Ok guys, the long and the short of it is I had my 1979 slant six (Volare) completely rebuilt about 8months ago, also new fuel pump, distributor, battery, plugs, wires, ballast...you name it. I have started it once a month since last Nov. Well, today she failed to start. I took off the air cleaner and shot in enough starting fluid to turn over a semi....nothing. She cranks and cranks....starter and battery are obvioulsy strong. I'm guessing no spark. Any ideas? The whole damn engine is practically new. just last month she turned right over and I let her idle for about 20 mins, like I usually do. I unfortunately do not have a tester light. Any quick ways of seeing what's up?

Get your volt meter out and check voltage at the coil with the key on, should be 6 volts or more. Then check it at the ballast resistor. You should be seeing the same voltage, then check the input side/ignition key side of the resistor, should show 12 volts. You may have a bum ballast resistor.

If you have juice, then check spark at the plugs. Pull one and ground it and have some one turn the engine over.

Do you smell gas with the air cleaner off? How healthy is the pump shot? Can you see the gas spray down the throat?

You either have no juice or it's flooded.

_________________
Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

Started out by putting 3-4 gallons of fresh gas in. Then I tried the starting fluid, made sure it shot down into the carb. She turns over like crazy, but never even attempts a start. that's when I tried the cheapest fix; I replaced the old (original?) ballast resistor. There was a good 45-50 mins between my first attempt and installing the ballast and trying again, so I don't think she was flooded. I guess I'll have to get an volt meter.
Thanks

If you car would start, but die as soon as you let the key turn from START to RUN, then you have a bad ballast - the ballast is bypassed (in most models) when cranking.

Ignition modules do just die w/o notice - and can die open (no current through coil) or closed (current running through coil). Coils can just up and die w/o warning too, but that's less common. The coil-to-distributor cable can also just quit.

It is easy to test whether you're getting a spark at all; I got a handly little adjustable spark gap tester from JCWhitney that works very well.

The $3 digital multimeters from Harbor Freight work fine; I keep a cheap DMM in every car just in case.

Well, I did pick up a tester light today. I'm going to start trouble shooting tomorrow. I really hope it's something simple. I can't understand how in a months time of just sitting, she can go from firing right up to this!

Electronics, even of good quality and/or new, can just die suddenly w/o warning - I alway carry a spare ignition module and ballast resistor. My Mopar orange box died when I tried to leave a show w/ only 2K mi on it, and an informal survey of guys running orange boxes found that ~1/2 had it run w/o trouble for many years and ~1/2 had replaced it several times. I tried to find out why it died, but due to that really nasty gooey potting all I could say for sure was that the main power transistor was not what failed.

I've also had NAPA and factory modules quit entirely w/o warning, and I've also seen them get sick w/o entirely quiting. I had a MSD that would quit if it got below ~32F, fine above. Some brands are more sensitive to the signal input than others, so doublecheck the airgap at the pickup - one car with too much gap I saw would work fine with some modules and not at all with others.

Thanks for all the help. Turned out to be the ignition control module. Got a new one from AutoZone and BAM she started right up. the old one was a Borg Warner...not sure if that was an original part for my 1979 Volare.