Ok now you say only spark when key is on ? Now is that just one spark when key is turned on and or off or a continuos constant spark as I have seen a bad ECU actually cause a spark that just keeps sparking with the key on and the coil wire held 1/4" away from ground. Or if its just one spark when key is turned on then off then that tells you the coil and wiring is good. And if you jump the starter and crank the eng with the key on and get no spark then it may just be a bad pick-up coil. Because if you get at least one spark when key is turned on then off it tells you the coil will fire when the primary circuit is turned off as it should. That would tell me the ECU is just not getting a signal to turn the coil primary circuit off so the magnetic field will collapse and fire in the coil secondary circuit. This is why I asked the specifics about just what is going on ?

Now if you crank the eng by jumping the starter with the key in the on posistion and get spark but get no spark when cranking the eng by the key then thats a different problem in the wiring or the ign switch ign 1 and or ign 2 circuits. Ron

Classic joke....It is lost on young guys and foreigners.

That comment is he wrote is dumb.theres other responding on tryin to tell me whats wrong.he wants to write something stupid like that.

What's wrong with a little humor in a post?

Here is how the ignition switch works on your Dart. When you turn the key to "start" the car, power is sent on the brown wire directly to the coil and bypasses the ballast. When the engine starts and you release the key, power drops off of the brown wire and the blue "run" wire powers up. If you don't have any spark while cranking,(start position)then you have a problem with the brown "start" wire.

Disconnect the yellow wire at the starter relay so the starter doesn't crank while you test. Then, starting at the ignition switch connector at the base of the steering column, test the brown wire for power when the key is held in the "start" position. You should have power on both sides of the connector. If you have power there, then test both sides of the bulkhead connector. Keep testing the brown wire all the way to the coil.

If you don't have power on the brown wire on the ignition switch side of the connector, you have a problem with the ignition switch. On my car, I had some loose connections in the ignition switch connector that I had to fix. I had power on one side of the connector but not the other.

My apologies brother & I would (likely) be the first one to complain (& I have!) if it happened to me. I would suggest trying my prior tests with it good and hot (jumper on coil neg/drag pickup body half male tip). Gotta work fast as electronic devices cool off very fast (enough to change their functioning) when dealing with heat related issues and a person can always (if it will start), let it run again till it acts up then proceed with testing.

my apology back to you with my comment i said.oh ok ill try that

with make/break grounding of the coil neg if it (coil wire) sparks in run and crank that tells you the wiring is good to that point and that the coil is OK (at least cold). then with that hooked back up. dragging the male tip of the body half of the pickup zigzag connector across the intake, if the coil wire sparks in run and crank that tells you the wiring further downstream is OK & the ECU is OK (at least cold). All that is left is the pickup (ohm it, hot and cold) and backing up a bit, the ballast can act up when heated & cause an issue in the "run" tests.

Not trying to be smart here but this makes no sense. You say................
turn the key on I have spark , when I crank the key over to start it I loose all spark , when I let go of key I have a little spark again.

OK you say when I turn key on I have spark ?? Well with the key on and not cranking the eng it wont spark so what are you saying ?? I asked do you mean when the key is turned to run you see one spark or a continuos spark ?? So just what does it do when you turn the key to run ??

You say when I crank the key to start I loose all spark so that tells us no spark while cranking.

So turn the key to run and jump the starter and crank the eng and tell us just what it does then ? If still no spark then unplug the dist pick-up and drag the male wire harness connector to ground with the key in run and see if it sparks ? If it sparks like that but no other time then heck you may just have a bad dist pick-up. Have you tested the dist pick-up. Just be sure its good before you start testing the rest of the ign circuits. If you get no spark cranking the eng then crank the eng by jumping the starter with the key in the run position and let us know if it has spark ? Ron

Ok i can try that to.correct no spark comin out of the coil wire when crankin the engine over to start.

yellow wire pulled off of the starter relay to disable the starter. A helper holding the key to "crank". You under the hood dragging the male tip of the body half of the pickup connector across the intake while holding the secondary coil wire 1/4" from ground. if it sparks the pickup is open or its 2 wire connector is open or the gap is way too far open. then with a jumper wire with alligator clips do the coil test same way (key held to start/starter disabled/coil wire 1/4" away from ground) and tap tap tap the alligator clip to ground. I would clean the ECU bottom side just to confirm a good ground but at this point in time I am leaning toward the ECU but yes I would do the tests.

Ever check the air gap on the pickup coil in the distributor?

It seemed to look ok

i replaced both the coil and electronic ignition box.it didn't fix the problem.i'm thinkin the switch is bad? it shouold be producing spark the whole time while im crankin the engine over to run.

Correct EDIT whats left is the pickup and an intermittent connection somewhere. I would make up some jumpers with alligator clips/proper as needed connectors & sub em in one circuit at a time to pin it down. keep the battery charged & even better would to elim the pickup then use a spare dist (even a /6 one) to do the triggering to save the starter/keep from running the battery down. I'm assuming the ECU has a good ground since you changed it out & on the wiring only the ECU and the coil need to be fed in ign2 and the 2 wire connector between the pickup and ECU needs continuity as does the 2 wires connecting the coil/ECU for it to fire as long as all of those are correct.

I can try that.it has to be something along those lines.again only gettin spark when turning key the over to start then nothing when continuing.It looses all the spark when trying to fire the engine. soon as i let go of key i have spark again.

you mean it kicks out 1 spark when you let off the key (to ign1 run).

Thats when i have spark again

I did not see a response to the type of ballast if its a dual sided ballast go to store pick one up, stop and get beer on way home replace ballast open beer turn key and listen to car run. on dual ballast one side handles start one handles run, start side goes bad = "crank" position on key spark will not be there but run position will be = no start with a possible spark witnessed when key returned to run position. run side goes bad= key in crank position it sparks engine fires then stalls as key is returned to run position due to no spark because of run side ballast issue. not looking to start issue but lots of time and money spent chasing ballast problems over the years by many. If it doesn't fix it I would then check bulk head connections steering column connections then triple check the new wiring but who am I anyway. I hope your drinking a beer listening to her run soon..stay at it

Contact CB Restorations in Las Vegas. He posts on Dodge Charger.com.