Hey guys, I'm having some real troubles here. I have a 69 Dart. I had trouble getting it to run right with the points dist. So I took it to a mechanic that said he knew all about Mopar. He converted the whole thing. Electronic dist., new ignition module, new voltage regulator. It ran until I got it home. Now it will not start. Since it was under warranty, the mechanic came out to my house and looked at it. He told me the coil was bad. So last night I installed a new coil. Still nothing. Everything in electrical system has been replaced and still no starting. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Also anyone know where to find an ignition switch for this? I have a boat ignition in there now that worked fine before. I can find every year but 69. The ones I do find are over $100.

We can give you lots of suggestions, but if it were me I would call the mechanic who put it in and have him fix it correctly.

Other than that, it may be a bit difficult as we don't know exactly what the mechanic did as he wired it. But there are some common tests.

Do you have 12 volts on the ballast resistor when the key is on?

-Mac

Sorry for the delay. I had the mechanic come out and he said the ignition control module was bad, so he replaced it. However my amp gauge? was very erratic jumping back and forth. He told me my new voltage regulator was overcharging. We disconnected it and the needle stayed in the right spot. Then he told me it was a problem with the wiring harness in the car. He then sold me a universal alternator with a voltage regulator built in. It fixed the problem.

Now I've discovered another problem. The speedometer is not working, my fuel gauge doesn't either(but thats because I have a fuel cell in the trunk and I can't find the wires to hook to it), and my temp gauge doesn't work either. Could this be a problem with a fuse? If not, what is it?

One last thing. I discovered I have a small tranny fluid leak, but I can't tell where it's coming from. Any suggestions on how to go about finding exactly where it's leaking from? Thanks guys.

You now have a hacked up mess. Don't panic, look for your wiring diagram here: http://www.mymopar.com/wiringdiagrams.htm You will need to look at later Darts to see how the electronic ignition is added to up date the old points system.

Next you will need to start tracing wires to the different gages looking for melting, and bad connections, as well as looking for bad brass connectors at the bulkhead connector (the place where all the wires pass through to the dash on the fire wall). Trace each and every wire one at a time from one end of it to the other. This is the only way to get this car working correctly. It will take a good bit of time

By now you will have discovered most of the short comings in your harness, as well as the wire that connects the gas tank to the dash.

Your dash circuit board may need to be repaired as well. To remove the gage cluster you will need to drop the steering wheel down from the dash,(three bolts at the dash level, and three bolts on the floor flange), and remove several screws holding the cluster face to the dash. After you disconnect the spedo cable (it is hooked to the back if the cluster like a TV cable screws to a TV) the cluster will pull out.

To release the brass connectors from their plastic holders you will need a small 1/16" or less wide screwdriver to insert in it to get the connector to come free of the plastic holder.

You may need to update the fuse holder because of corrosion problems. This is easy to do with a cheep six fuse block and a few 1/4 inch bolts.

My repaired instrument circuit board:


New fuse holder bolted to the existing fuse holder:


replace each bad wire one at a time with the correct color and gage, marking it off the wiring diagram as you go. The diagram will tell you which color & gage wire is used.

New brass connectors can be had from NAPA

Below is my car in March 08', It would not pass current beyond the battery when I got it. But it works nicely now after replacing 30% of the wire, and most of the brass connectors.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

INH you do indeed have a bit of a mess on your hands. It does sound as if your mechanic maybe finally sorted through the most basic problems. However, I agree with wjajr and suspect all your old wiring has gotten pretty crusty with failing connections pretty much everywhere. I would think a new engine compartment harness would help you big time here.

If you don;t want to spend the money, you can rebuild your old one. Replacing the connectors everywhere will bring the wiring most of the way back. The problem is that as the connectors begin to fail, and voltage drops, the load stays the same, and amps must rise to supply the needed wattage. As this happens things begin to heat up, and a hot connection has higher resistance, thus putting you in a death spiral for your connections. Look for partly melted plastic insulators over the connections. This will be a clue of serious damage.

Get out your VOM and measure the voltage everywhere while it is running. There should be less than .5 volt drop anywhere except the low side of the ballast resister, which will be about 8 volts. Measure at the alternator big red wire, and then compare that to everywhere else. If the battery shows less, or the high side of the ballast resister shows less (this is the side with two wires), then you likely have high resistance in your bulkhead connectors, or the ammeter, which is nortorious for going bad in these old cars.

If your ameter is bad, which it was in my car, you can bypass it with a wire directly from the alterntor to the battery. This will leave your ameter unfunctional, so you will need to put in a volt meter, which will tell you more about the condition of your charging system than an ammeter also.

Check the tightness of the bolts at the starter solenoid. This functions as a terminal connection between the alternator, and the battery. These can get rusty, which in and of itself is not fatal, but if it is loose, then you are in trouble everywhere else.

Don't be intimidated. I am the original Dummy they named all those "for Dummies" books for, and with the help of the forum have been able to muddle through. Don't give up. It is actually a pretty simple, step by step, eating an elephant one bite at a time kind of proposition. And good luck. As you can see, your car is one of my favorites.

Sam

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OK I drove to town last night, and when I went to crank up and leave, it wouldn't start. I bypassed the ballast resistor and it cranked right up. Once I got it home I discovered the resistor was blown. What would cause this? Or is it just more faulty wiring? I tried with the VOM, but without the resistor the gauge jumps back and forth with the idling of the engine. I'll be able to get a new one monday. I guess I have a long road of checking wires ahead. Thanks for all the info guys.

If I were to buy a new wiring harness, where would I find one, and about how much do they run? Thanks again.

Year One sells them, and last time I looked, they were in the $500 range. Yikes! Yes, but that is one of the cheapest thing you can do to make the biggest improvment in one of these old cars. When the wiring is bad, nothing works right. That is`only`the engine copartment harness. There is a dash harness, and a rear chasis harness too. Although the rear ones don't go bad as seriously. Don't drive it without a ballast resister. You will burn out more stuff. They just go bad. No reason. Get a spare and keep it in your glove box.

I will look up in my Year One catalogue and see what the prices were a few years back.

Sam

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The ballast resistors see a lot of heat and the point-type even have the wire coil exposed on the back side. Both the electronic and point types can just up an fail w/o warning with old age even if the wiring and everything else is fine.

Coils, ballast resistors, spark plug wires, ECUs, etc. all where out eventually. Ballast resistors, coils, and ECUs are cheap, so I always carry a spare.

I remember one fellow telling me he ran his Mopar nearly a year just fine with a bypassed ballast before, as he put it, the coil "exploded".