Hi,

I just installed the mopar upgrade kit in my charger. Goofed at first and had the blue gray wire running to the wrong side of the ballast, but thats fixed now.

It ran ok for a few minutes, then I shut it off and didn't run it again until the next day. It will only fire when the key is turned to "start". When you let go and the starter disengages the motor shuts down.

Figured the alternator was bad (it was) so replaced that. Put in another new regulator (electronic), and that didn't fix it. Tried the starter relay from my Ramcharger and that didn't fix it (relay works in the truck).

The car does run with the alternator field wires disconnected.

I'm baffled. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks!

John D

_________________
1968 Dodge Charger 225 a833 OD
1962 Valiant 170 2 door post car
1962 Valiant Signet (junker right now)
1962 Valiant Signet, one owner car, waiting for me to pick it up. Scratch that-got it!

Sounds like a bad ballast.

Quick test: run a jumper wire connecting both sides of the ballast. If it runs that's your problem. (don't run very long)

_________________
Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Not directly related to your question, but be advised that if you installed the Mopar "Performance" electronic ignition kit, with the orange box, P3690789, the distributor's advance curves are poorly suited for street driving and you'll want to recurve.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I'll try the ballast bypass right away. I hope thats it! I'm dieing to run around in this thing.

Dan, thanks for the warning. I was reading posts about it when I was searching for help earlier. The kit was not the "perfromance" kit as far as I know. I got it from Scott at Moparts, found him through an ebay listing. He puts together the old kit from a rebuilt distributor and the harness from mopar performance. I got the regular blue box, and when I talked to him he said nothing about the distributor being a performance model.

Thanks guys! Let you know if it works.

John D

_________________
1968 Dodge Charger 225 a833 OD
1962 Valiant 170 2 door post car
1962 Valiant Signet (junker right now)
1962 Valiant Signet, one owner car, waiting for me to pick it up. Scratch that-got it!

Ballast was not the problem. Stopped and got a new one. Tried it with new, old, and no resistor. The car won't even run for a second like it did before. I'll test the coil next.

Any other ideas? Thanks!

John

_________________
1968 Dodge Charger 225 a833 OD
1962 Valiant 170 2 door post car
1962 Valiant Signet (junker right now)
1962 Valiant Signet, one owner car, waiting for me to pick it up. Scratch that-got it!

John,

I made the conversion you have made and are having trouble with. I don't have access to a wiring diagram for a '76 but have had to study several near that age because I replaced ALL wirng in my '64 vehicle and needed to know what Mopar was thinking about how to control various things. Along the way I got myself into your situation of run with starter, not run at "run" on the switch. (As aside, it is interesting you run at "run" with no alternator, but not with.) So"

Next I would take out the ignition switch and with an VOM see where continuity or power is going across your switch from "off" to "run" to "st"
Draw a pic of the switch back and the wires and their color and size. This will be useful in the long run anyway.

Remember,i If it runs it has fuel and air, unless the air and fuel you have last only long enough for you to release the key from "start" and fall back to r"run" ...possible but not probable.

After checking the switch I would follow the wires I now knew were concerned with the run and start circuits. Get a remote start switch and jump across your relay. Put your key in "run" then with alternator in circuit try and start it. Try again with alternator out. I have had to "rebuild" an ignition switch by removing all the terminals from the plastic block on the back, adding new wires to new terminals and puting them back in. This is actually easier to do than write about.

What is supposed to be going on is your switch stops recharge so you can
get full battery output at start, then as run comes in, a diversion occurs so the alternator can recharge the battery. You need to put a VOM on your wires under hood to see what voltages are where, when.
rock
'64d100

Finally responding.

Got the car running with help of a repro engine harness from year one. Put it on and the car sprang to life. The problems before are still a bit mysterious, although the neutral safety switch wires came off when I drove it around a bit, so they may have added to the confusion.

Thanks for the replies!

John D

_________________
1968 Dodge Charger 225 a833 OD
1962 Valiant 170 2 door post car
1962 Valiant Signet (junker right now)
1962 Valiant Signet, one owner car, waiting for me to pick it up. Scratch that-got it!