'63 ply. runs, dies, runs..then it gets weird

Thought the pick up was bad ..I put a new pick up in and took the car out, drove fine.. for about 40 minutes and quit which was what it was doing and why I changed the pick up.. Started right back up and drove a couple miles home. .. changed the ignition model with new 4 pin I had, > won't start ..put in original 4 pinmodule ..it starts.. thought the new module I had was bad as it has laid in my garage for years, so I go this morning and buy a new module.. no start. put old one in, it starts... .again ..went and got # 3 as everyone felt there pretty much junk these days put it in >> no start..... WHY will it run with the faulty one and not the new ones ....ANY suggestion .. been over the wiring and grounds they check out. new ballast resistor, coil, bulkhead connection is clean and solid. After I change any thing I put in the old one to make sure it still starts and it does. THANKS

Try mounting the coil upright instead of up side down.

Running the mechanical regulator style charging system in contraindicated for electronic ignition as well.

let it idle & bump/jostle all the ECU/pickup wires & see if you can get it to die. & next time it wont start, pull the yellow wire off of the starter relay to disable the starter & have a helper hold the key to crank & you with your meter see what ain't being fed then have him release the key & pull a batt cable & with your meter on ohms check the pickup for continuity at the ECU. The fact that changing out the ECU makes it OK tells me the prob might be in that connector but I ain't 100% sure.

Boy that electronic ignition is so much easier to diagnose, and so much more reliable than points. LMAO

When it's running I have pulled and bent all the wires to get it to do something ..it doesn't do anything.. when it stalls, it starts back up without touching anything .. why it won't start with new ecu is driving me and a lot of other people crazy

I agree the coil should not be upside down.
Ditto get an electronic voltage regulator.
Are you running a sngle field or dual field alternator??
for giggles swap out the ballast resistor.

it is something simple and you just don't see it...yet

the start/no start, changes with the ECU changeout & that is pointing me to the ECU connector/harness.

More worrisome that the mounting of the coil. What brand of coil is that? Swap that out. These newer “trick” coils bring many driveability problems but they don’t quit they just cause trouble so you think it’s something else.

Do you have an aftermarket tach? Disconnect it from the negative side of the coil and see how it runs.

What are the 3 wires going to the left side coil terminal? Disconnect all the gadgets and see how the engine runs.

new coil, right side up.. new ballast resistor, right side up... I've cleaned up the connector and checked for voltage readings and they are 11.2 volts .. one of the wires on coil ran to choke I removed that.. no after market gauges. thanks keep them coming

at this point I might disconnect ALL the related wiring & power everything (ECU/coil/pickup/ballast) with jumpers & see if it straightens out. Then replace (1) wire/remove its jumper, one at a time till it shows itself.

11.2 volts is low, especially if it's running, but it's low regardless.

Where are you measuring that voltage? At the battery??

At some point the ECU will stop working when the voltage gets low enough. You may have found that point.

Try disconnecting the fuel line and run the engine off a gas can. You may have dirt in the tank (or a disintegrating fuel tank liner, if the tank was coated) that intermittently gets sucked up by the fuel pump.

BTW, I don't know how much the coil being upright has to do with anything. Chrysler mounted ignition coils upside down at the factory on the old flathead sixes and they worked fine.

You might want to check the module wiring / connectors. I had one a few years ago in which one of the female sockets in the molded connector was too deep and barely making contact with the pins. It would cause the car to die when closing the R door but would start right back up. LOL it was a strange one to find

Another one that was intermittent had a wire internally broken, it also would start right back up

got it .. don't know why, but I put the original pick up in and it's running

I had a strange problem years ago where my Dart I had would run with an aftermarket ECU but with 2 new orange MP ECU's it would not run. Found out I had the pick-up coil wires crossed in the harness and when I changed them back right the car ran on all of the ECU modules. Seems the aftermarket ECU worked with the wires to the pick-up crossed but the factory MP ones had to have the wires right. Ron

That was way to easy!

3 days and countless swearing, put it on take it off, test light this, test light that, multimeter check again and again, drop screws under car, swear, parts store four times, two extra modules, an extra pick up, new coil on, new coil off, AND I don't have an answer ..........it was a snap. .......... thanks guys

Murphys law. You'll be alright (for awhile) & I do feel your pain (been there).

still, the 11.2v bothers me. see why you have that voltage drop.

battery down ..?? had the key on and off for a loooong time.

11.2V is below completely discharged.

Something not right with your battery. Put a charger on it, charge it at least overnight and then take it to be tested with a load tester.

I suspect your battery is flaky.

You may have what is called a hi joint in the electrical world which means you have a high resistance connection that is going wide open when hot, now you already know it is in the ignition circuit so that limits the possibly of the problem part
You've already done a bunch of trouble shooting so now is the time to focus and fix it, the intermittent problems are always the hardest to catch and fix when they go open and cool down and remake the connection
Now get to work and fix it
You can do this
Make sure you have a good quality VOM and go step by step looking for the voltage drop between components and connections Start at the battery posts and go into the circuits to the ignition parts on the engine one step at a time
Do this test with the motor not running and write down the readings at each connection ands then do it again with the motor running fast enough to make the alternator charge at or above 12,5 volts Keep at it until you find that dirty little connection
How old is your ignition switch and lock?
Good luck, please let Ius know your results and findings

12.5V is still well below the proper charge rate.

Battery Basics

The charge rate is determine by the voltage regulator type and which year Mopar car your working on, the early, pre 1971, cars with the point type voltage regulators would discharge at night with the lights on idling below 1000 RPM so the car would run on the battery voltage
In todays world of dual field higher output alternators and solid state regulators that isn't a problem now
I've worked on Mopars cars that were charging under 13.5 volts at or slower than 1500 RPM
BTW, what voltage due you consider the "normal charge rate"?

Read the link.

The link says nothing about normal the charging rate of a vehicle.

I happen to have a factory service manual on my desk for a 1978 Dodge full size van. This would be an electronic voltage regulator system, but should be representative of the older charging system "normal" charging system voltages.
From the book quote:

Test: Start and operate engine at 1250 rpm with all lights and accessories turned off. Check voltmeter. The regulator is working properly if the voltage readings are in accordance with the following chart.

Ambient Temperature
near the voltage
regulator: ------------ Voltage range:
-20 degrees F ------ 14.9 to 15.9
80 degrees F ------- 13.9 to 14.6
140 degrees F ------ 13.3 to 13.9
above 140 F ------- Less than 13.6
It is normal for the car ammeter to show an immediate charge and then gradually return to normal position. The duration the ammeter hand remains to the right will be dependent on the length of the cranking time.

End of book quote.
If the operating voltage is below normal, the entire electrical system will not operate correctly. I believe the OP needs to find out why the charging system is not operating in the "normal" voltage range. Gene

I worked for three different telephone companies for 33 Yrs, we used lead acid battery to operate all of our office, the switching equipment that did all the work, was fed directly off of the several different battery strings in each office. We used A.C. rectifier to charge the batteries and used the batteries to act as noise filters from the local commercial A.C. network as well as run the offices 24/7 365.
I took some training in Palm Springs, CA in the summer of 1965, the training room we used was in the basement of the then new Palm Springs east Central office, it had batteries built and used in the main office before automatic switching equipment was invented and used that ATT had installed in 1905 in the original and only telephone office in Palm Springs back when telephone operators handled all calls
Each of those cells where around 18 inches to 24 inches square and around 2.5 to 3.0 feet tall incased in either clear plastic containers or glass
All of the lead acid batteries are two volts and the national telephone standard operating voltages in the central offices varies from 48 VDC to 52 VDC, depending on the company and area of the country and in the World
Every string was supposed to have a monthly inspection and preventive maintenance(cleaning and adding water) performed on them to prevent them from going bad, most offices had that done by one employee. I saw one remote office that had been neglected by the tech , he would sign off the P.M. work that he didn't do, which ended up getting him fired

Reread the entire link. It talks about the battery not the vehicle because it's what the battery needs and not the vehicle that matters.

If your charging system voltage is below the fully charged battery voltage spec you will never fully charge the battery and even then it needs to be well above the fully charged spec to properly do the job.

wow

Might be worth looking into this......
In 1981 I had a 1969 Charger with a 383.

At night the lights were always dim, turn signals would blink slow, and I always had a faint burning smell in the car.
I really didn’t understand the charging system that well back then, but even at like 2500rpm, with the lights going the voltage across the battery wasn’t even 12.5 volts.

I brought the car to a shop that specialized in auto electrical.

The problem was the ammeter had become a resistor...... and the more current you tried flowing through it, the more resistance it had.
They just piggy-backed the two wires onto one terminal, bypassing the gauge....... no more charging problem....... and no more burning smell.

I haven't seen anyone ask yet, is your pickup set to .008? My dart did the same thing yours I'd doing when I got it. I put three different modules in it and it would only run with the original but would die randomly. The gap between the pickup and the reluctor has to be exact.