mh electronic ignition conversion harness , starting problems

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dallas ward

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looking for some help . i just installed a mh electronic ignition conversion harness and forward light harness and 1970 up alternator , voltage regulator , 4 prong ballast resistor and a mopar performance parts control module for electronic ignition in my 1969 dart and now it wont run . it fires and quits , spits and sputters and quits . i made sure to have clean metal where the regulator , control module mounts to have good grounds any ideas help
 
had the same problem with 73 challenger,fixed it with a ground wire from battery to body hope this works,keith
 
how many volts will the coil get with the set up i have listed above . someone mentioned that with the ballast it might be less than 12 volts , and im only getting 10.5 at coil . any ideas
 
Does the ignition setup use all 4 posts of the 4 post resistor ? If it uses only 2 you may be using the wrong 2.
 
It almost sounds like you do not have the 12 volts to the coil that bypasses the ballast resistor on start up.
 
it only has 10.5 when key is on ,car not running

It should still start, Did you try turning the distributor to a little more advance after it was set with #1 cylinder at top dead center, or your distributor is 180 degrees out. Just trying to tell you a few things that can happen with this set up.
 
It should still start, Did you try turning the distributor to a little more advance after it was set with #1 cylinder at top dead center, or your distributor is 180 degrees out. Just trying to tell you a few things that can happen with this set up.

the post up top is old , figured that out . the car will run . it only has 10.5 volt when key is on but not running . . is that normal ?
 
Running voltage to the coil should be lower than 12 volts. Some ballast resistors pull the 12 down to 10.5 , others pull it down to 9.7
I dont know what resistor your setup requires.
 
Running voltage to the coil should be lower than 12 volts. Some ballast resistors pull the 12 down to 10.5 , others pull it down to 9.7
I dont know what resistor your setup requires.

this set up changes it from points to 1970 and up electronic ignition
 
this set up changes it from points to 1970 and up electronic ignition

I understand that but, your fist post states mh conversion kit. I'm not familiar with that setup so I dont know which ballast resistor you are supposed to have. If the resistor was supplied with the kit it is the correct one.
If the connecters to the resistor are keyed to go only one way, they are hooked up correctly too.
 
Isn't there 2 sides to the ignition. A run and a start. It sounds like a problem with the run side. I wound check the wire from the run side of the ignition.
 
Here's the thing. MOST modern ECUs are "4 pin." You can NOT tell by looking, because some boxes have 5 pins, the 5th is a dummy, so you can only tell by using an ohm-meter to check for continuity.

SO if you somehow got the resistor in wrong, you will have the wrong resistance hooked to the box, whether it's a 4 or 5 pin box

Study these diagrams, which show the difference between a 4 and 5 pin ECU

You CAN use a 4 pin ECU on a PROPERLY WIRED 4 pin resistor, it's simply that the "other side" of the resistor is not hooked to anything, and of course a 4 pin box will ALSO work with the proper 2 terminal resistor

The diagrams below do NOT show the ballast bypass/ start circuit, which is simply one brown wire, comes from the ign switch, to the coil + side of the ballast. That brown is HOT in start and feeds good hot battery voltage to the coil during start

You need to run two tests,

1 To make sure you have good voltage to the system for start, hook one probe of your meter to coil+ and the other to battery +. Crank the engine using the KEY, NOT by jumpering the start relay, and read the voltage. You are looking for a very LOW voltage, the lower the better. Anything approaching .3-.5 V (three tenths or 1/2 a volt) means you have too much voltage drop in that circuit

2. Hook one meter lead to the "key" side of the ballast, your other lead to battery + Turn the key to "run", engine off. Again, you are looking for a low voltage. Anything over .2--.3V (three tenths) of a volt means you have voltage drop in the ignition harness

Your top suspects for trouble are the bulkhead connector, the connector on the ignition switch, the switch itself, or problems in the ammeter circuit.

For test no2, your circuit path is battery -- fuse link -- bulkhead connector -- ignition switch connector -- through the switch -- back out the switch connector -- back out the bulkhead -- (on the dark blue "ignition run") -- to the igntion system.

This "ign run" (also referred to as IGN1) is UN fused and supplies ignition, alternator field, regulator "I" terminal, electric choke if used, and on "smoggers" possibly a couple other things

The "brown" bypass circuit, also called "IGN2" is one wire, comes right off the ign switch, through the bulkhead, and to the coil + side fo the ballast

These came from "MyMopar"

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31

4 pin resistor, either 4 or 5 pin box

LOOK CAREFULLY at the drawing of the 4 pin resistor. See the "upside down U" at the bottom? This is important, and establishes correct wiring for the resistor. If you turned that resistor end for end, the resistances in the circuit would be wrong, as each "side" is different resistance

Ignition_System_5pin.jpg


2 pin resistor, 4 pin box ONLY

Ignition_System_4pin.jpg



A 5 pin ECU MUST use a 4 pin resistor
 
im using the orange mopar performance ecu ,with a 4 post resistor from a 1970 dart . the mh wire harness converts the ignition to electronic from points . i will check ballast for plugs on wrong side in morning
 
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