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Sudden Inability to start.

Challenger RTA

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wiring
E BODY ACC BATT ALT WIRES dots.jpg
 

Challenger RTA

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The wire to look at are the ign 1,ign 2 and the battery.find them at the ing sw on the diagram and follow. and out under the hood.bad connection or bad wire,even if new.It happens. An other thing comes to mind,if the alt or voltage regulator going bad. The person with the bad coil over heating it was a bad connection.the ign sw. If I remember.
E BODY ACC BATT ALT WIRES dots.jpg
 

413

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2 wire ends on the ballast resistor. Connect them together with a jumper and see what happens.
 

Huskidrive

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You said you left the ignition switch on and not running and killed the battery. Maybe you burned out the points (if you have points) the ballast resistor or coil.
 

VillaTA

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Ballast resistor. I jumped the two and it started immediately. The question now is, what is frying it?
 

VillaTA

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So I have two multi pin connectors under my dash. Is that correct? Also there are two old red wires coming out from the column that are cut and hanging free. Are these factory? Or a remnant from a previous custom acc?

I also took the ignition pin connector apart. I jumped the red pin and the blue pin as directed. Nothing occured but a slight spark as I touched the red pin. Turning the key to acc 1 or acc 2 had no effect, in fact nothing happened at all. . Did I do this correctly?

FEE5A536-B8C2-4C23-A93D-8AD9A05C113E.jpeg


87B2798B-1553-4828-A9AC-2A3ADA0D5BC3.jpeg
 
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EW1BH27

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The 2 red wires are typically coming from the key-in buzzer switch inside the column. Does your car buzz if you leave the key in and open the door?

Never mind, I just enlarged your picture and saw that the 2 red buzzer wires look to still be in the connector.
 

Challenger RTA

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So I have two multi pin connectors under my dash. Is that correct? Also there are two old red wires coming out from the column that are cut and hanging free. Are these factory? Or a remnant from a previous custom acc?

I also took the ignition pin connector apart. I jumped the red pin and the blue pin as directed. Nothing occured but a slight spark as I touched the red pin. Turning the key to acc 1 or acc 2 had no effect, in fact nothing happened at all. . Did I do this correctly?

View attachment 95214

View attachment 95215
No. Up the steering column is dead. nothing will happen when you turn the key.The white connector is for the ing and what looks to be a blue connector is for the turn signal and 4 ways. The red wire is the power from battery. the yellow is for the starter relay. The blue with white and brown feed the coil and ballast resistor start and run side. The problem is the resistor. When you turn the key to start if feeds the coil directly.then when you let off the key to run power goes through the resistor. You got this,change the resistor and carry a spare. It happens when you don't want it to . easy swap.
 

VillaTA

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No. Up the steering column is dead. nothing will happen when you turn the key.The white connector is for the ing and what looks to be a blue connector is for the turn signal and 4 ways. The red wire is the power from battery. the yellow is for the starter relay. The blue with white and brown feed the coil and ballast resistor start and run side. The problem is the resistor. When you turn the key to start if feeds the coil directly.then when you let off the key to run power goes through the resistor. You got this,change the resistor and carry a spare. It happens when you don't want it to . easy swap.
Sweet! But what of the ammeter needle going to discharge and making that noise when key goes to acc 2?
 

chargerdon

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Ballast resistors are known to go bad, leaving the key on till battery goes completely dead isnt good for any of the electronics, including the ballast resistor. Replace it and only if it goes bad again...for no reason...should you worry about it.
 

Vinny

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So, while installing my water temp gauge, I accidentally left the key on and ran the battery flat. I put the battery tender on and went out of town for 3 days. I cannot start the car. It immediately fires once, black smoke comes out of the pipes and my garage reeks of gasoline. I’ve tried to clear the carbs, but it won’t do anything but fire one time and shut off. All I did was connect the gauge to the acc tab on the fuse panel, ground it and connect the sender with the specified 18 gauge wire.
Any clues what’s going on?
Temporarily bypass the ballast resistor with a piece of wire. If it continues to run when you release the key, the ballast resistor is at fault.
 
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