On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:13:04 -0500, wrote:

On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:47:53 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:49:12 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:10:36 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

notbob wrote:
On 2009-12-18, Stormin Mormon wrote:


318 was a pain, I may still have my 12 point distributor
wrench. 9/16 was it?
Depends on the vehicle. I had a 318 in a 74 van. When the weather
became very hot (100+), specially after they took the lead out of gas,
it would ping badly going up a grade. I timed it by removing the
engine shroud, loosening the distibutor clamp nut, and adjusting the
distributor until the pinging ceased. All this while driving up said
grade, the distributor being a within easy reach of my right hand.

I remember my Mopars being very moisture sensetive. Even
knowing the module ground and all, somtimes they just didn't
want to start if there was some humidity around. Or rain the
day before.
I had this happen once. I removed the distibutor cap and saw it was
literally dripping moisture. I liberally sprayed it and the points
with WD40 and reassembled. Fired right up. The WD stands for water
displacement.

nb
The secret was to carry an extra "dual ballast resistor" in the glove
box for all the Mopars with the electronic ignition. I had several
go out and it was a 10 minute or less repair job.

TDD
My spare was always bolted to the firewall. Just move the plugs from
one to the other and away you go - to the parts store to replace the
"spare"

The ballast resistors that went bad on me were the open back units.
The sealed units seemed to last forever.

TDD

I was lead to believe that the problem was that when the weather was
bad, water would drip down the firewall at that point from the hood
and hit the very hot ceramic. I built a little "visor" above mine from
a piece of aluminum and it never failed.
That definitely contributed - but even sealed (high quality
aftermarket) resistors failed - and even in arizona and southern
alberta where rain is a once a year anomoly.

I was in New England. I never had one go bad, but I always figured it
was because of the improvised visor I installed over the resistor when
I first got the car.