[Celtic Conservative]

I can say two words and make any 1960’s to late 1970’s mopar product stop dead in its tracks:

Ballast resistor.

CC

[Reaganite Republican]

True fact lol

[Vaquero]

They’re right there on the upper fire wall. Never had one go on me. If it bothers you throw one in the glove box. I have owned 20 or so cars with this device and I heard of the problem but never experienced it.

[exit82]

LOL!

The ballast resistor was like a $ 4 part, located on the fender under the hood, and you are right, the MOPAR vehicle was dead if it went bad.

Once you knew about it, you could make a dead vehicle start like magic by replacing it.

Had a ceramic one on a ‘78 Dodge pickup that gave us fits when the vehicle was only one year old.

A lot of mechanics did not even know about it.

Your post brought back a flood of frustrating memories.

[norwaypinesavage]

I'm still running a 318 Mopar V8 in my boat. It's always had a ballast resistor in the coil circuit. It sits down in the bilge at 100 percent humidity forever. I've never had to replace it.

I've had problems with a 1010 John Deere tractor with the same ignition design. It goes through the ballast resistors regularly, but it has been sitting outdoors for more than half a century.