My son was coming to my house with my old car and it quit on the way. It is a 75 Dart Sport with a duece and a quarter. High miles but always ran good. Anyhow it ALMOST fires up. Seems like it is getting too much gas and not enough spark. One plug wire was knocked off near the coil while fooling around with the dist. cap. When my kid was cranking it I saw an ark from the wire and it was kind of a dull gold color. My thoughts are this ark should be more a bright blue/white color?? Might the coil have taken a crap on us or maybe the electronic ignition box? The car is right on the edge of running. Symptoms began out of the blue while coming to a stop light. The car just started running rough and quit. It started again but did not run too long. It quit again and has not started since. We are getting it towed to the house and Sunday afternoon we will start to figure it all out. Anything We should be looking at or checking. Bear in mind we have no ultimate tools. Just basic stuff so shadetree 101 is in practice, thanks.
Chas.

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Too young to throw in the towel,
Too old to be in the ring!

1964 Plymouth Valiant 2 door sedan,
duece and a quarter slant six baby.
(All Mopar, all the time. Any questions)???

Weak spark indicates a bad coil, or a bad ballast resistor. What voltage do you have @ the + side of the coil when the ignition is on? When you initially turn the key on, (correct me if I am wrong) there should be almost battery voltage to the coil through the ballast resistor and (correct me again if I am wrong), there should be around 8v when the car is actually running. If you arent getting these voltages, (or the ones that someone corrects me on), then check the ballast resistor, its only a 3 dollar part. If you are getting the correct voltages, then make sure you have a good coil wire, and spark plug wires, and if that doesnt do it, the coil is probably toast.


Is it original to the car? a.k.a. Does is say MOPAR on it?


~THOR~

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1984 D100 Shorty Custom
Certified Auto Appraiser - RevItUp Classic Appraisals
President - Cherry City Bombers CC
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Have you checked the timing. A high mileage engine could easily have shelled the nylon teeth from the cam drive gear. Even if the gear is intact the chain could well be stretched enough to have jumped a tooth or two.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

one of the most basic tools you can have is a digital multimeter. throw away your test-light and analog pocket sunpro cheapie meter and invest a good $30-60 on a good one. for the beginner, you want a meter that is auto-ranging (meaning you dont have to set the dial to a specific value to get an accurate reading) and has a separate ammeter port that goes up to 20A Max. (so you dont pop its fuse as easily)

another function i like to see on a meter is data-hold, meaning when i set the hold feature and step inside the car to operate something where i cant see the readout, the meter will measure to the highest point and hold that value on the display so you can go back and look at it.

you will at first think this meter is frivolous and hard to get used to until you get the hang of it, then when you realise just how much it helps you pinpoint electrical problems on your car you will wonder how you ever got along without one. it will pay for itself the first time you find a bad connection where you would have replaced the battery/alternator before.

So go get a multimeter and start testing, we will walk you through it and get you back on the road.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.