From: Jay Travis (dagobert@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Mon Feb 27 2006 - 19:19:56 PST
Bob,
I'm currently helping friend convert his 71 'Cuda from a 440 to a 426 hemi
set-up, and he's a long-time Mopar guy. He was mentioning something along
this line about a bad batch of ballast resistors that Chrysler had. He
said they'd sometimes go through 3 or 4 of them till they got a good one.
Also, older Mopar alternators have a problem not putting out much of a
charge at idle speeds; maybe it's a constant drain situation during the
long idling that's dragging down the voltage low enough to let the plugs
load up (split-fires are bad about doing that anyway). You might try
taking the alternator to a local rebuild shop and getting it checked at low
RPM to see what the output is. They might be able to replace it with a
higher output model that would fit. Depends on how important originality is
vs. functionality to you. Another help might be something like one of
those Optima batteries? Hope that helps.
Jay
> [Original Message]
> From: mkmvpa@juno.com <mkmvpa@juno.com>
> To: Military Vehicles Mailing List <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> Date: 2/27/2006 7:51:00 PM
> Subject: [MV] Dodge M880 troubleshooting
>
> I have a 1977 Dodge M880. It has one problem that really annoys me and
have been unable to fix. After it has been idling for along time during a
parade the engine has trouble staying running at the low RPMs and when it
does die it is difficult to restart. Then after all of this and I start to
head home, I can have it floored and it won't make more than 30 MPH. I have
some success when I pull the wire bundles loose from the firewall and every
other connector under the hood, but don't think that is the whole problem
as it runs better but stills has what seems some ignition weakness. The
voltage regulator, ignition switch,alternator,ballast resistor, coil,
plugs, plug wires, and engine wiring harness were all replaced a little
over 2 years ago. The plug wires and coil are Accel and the plugs are
Split-fires. All were new parts. This is not a constant problem but has
without fail manifested itself during idle at slow speeds during a parade,
I did note that the firewall disconnects for the wires running to the
ammeter seemed burned and had melted the plastic around them during and
inspection this last summer. I replaced both ends of the wire with blade
connectors directly connecting each end to the corresponding end on the
other side of the firewall.
>
> If anyone has a good idea what might be happening please let me know.
>
> Thank You,
>
> Bob
> MVPA#23437
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Tue Jul 18 2006 - 21:41:18 PDT