69 charger voltage issues

[powertrain]

I have a 69 charger with a fresh rebuilt engine. changed it over to electronic ignition.with the key in the on position I have 12 volts at the coil but when turning the engine over at the key My voltage goes down to 4-5 volts and the car just winds over with no fire. I have to jump the the car from the positive to the coil to start the engine.I just replaced the ignition switch in the dash thinking that was the problem. still the same issue. please help.. thanks

[Pete in NH]

Hi,

Need a little more information on the electronic ignition conversion. What system are you using?

[powertrain]

It is a mopar performance conversion with a 6Al Ignition control unit. I don't have the orange ignition box for the firewall I have the super gold which says its for (race only).

[elacruze]

Check the condition of the connectors in the bulkhead connector. After that, look to the condition of the ignition switch plug connectors. If any of these are corroded or burned, you'll lose voltage. The 'on' and 'start' positions use different terminals to feed the ignition too, I think-so if the 'crank' position terminal is toasted you'd see exactly what you have.

[John_Kunkel]

I'm missing something....if you're running the MSD 6AL why are you running the Mopar Super Gold ECU? 

[Pete in NH]

Hi,

I'm also confused, are you saying you have two different electronic ignition control modules installed? Maybe a picture would help!

[powertrain]

Iam far from a mechanic. when I purchased the electronic conversion kit from the dealer they gave me the super gold ECU unit with it? :shruggy:I also purchased a modified engine harness from classic industries because my harness had been worked on before. are you saying with the msd box I don't need the ECU?

[MaximRecoil]

Iam far from a mechanic. when I purchased the electronic conversion kit from the dealer they gave me the super gold ECU unit with it? :shruggy:I also purchased a modified engine harness from classic industries because my harness had been worked on before. are you saying with the msd box I don't need the ECU?

If you want to use the MSD 6AL, the Chrysler ignition module should not be connected, and neither should the ballast resistor be connected. See page 16 here; note where it says "CHRYSLER MODULE LEAVE DISCONNECTED". And from the bottom of page 4: "If your vehicle has a ballast resistor in-line with the coil wiring, it is recommended to bypass it."

So either wire it with the Chrysler ignition module and ditch the MSD 6AL or vice versa. If you use the MSD 6AL, just follow the instructions/diagram in the manual I linked to above, and see how that works for you.

[powertrain]

perfect thanks. I unhooked the voltage regulator and it ran perfect but when I unplugged the ballast resistor the car fired but then quit right away. with that new engine harness I have extra pluges, would they be to tie the wires together to bypass the resistor? the harness also has the plugs for both ballast and voltage regulator. must have the wrong modified harness. classic industries #MB2398

[MaximRecoil]

perfect thanks. I unhooked the voltage regulator and it ran perfect but when I unplugged the ballast resistor the car fired but then quit right away. with that new engine harness I have extra pluges, would they be to tie the wires together to bypass the resistor? the harness also has the plugs for both ballast and voltage regulator. must have the wrong modified harness. classic industries #MB2398

The method of bypassing the ballast resistor that I used when I converted to HEI is: solder a wire across its two terminals; do it on the back side of the ballast resistor so the wire fits down in that groove where the resistor resides, thus protecting it from short circuits and keeping it out of sight. Then you can just plug your wires back onto the now "dummy" ballast resistor as normal:



Another method is to crimp two male connectors onto the ends of a short section of wire, and then plug the ballast resistor wires onto that, like so:



Both of those methods are easily reversible, as they don't involve hacking your harness. The first method is the cleanest of the two, as it looks no different than the factory setup. Of course, you can also simply cut off the connectors on those ballast resistor wires and permanently splice them together.

Also, you don't want to unhook your voltage regulator, you want to unhook your Mopar ignition control module. It died when you unhooked the ballast resistor because without having the ballast resistor bypassed, you created an open in the "run" circuit, thus cutting off the juice to your ignition system.

[powertrain]

my car will not run without the ballast resistor hooked up. it fires up and then quits right away.

[myk]

'OP you're not alone-I ran the ECU and the MSD 6 together for years because I didn't know any better. 

For the ballast resistor, there's a bit of splicing to be done and you can eliminate that piece.  I believe the two wires that are joined into one connector (blue and brown?) are crimped together, and the other wire goes...........?  Someone?  Anyone?

[MaximRecoil]

my car will not run without the ballast resistor hooked up. it fires up and then quits right away.

Did you bypass the ballast resistor? Bypassing it doesn't just mean to unhook it.

'OP you're not alone-I ran the ECU and the MSD 6 together for years because I didn't know any better.  

For the ballast resistor, there's a bit of splicing to be done and you can eliminate that piece.  I believe the two wires that are joined into one connector (blue and brown?) are crimped together, and the other wire goes...........?  Someone?  Anyone?

All three wires get spliced together. There are various ways of doing this. I chose to turn the ballast resistor into a dummy ballast resistor by bridging its two terminals with 16 gauge primary wire, as shown in the picture I posted above, and plugging the wires back onto it, which makes it look no different than it looked before. This saved me from having to hack the harness.

[myk]

Yeah, that's what it was.

I have to wonder if running the ECU and the MSD unit together causes problems of some sort?  I never had any issues that stood out...

[powertrain]

I didn't bypass it I just tried unhooking it. thanks for the help

[MaximRecoil]

I didn't bypass it I just tried unhooking it. thanks for the help

In a previous post I described a few ways to bypass the ballast resistor. The easiest way for testing purposes is shown in the second picture I posted; you don't need to cut or solder anything; all you need is a short section of e.g., 16 gauge wire and two 1/4" male crimp-on quick-disconnect terminals (like so - link), available at most any autoparts or hardware store for pennies.