What do I do now?

situation... :help:

New DUI ignition "Dyna Mod" modual is dying the original one is dead, DUI installed aug/sept 2010

I know it's dead because I'm driving down the road (sustaining speed @ 45mph) and the RPM gage goes dead and the engine stops running, ALT light turns on and afte press the clutch the oil too... pop clutch and sometimes she comes back, replaced modual and now it hasn't happend... yet

setup... original
relay 40 amp, DUI gets full battery juice... relay died so put in 30 amp, even tried swapping it with known good 30 amps from my A/C system
(the 40 amps used was really cheap and my A/C system can blow them like nothing)

replaced "Dyna Mod" with generic one from o-riely's for $35 (it's 4 pin with 1 pin not so wide in diameter) fixed dying problem

setup... 1
no relay, use 30 amp fuse... runs strong but RPM gage is wako, ALT light turns on during braking or turn signaling (don't like running like this so went to setup 2)

setup... 2
using relay so DUI gets full juice, 30amp relay or cheap 40 amp relay (the 30 amp lasts longer )... drove 5 miles (full temp @ 2miles) and she STUTTERED again!!! but ALL gages are good


Solution... new wireing harness??? $$$$$ <can't really afford one right now
AND my suspension is falling apart (what's more important? it is a daily and ONLY car )
I honeslty feel like i'm :deadhorse:


Future goal is to go painless wire kit, new gage cluster (like the 66's) and a 130 amp one wire alt, with dual electric fans AFTER my suspension. but what can I do now to keep her dependable? go back to the LOM with pertronix?

I had a 70 mustang once that did similar things. It would cut out randomly, and kept blowing fuses and relays. This of course happened on a long road trip. Finally, I concluded that I had a short somewhere, but no idea where until I the steering column began to smoke in Athens, Ga.

Lucked into a good shop, and the burn marks made the short easy to find. haha. Had the thing not almost gone up in flames, I may have still been looking for that short.

I hope you are able to figure yours out easier than that.

A bad starter solenoid or ignition switch will cause the same problem along with just about anything electrical. Check grounds also before you start throwing parts at it.

You should not be anywhere near the limits of those relays with the DUI. I dont remember exactly what they draw, Im thinking in the 5 amp range. Is your coil / center contact assembled correctly? The contact goes in the cap first then the rubber washer then the coil. All that makes contact with the coil is that pretty thin spring. I have seen it many times where someone puts the washer in first the the contact. This makes the contact recessed too far in the cap so you dont get direct contact with the rotor. The other issue I see is the ground Most of the caps have a ground bar that goes in from the terminal area to one of the mounting bolts. Most of the coils have a ground wire that has to also go under one of the mounting bolts, I usually put the wire under the one with the ground bar.

Do you have a voltmeter in your system? I wonder if you have a regulator or major grounding issue giving you some wacky system voltages?

8) if the module is the problem, when it was installed did you use the proper dielectric grease that comes with the module? they get quite hot, and the grease allows for the heat to transfer to the distributor and away from the module.

rbohm - yes I did install the dielectric grease... figured it coudn't hurt but only help

fordconvert":vouxuqk7 said:

You should not be anywhere near the limits of those relays with the DUI.

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that's what I thought

fordconvert":vouxuqk7 said:

I usually put the wire under the one with the ground bar

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Pic or diagram? i'll try this... to see if I got it clear you would ground the distributor metal base to the mounting bolt with a wire...

fordconvert":vouxuqk7 said:

Do you have a voltmeter in your system?

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a gage that tells me exactly (or roughly) how much i'm making? no, I have a dummy light

1bad6t":7qa8mqiy said:

A bad starter solenoid or ignition switch will cause the same problem along with just about anything electrical. Check grounds also before you start throwing parts at it.

Click to expand...

I replaced my started solenoid roughly 9months ago, but the ignition switch has obiously been replaced before I got the car, I have a door key and ignition key. I'll check voltages to see if these went bad...

the wires under my dash is worse than a rats nest... I've tried following everything but get stuck on my switches, I guess a short would make sense the way this is acting up.

bucfan1234 - I know what you mean my first short I found was the horn, replaced the entire wiring in the steering colum to fix it and the old wires were "melted" together...


I will start looking for wiring kits, I tried 3 months ago to fix some of my wiring but I only made it worse as I broke/discontected wires and left the old ones there, I have a quite a bit of old wires dead and not used... BTW is there a way to get rid of the "automatic tranny" gear switch sensor? my t-5 doesn't need it

thx guys for teh replys... I'll go find that short now, after I a few times

The ground wire I am speaking about and that contact washer thing is all in the cap. If you have not had it apart I would expect that they did it correct at DUI but ya never know it may be worth a look.

Sounds like you need a volt meter for both short and long term testing. The 'import' models are real cheap and plenty decent for typical car and around the house work.

Something like this would do fine and its under $40
http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive ... 95670.html

ahh, yes i do have a stand alone volt meter... it's how I know I'm getting 12v's running at the ignition (IE... the resistor on the pink wire is not there)

this morning it was acting up again, so I went ahead and swaped out the relay and ran a fuse to get to work. she was way smoother than before, but of course the gadges were wacked out. I'm going to try a new regulator and see if that helps the gages other wise i'm find running the fuse instead of the relay as it just seems more reliable. hopefully long enough to fix suspension first.

Have you tested your alternator?

the alternator is new, right after the engine build, she was sparking up a storm under the hood, so I replaced it right before I got my DUI. do you think it would go bad that fast? just checked, she's not sparking like before. but I guess I could test it.

is there a way to test the regulator?

You should be getting more than 12v with the engine running. Rig up a way to get you meter hooked up inside to the lighter or something so you can see what the voltage is doing when you are having issues.

Someone mentioned checking the grounds. This is the first thing you should do, and do again.
On these old cars, a bad ground can cause strange problems, like a ground loop feedback.
Also check the rubber washer in the cap, under the coil. It will cause crazy things to happen.

You mentioned blinkers and brakelights in your description, this can indicate grounding problems.
This could be totaly unrelated to ignition but indicate a common problem.

90% of the time, electric gremlins are small details that are overlooked.

After checking grounds, I would run a suitable wire (sized for the DUI), straight from the battery through a fuse (sized to protect the wire) to a hidden toggle switch and to the distributor. This will give full voltage and plenty AMPS. This will eliminate the relays and ignition switch. This should isolate the ignition system.
Also, disconnect the tach till the problem is sorted out. Tach's can and will cause problems.

Check for proper grounding in DUI.
I have added a ground wire to some race engines that ran from the grounding wire on the coil to the block. Don't know how much it helped, but we were racing for points and couldn't afford any problems. Depending on the gasket setup, some distributors don't contact the block well enough to ground it. The hold down clamp should provide enough of a ground for the distributor as long as the negative cable grounds to the block.
Take a methodical aproach to each part of the system and you will find it.

JackFish":3ir1030n said:

Have you tested your alternator?

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And I'd add what kind of shape is your battery in?

Since your DUI is getting it's current from the alternator via the battery, I'd check the battery as well. Anything below 12v should be a concern...a dying battery or one with a dead short could cause issues for anything pulling power directly from the batt. This is a rather simplistic video, but does walk you through the simple steps of checking your battery and alternator with an inexpensive multimeter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzz7P3qNHcE

Basically with the car running and leads connected properly (make sure connections make clean contact...ie bad/worn dirty batt cables and/or connections can play havoc with starting and electrical systems/devices/DUI) you should see about 13.6v on the multimeter while engine is idling. I know the video says 13.8, but 13.6 is the standard I've heard most and used as a minimum.

MPGmustang":3ir1030n said:

the alternator is new...do you think it would go bad that fast?

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Yep it could.
Significant fluctuations in readings while running could indicate an alternator, regulator or other issue (ie grounds, wires etc as mentioned). Good luck!

Something else to consider,is to make sure that the drive belt or belts are properly tightened.From what I have been told,loose belts can cause alternator failure also.
Leo

so the alternator checks out, 13.9 volts on idle

I've been running it pretty hard lately and so far the only thing i've noticed wrong is the rpm gage, is the HEI multipule spark? if so then I think everything is working perfectly fine, WAY more dependable on running than before.

my setup with the relay is as follows
ignition (key) hot to relay, connects through the relay to a "ground" on the negative battery post. a hot (pos on battery) goes to relay, connects thorugh relay to my DUI... I think my original "hot" through my relay was my "short" now that's no longer connected I really havn't had any running problems with the DUI or just the RPM gage, which someone suggested to just disconnect it (sounds like a plan to me).

now i'm going to work on my suspension, she is no longer road worthy and needs the steering realigned and a few suspension parts replaced, you can follow the suspension thread here: Link

as i'm rebuilding the suspension i'm sending in my 1100v to pony carbs for a tune up on the throttle shaft plate, the plate that has the idle screw is WAY loose and I never get the same idle anymore. but running it at speed don't give a problem, that problem is gone.

The tach signal should be the same. Its connected to the same place in both systems which is the neg terminal of the coil.