just two 7/16" flanged nuts on engine bay side and the bulkhead will be loosen from firewall ( if we talk about 71/74 B or any E body )

earliers and all A bodies are clipped to the firewall, also easy to release from engine bay side

thanks for all the help guys. My gut still tells me this was a short on the engine side OR under the dash just on the main circuit for some reason.

I have finally gotten a feel for the OHM meter and will do some more checking.

BUT I will probably go with what Nacho said, clean the terminals I have, make sure they are sound, and just wire the red and black directly through the firewall. I like that wire set up by the way! Very slick. I will probably do that.

I will keep you posted, but it may not be until next week sometime until there is an update. Apparently we have a category 5 rainstorm coming. My wife thinks that preparing for the storm is more important than chasing wires and electrical shorts in my shop. I will have to agree with her.

I will give updates as soon as I can. Thanks again guys!!! I have learned a lot already!

Apparently ?




if rings your door bell, just to let you know ( and feel in confidence ), it calls IRMA

LOL

Yeah, big storm coming. I work at the hospital so I may be sleeping there for a while depending on how bad it gets.


Anyway, in an effort to rule out any weak links, I may have found my "no spark" culprit? or at least one of them? What do you think of this Ballast Resistor?

no, on start, it bypasses the ballast.
it would only be bad if it started then died when you released the key.

Oh ok, got it. Thanks!

Listen to the wife (just this once!). On removeing the brass terminals, the male ones, one leg is unsupported & it can be hard to see which one it is when they are installed in the bulkhead (tho comparing shapes of the new to old might ans that, not sure), so press on both legs & the one that gives, move it in a bit till you can easily pull the wire/terminal out of the back side of the bulkhead, no need to force it, when it is moved sideways in the right amt it will slide back out fairly easy. On the female ones, look at the bulkhead front cavity & on one long side of the bulkhead rectangle there will be a little hole & stick an eyeglass mini screwdriver in there & depress/flatten out the "tab" that you see in the pics of it (press the screwdriver sideways as opposed to leverageing it at an angle which can crack the bulkhead plastic) & same thing when the terminal is flattened flush it will pull out the back side pretty easy. when reinstalling the new female one, first lift up the tab a bit from flush so when installing & you pull the terminal/wire backwards into the bulkhead you will hear the "snap" when it locks into place. some paste for increased conductiveity might be a good idea, not sure what to recommend.

actually if ballast is damaged won't spark either while cranking because when cranking, the ECU is sourced back through the ballast, not from key.

HOWEVER, a damaged ballast won't get any kind of read at ohmeter. will be INFINTE ohms.... just ------ on screen. It can be better or not, but should work

A ballast like that is mostly sure on 0.5 to 1 ohm rate. If you set the tester scale to 200 will get a more exact reading for the ballast oms rate. 20K is too much to read just 1 ohm

need to ask... is this the dist side plug or engine harness side plug ?

if dist side plug and is on car, thats a bad sign. Both ends must be isolated from chassis, and should get between 150-900 ohms reading, althought tipically goes between 250-320 ohms testing between both leads at plug

if is engine harness side plug, actually the terminal to ground ( 5th pin of ECU ) should be the male not the female. so Should get continuity with chassis being ECU plugged, good ECU, and good grounded.

I never have tested if with a test light the female terminal could get the light on... although very well could be with ign key in RUN. Don't take my words though

Hello! We survived the storm and we have power at the house. I haven't been able to tinker with my car much but wanted to give an update. This photo is the wire harness side. I did not actually check the distributor side with the test light.

Great you are fine!

the test light can be used on either way, to check for ground or for positive signal.

If checking against ground, on harness side the male end shouldn't light up since that pin goes to ground inside the ECU ( 5th pin )... so on a continuity test should read 0 ohms, but with a test ligh should remain off... of course testing against positive source ( batt pole or alt stud if still conected or any other ) will light on

on male lead... never have made that test nor with test light or multitester on ohms scale. It can get very well somehow a positive source and checking with a test light againts ground, could light up. Dunno if that woould be a good or bad signal.

On dist side plug... if testing with a test light against positive, NEITHER of both terminals should show a light on. That would mean the coil inside is shorted to ground. The pickup coil must be totally isolated from ground.

testing with a multitester on ohms scale between both leads, must read as previouslly posted

Ok! Finally got some time with the Roadrunner. Long story short, it runs. I started by connecting/cleaning/fixing wires from the starter relay and along the path of electricity.

One step done, checked the wires, hooked up battery. I had jumper cables connected to the battery so I could disconnect them quickly if something started to fry.

I did this until I was at the end of the wire harness and power was present.

The only thing I changed was the voltage regulator. I just had a "gut feeling" to replace it. I am out $20. I am not sure if it would even contribute to my problem, but I changed it anyway.

Anyway, car runs great. battery will be disconnected or removed any time I am not driving it from now on. I will start another thread regarding upgraded alternators.

Thanks so much for all your contributions to this thread. I may not have narrowed down the dead short but I learned A LOT in the process. Thanks!

eightlitermopar

glad you are back and ok.
Sorry you didn't find the actual problem, but glad it is all working now.