. I've included a link to a coil that needs no ballast below.

http://mallory-ignition.com/ignition...tyle-coil.html

Messing around with fixing by parts substitution can get expensive so do it once and do it right.