My car seems to be loosing lots of power and gas milage (almost no acceleration when warm sometimes), and occasionally will loose all power and stall, then it wont start. I turn the key and it fires, but as soon as I let off the key, it wont stay running (immediatly quits). I usually have to wait a few min, and sometimes it wont start again. It will also do this cold. I have replaced the ECU, rubber gas lines, fuel pump and filter scince this started.

Also, we turned the motor over with a remote and the key on when it did this and there was no spark.

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels

sounds like a bad ballast resister.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Probably not. but maybe catalytic convertor stopped up.


Dave

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81 Dodge D150
It looked easier in the book .

I believe 1974's did not have cats.

Classic symptom of a failed ballast resistor. Engine will fire when turned over by key on start, cut out as soon as key is released to on position. You have been getting little warning signs of up coming doom which is somewhat uncommon,but not unheard of, as these devices generally just quit.

There is a possibility that the wiring going to the resistor, ignition switch, and coil could be faulty, or there is a bad connection at the resistor. It is cheep insurance to carry an extra resistor in the car as they are only about ten bucks.

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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

IIRC 1974 was the first year for catalytic converters in California at least. Whatever year it may be, the ballast would be the first thing I would change, and keep a spare as mentioned.

A Voltmeter will tell you what is wrong right quick if it is an electrical issue, which this definitely seems to be.

~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

You can test the ballast resistor theory by temporarily bypassing the ballast with a jumper wire. If the car runs you found your problem. Just don't leave it that way, it will burn up the coil.

I dont have a ballast resistor, I bypassed it when I installed a pertronix coil. See here for that. Its been working great since then, up untill now... And yes, my car does not have a catalytic converter.

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels

The next thing in line is the coil. Do you access to a known good coil to swap?
I suppose that the ignition switch could be bad but that doesn't exactly fit as that would be all or nothing.

I dont have another coil to try, but the one I have got covered in oil from a leaking valve cover a few months ago. I cleaned it off as best I could, but there is still some left. Do you think that might have caused the problem? Maybe I should pick up another one of thoes coils, and try it.

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels

No, but if you have oil coming out of the coil itself, the coil is toast.

What is the model number of the coil you have?

1.5 Ohm coil Part numbers:

40001
40011
40111
40101
60115

3.0 Ohm coil Part numbers:

40501
40511
40611
40601
60130

~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

I know for a fact that its a 3 ohm coil, but I will have to take it out tomorrow to look at the PN.

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels

I'd hate to have you start buying parts to diagnose your problem. Do you have a volt-ohm meter that can read accurately in the 1.5-3 ohm range?
If your coil is partially shorted it might explain why you can sometimes start but not run and why it might quit after running a while.

I believe so, Im not sure on how to use it though. How would I check the coil that way?

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels

Put ohmmeter on lowest setting.

Touch the probes together and zero out if you can, otherwise make note of reading.

Connect probes to the 2 screw terminals and get reading. Subtract previous (non-zero reading) if you couldn't zero out the meter.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I dont know if I did it absolutly right, but it registered 3.2 ohms

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels