zeitgeist57 Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 My Jeep has a Chevy 4.3L. It ran well, but after starting up it would just flat out die. I'd be holding the engine at 2000-2500rpms to warm it up and it would flat out die, no sputtering or hesitating) and then not be able to start back up again. It didn't happen that often before, but it's been sitting in my driveway for the past two weeks and now the gas is bad. (Florida has LOTS of moisture, and if you don't keep an older, unsealed gas tank full, it can accumulate several ounces of water in a week.) It uses a single-throw toggle switch to power the ignition system. I found for awhile that if I held good revs and I felt it cut out, I could flip the ign. switch "off" and back "on" again really quickly it would fire back up and stay running. After a minute it would just die, and then no matter what switch I had the engine would just crank and crank and crank like it had no spark. The distributor is a newer Mallory Uni-Lite breaker-less distributor. Could it be the single-toggle ignition switch or the push-button starter? The starter motor? (ignition relay is in the GM starter) Alternator? I have good contacts at the batteries, tightened, and I've worked on the engine ground and various circuit grounds. Please help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lustalbert Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 Remove the switch from the circut and test. If it dosent cut out with the wires nuted together, you can asume that some salt of other crap got in the switch and coroded it. Hell, check everything along the path for that circut. Intermitent problems are teh suck. Breaking out the multimeter and checking resistances and voltages would be good as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 UPDATE! I wired the ballast resistor incorrectly. Starts up perfectly. Now I have a problem...when I start it, it won't shut off! BRAND NEW alternator and starter. I have to pull the (+) terminal and then the fuel pump wire. It only dies after sucking the carb dry. I KNOW THE ALTERNATOR IS KEEPING THE ENGINE GOING. Problem is the ignition switch doesn't work anymore to turn it off. HELP! The wiring is literally a spaghetti mess of crimps. Should I just get a Painless kit and start from scratch? Probably not a bad idea...in the meantime, I'm confused. I followed Mallory's wiring diagrams for the ignition system, but this whole "won't stop" problem is baffling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lustalbert Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Painless it. Having the back of the dash looking like spaghetti is no fun if you need to trace something. All those crimps are just begging for some salt spray to corode them and make more intermitent problems that you ever want. Replacing the ignnition switch shile you are at it isnt a bad idea either. hit an autozone and get a new one, cant be that expensive. I had the problem of engine staying on in my buick, and it was cured by going to a 1 wire alternator. The stock regulator and wiring didnt like what I was doing to the ignition system and other parts of the wiring. With a harness hacked up, I would imagine something might be messed up with the wiring to the regulator. I assume you just have the distributor, and a coil, no other mods to the ignition system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Distributor and coil, yes. The distributor is a Mallory Unilite, but that just means an optical pickup with three wire connection (ground, +12V, and (+) trigger wires). I'll just get a Painless kit on eBay... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Don't bother with the expense of a painless kit if you know anything about wiring and you seem like you do or you'd be unable to do tests with a meter. Jeeps are very well known to have bad electrical connections so redoing it would be the best way to solve your problems. I'd just use good connectors and not spend the $$ on the painless kit unless that don't bother you. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted February 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 Don't bother with the expense of a painless kit if you know anything about wiring and you seem like you do or you'd be unable to do tests with a meter. Jeeps are very well known to have bad electrical connections so redoing it would be the best way to solve your problems. I'd just use good connectors and not spend the $$ on the painless kit unless that don't bother you. Evan Too late, Evan! I've got one shipped to me right now for $147. Believe me...I've done everything on this truck (rebuilt ignition system, rebuilt carbureator) so far and the wiring always looked like it would eventually do me wrong. A big problem with Florida is the air is always moist and salty (hee hee!). Wiring can go bad relatively quickly. When I was resoldiering some connections, the exposed wire strands were green from corrosion. It was time for a new wiring kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 ah well $147 is a good price. I was thinking more like $400-600 so yeah I'd probably even do it for around 150 since really thats not worth the trouble of laying out harnesses and routing connectors. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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