Oh boy problems...

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dartbrad66

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Hey guys I need some advice. I have a 66 dart with a 360. New summit electric ingnition, new wire, new plugs, msd blaster 2 coil. I'm not even totally sure this is a electionic problem but I will be driving down the road and all of the sudden my engine will just shut off. No warning or anything. Almost like it just looses power. When it does cut off it's kinda hard to get it started back up. Takes a few times to get it to fire off. I thought it might be the ballast resistor and changed that the other day and it didn't help. I really have no idea what it could be. Anyone have any sugesstions?
 
dartbrad66 said:
Hey guys I need some advice. I have a 66 dart with a 360. New summit electric ingnition, new wire, new plugs, msd blaster 2 coil. I'm not even totally sure this is a electionic problem but I will be driving down the road and all of the sudden my engine will just shut off. No warning or anything. Almost like it just looses power. When it does cut off it's kinda hard to get it started back up. Takes a few times to get it to fire off. I thought it might be the ballast resistor and changed that the other day and it didn't help. I really have no idea what it could be. Anyone have any sugesstions?
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Have you checked the fuel supply after it dies? Could be a fuel pump/filter situation if its running out of gas. Does the motor die like you turned the key? or kinda sputters out.....like its ran out of gas...?

Good luck
-Mike
 
It dies like I turn the key. Like all of the sudden, no warning. I put a new fuel pump on about a week ago and the fuel filter is only a few weeks old. I have a clear fuel filter and I have been able to check to see if it is full when it happens and it usually has gas.
 
Might be a fuel problem. could be a few things if its a fuel issue, the fuel pump could be sucking air or its just tired, floats sticking and flooding the engine or possibly water in your fuel or a mostly plugged fuel filter. If you have a glass inline fuel filter near the carb you should be able to see air or water bubbles when the engine is idling. Another quick water check is to get a sample of your gas into a clear container like a glass jar and any water will be visible in the bottom of the jar. Getting the fuel sample can be sort of dangerous so be careful. :book:

Took me to long to write this post :sad9: Looks like you have checked most of the things i suggested :)
 
Check the power wire from the ign. switch and see if it has a bad connection. Almost sound like your ign is losing power. Also check the ground as well.
 
66dartman said:
Check the power wire from the ign. switch and see if it has a bad connection. Almost sound like your ign is losing power. Also check the ground as well.
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What he said. Just up and dying (without losing power first or stumbling) is going to be electrical in nature. Just need to snoop and find out why. Do your headlights also blink off wehen this happens? Gages/radio die also? Or is it just engine?
 
Does everthing electrical die? Lights, radio, etc. If so check AMP gauge wiring on the back of the instrument cluster, if one of those connections get loose it'll kill the whole car immediately.
 
check all electrical connections. both sides of ballast resistor, both sides of coil, and as earlier mentioned, all grounds. do you have a ground from the battery to engine, engine to body and body to battery(the latter not always needed but helps with resistance)
 
Thanks guys I'm going to get out and check all my wires tomorrow. It's funny because it just started the other day and I've been driving it everyday for months now. I was actually at a drive thru ordering food when it shut down the first time. It's just so strange that it would start doing it all of the sudden. I do have my grounds from the battery to block and block to body and it's been working fine for months the way it is. Something must have just happened recently.
 
Like 66dartman said,I had a similar case and it was the ignition switch. When the car is running as it should ,try wiggling the key around in the switch and see if it quits on you.
 
Another thing to check is the main power supply wire where it comes through the bulkhead connector. It's quite common for this connection to be burned or loose inside the connector itself, and it will give the symptoms you just described. Sometimes just getting out of the car, or moving around inside will cause the connection to loose power then for no apparent reason it'll fire up again. Also, are you still using the stock Ammeter in the dash? They can be a real head scratching pain in the a$$ and cause all kinds of electrical gremlins.
 
years ago i built a 360 and put it in a Duster after about 2 weeks it died, like it was out of gas, i towed it home and went though everything and found the pos and neg terminals on the coil reversed after correcting it the car ran great! sounds dumb but worth a look.
 
Yes dartbrad66, vapor lock problems will show similar symptoms. And I have worked on cars with sticky floats that sounded similar, the car would run fine until the bowl overflowed then it would puke so much fuel out the vents that the engine would just die instantly. There was an obvious fuel smell under the hood in this circumstance though.
 
dartbrad66 said:
Hey guys I need some advice. I have a 66 dart with a 360. New summit electric ingnition, new wire, new plugs, msd blaster 2 coil. I'm not even totally sure this is a electionic problem but I will be driving down the road and all of the sudden my engine will just shut off. No warning or anything. Almost like it just looses power. When it does cut off it's kinda hard to get it started back up. Takes a few times to get it to fire off. I thought it might be the ballast resistor and changed that the other day and it didn't help. I really have no idea what it could be. Anyone have any sugesstions?
Click to expand...

Who's distributor are you using? I had a 360 years ago that when it got hot it would just shutdown. No spark. The SOB would start right up after it cooled down. The problem was the exciter coil inside the distributor was shutting down when it got hot.
 
you might look at the junction were the
electrical system passes through the firewall.
on the older cars alot on amperage passes
through that connection.
 
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