I thought about that and hope it isn't that. I really don't want to replace the flywheel. On top of that, apparently this is a "custom billet steel flywheel" as the shop that had my car who brought a Centerforce rep out couldn't figure out that they could use a 340 flywheel on an internally balanced 408 despite me telling them 3 times.
I might be late to the party, but sounds like you have a starter solenoid (occasionally) sticking, choke hanging up / set incorrectly , and / or too rich carburetor settings.
BTW.....way to hang with it, hot rods can be as fickle as a high school prom queen.
I hope the solenoid is sticking and not flywheel teeth missing. When I took it to Autozone, they tested it 4 times (obviously without load on the teeth) and it engaged every time.
As for the choke, right now it's open, but nothing is holding it open. I have to find a rod to place on the thing to leave it open. Before, my manual choke cable wouldn't allow the choke to open completely only leaving me with a half-open choke for about a year. I'm assuming that caused my black spark plugs.
Yeah, the Dart is definitely an attention *insert bad word of choice here*. Whenever she goes to a car show and she gets all of the attention, she seems to do great. Whenever it's time to go to work or go for a cruise around town, she throws a fit. My fiance really loved the Dart and driving it around when the car was running. She even called Sundays, "Dart Day," because we'd go around for a 20-30 minute cruise.
Somethin suss with the starter, seems like its not throwing out enough to engage?
As for runnin like a PIG listen to these guys n go thru the process, could be dizzy,timing,bad fuel, vac leak,**** wiring,fkd lead,cracked cap .....................etc