DodgeDakotaD150
Junior Member
Hi all,
I am new here and hope I am asking this question in the correct place.
I am new to dodge ignition systems (GM Guy).
I purchased truck (84 D150 w/318) with previously “worked on” wiring.
I am experiencing a no spark situation.
The truck is becoming a mystery to me as far as the ignition system goes, because it seems to have a mixture of the lean burn components on it as well as seeming to miss some of the components I have seen the system to have. I know the truck ran at one point recently because I have video and I had the truck fire up when I first brought it home, but it sat some some time and now it is a no crank no start from the ignition and a crank no start from the starter relay.
I don’t have power coming back from the orange ignition wire (28) on the bulkhead connector. However I’m just trying to get it to fire off so I can figure out where I’m going with the truck.
The main concern I have is that I don’t understand how this thing is wired.
Battery has ground to block & firewall. I have added new ground from block to cab.
POS is wired to Batt on starter relay. As well as the small shunt ammeter wire on the batt terminal of the starter relay (I’m not sure if this is correct or not.)
Starter is new mini starter. 4 gauge wire from large post on starter to POS of battery.
Small brown wire to the SOL terminal of starter relay. Orange ignition wire (28 at bulkhead) is to the I terminal on the starter relay. And the dark green wire coming from the neutral safety switch (automatic) is going to the G terminal on the starter relay. I believe most of this is correct.
The distributor is a dual pickup distributor.
The coil has two wires going to the + side a red wire and a black wire (these were simply wrapped around by someone most likely to test their wiring theory so I’m not confident they are correct.
The - side of the coil has one wire going to it that is coming from a small condenser mounted just under the coil.
There is no ballast resistor besides the small RFI style ballast mounted on the same bracket as the coil. No 2 or 4 space ballast resistor at all.
There is a two wire voltage regulator mounted onto the firewall that I have removed cleaned and reinstalled with a ground wire directly to the block. As well as cleaning the firewall to make sure it has a good ground.
I removed the coils and tested the primaries and I’m getting 1.4ohms across the primaries and I’m getting 8.49 across the windings.
I removed the bulkhead and expected it to be bad but I was in great shape. No burned wires or corrosion.
The wiring is brittle and looks like garbage in a lot of places, but I would assume I should get spark still.
What am I missing and why does this vehicle seem to be a mixture of the lean burn system, but also has no ballast resistor and has no ignition module. It ran at one point the way it was. Am I missing something?
I am new here and hope I am asking this question in the correct place.
I am new to dodge ignition systems (GM Guy).
I purchased truck (84 D150 w/318) with previously “worked on” wiring.
I am experiencing a no spark situation.
The truck is becoming a mystery to me as far as the ignition system goes, because it seems to have a mixture of the lean burn components on it as well as seeming to miss some of the components I have seen the system to have. I know the truck ran at one point recently because I have video and I had the truck fire up when I first brought it home, but it sat some some time and now it is a no crank no start from the ignition and a crank no start from the starter relay.
I don’t have power coming back from the orange ignition wire (28) on the bulkhead connector. However I’m just trying to get it to fire off so I can figure out where I’m going with the truck.
The main concern I have is that I don’t understand how this thing is wired.
Battery has ground to block & firewall. I have added new ground from block to cab.
POS is wired to Batt on starter relay. As well as the small shunt ammeter wire on the batt terminal of the starter relay (I’m not sure if this is correct or not.)
Starter is new mini starter. 4 gauge wire from large post on starter to POS of battery.
Small brown wire to the SOL terminal of starter relay. Orange ignition wire (28 at bulkhead) is to the I terminal on the starter relay. And the dark green wire coming from the neutral safety switch (automatic) is going to the G terminal on the starter relay. I believe most of this is correct.
The distributor is a dual pickup distributor.
The coil has two wires going to the + side a red wire and a black wire (these were simply wrapped around by someone most likely to test their wiring theory so I’m not confident they are correct.
The - side of the coil has one wire going to it that is coming from a small condenser mounted just under the coil.
There is no ballast resistor besides the small RFI style ballast mounted on the same bracket as the coil. No 2 or 4 space ballast resistor at all.
There is a two wire voltage regulator mounted onto the firewall that I have removed cleaned and reinstalled with a ground wire directly to the block. As well as cleaning the firewall to make sure it has a good ground.
I removed the coils and tested the primaries and I’m getting 1.4ohms across the primaries and I’m getting 8.49 across the windings.
I removed the bulkhead and expected it to be bad but I was in great shape. No burned wires or corrosion.
The wiring is brittle and looks like garbage in a lot of places, but I would assume I should get spark still.
What am I missing and why does this vehicle seem to be a mixture of the lean burn system, but also has no ballast resistor and has no ignition module. It ran at one point the way it was. Am I missing something?
