Hot Rods 318 Mopar HEI Brakedown on way to Frog Follies

On my way to the Frog Follies in Evansville, IN on Thursday in my 33 Dodge Coupe. Half way there, just South of Terre Haute, car suddenly dies. Gas in the carb, power to the starter, electric fan works. So, has to be the HEI. Pull the cap and it's full of engine oil. Somehow, oil has made its way up the shaft into the HEI base. Never had this happen or heard of it happening. Had to leave the car in Terre Haute, went on to the Frog Follies with a friend. None of my friends had ever seen this happen before. Will go down with a trailer tomorrow and pick the coupe up.

QUESTION: Anyone run across this before with an HEI? Any ideas on what could have possibly caused it?

 

Google says to much crankcase pressure.

 

what is an HEI doing on a Mopar engine?

but yeah...crankcase ventilation system?

crappy aftermarket distributor?

 

May be a factory setup? I had a ‘76 360 with electronic ignition, it actually looks so much better than the GM HEI.

 

more likely a chinese mess....

 

MaMopar used an ECU with ballast resistor, NO HEI from Highland Park

 

I’ll dig out that distributor later, pretty sure the Motor home I pulled the 360 from had no ECU.
But I’ll defer until I find it, let you tell me what I’d need if I ever wanted to use it.

 

Got to be excessive crankcase pressure. I agree with Jim. Do you have a functioning breather and PCV.

 

I'm running a Chrysler electronic distributor on my 318 Poly in my 32. It came with a bright orange "control box" which I painted flat black and mounted it under the dash. The dissy just looks like a standard unit (unlike those ugly Chev units ) and were standard here in Oz in the late 70's, early 80's with Chryslers "lean burn" system on our Aussie Valiants. Never had the OP's problem but my Poly breathes OK.

 

OEM Chrysler electronic ignition hit the scene in the early 70s, and was used for a long time. It's not really "HEI" as we know the term. It does use a separate amplifier box, a dual ballast resistor, and there are two wires from the base of the distributor, vs the single wire on a point distributor.

 

Over the years I've mostly built GM motors and used their HEI set-ups and when I tried my hand at a Mopar engine I thought the aftermarket HEI was the way to go. But the options for acquiring one were limited and I picked up one at a large car show a couple of years ago. Jim is correct, it probably is Chinese and since the 318 has a significant Cam and other details, there is a lot of crankcase pressure. Oil gauge runs around 70 lbs. And, like Budget 36, the 318 was originally in a motor home.

I went back to Terra Haute this morning and picked up the 33. Put the HEI back together, hoping the oil might drain out of it but I couldn't get it to start. There was still some oil in the dizzy so I figured that was still the problem. On the way home I remembered that I had forgot to hook the hot wire back up. When I got home I did that and the engine fired right up. I drove it off the trailer and into my garage with no issues. BUT, I am hesitant to drive it anywhere until I figure out what happened. I will check the breather and the PVC along with the other stuff suggested in the responses to my original post and thanks to those who responded. I am considering replacing the HEI and going back to the original stock set up but haven't made a decision yet. If anyone has suggestions I would appreciate them.

 

Actually it's a piece of cake to run an hei module on the mopar distributor and a whole lot less wiring, less room and no ballast so a full 12 volts to another coil.

...

 

@lostone , I thought you were going to give us the easy details, not just the easy overview.

 

There's few ignition systems better than the tried-and-true "orange box" Mopar setup. If you want to keep the HEI and the simplicity of it, you can get a better, non-Chinese version of it through Davis Unified Ignition. Otherwise, the orange box is where it's at, as long as you have a strong ground on the module.

 

@pprather
It's as simple as this drawing. They also make a bracket that bolts to the bottom of the mopar distributor to mount the hei module to also. And use a low ohm factory looking coil from pertronix.

.

 

Thanks, that may help the OP.

 

Points. It's the latest rage. I'm all in.

 

At least this guy isn't tossing a match or ignoring the suggestions...

I'd suggest checking crankcase pressure under load since it seems like you have a PCV setup shown. The breather should not allow any pressure even under load, but if it's plugged up...
Resolve any issues, then for peace of mind, either get another HEI from a quality shop and swap it in, keeping the current one in the trunk for side of the road swapping OR go with a quality Mopar EI setup. There have been grumbles that modern replacements aren't as bulletproof as the older ones, but the box and pickup can also have spares in the trunk.

 

Ditch the cheesy HeI and put in points or the factory Chrysler electric ignition, either will be way better then what you have now

 

The factory electronic mopar distributor with a DUI hei module is hard to beat.

Visit the mopar hi-performance/race forums and you'll see this is a well proven and well used setup across the street, race and off road crowds. The only ones bitching about it are the mopar purists.

.....heck I ain't even a mopar guy but got the setup for my 440...

..

 

I have put a lot of miles on Mopar motors and don't ever recall oil getting under the cap unless it sprayed from a different source like a line from an oil pressure gauge broke and was spraying the oil directly at the cap to dist joint or oil spray from the back of the intake was hitting the dist at the same area. I've not ever seen it come up through the dist itself. But then again, I never installed an HEI dist into my Mopars.

My point is, I would absolutely have to be sure there was not an outside source of the oil getting into the cap. I believe the oil coming up through the dist is a long shot, at least it would be on a Mopar dist.

Mopar offered the electronic ignition as an option on some performance motors in 1972, and it was installed on all Chrysler production vehicles starting with the 1973 production. The production models remained unchanged until the advent of the Lean Burn system arrived with some 1977 model year cars. There were a few high performance ECM's designed for the electronic ignition system that had varied some in the later 70s and on.

 

What type of sensor does that distributor use to trigger the ignition? If it's optical (using light, either visible or IR) that could absolutely explain why it wouldn't work covered in black oil.
Some variation of magnetic sensors seem most common, they shouldn't be affected by oil, but you never know on the aftermarket stuff.

 

So this requires a trigger be added to the original points distributor, thus the two wires out?

 

If you really want to go exotic, try a Lucas distributor made for the 318 from AU!

I agree that you have excessive blow-by from your piston rings to cause oil to go up and out the distributor shaft. Its probably leaking several other places as well? A new engine will do this for a few hundred miles, as can a bad bore finish or worn rings.

 

The illistration is for a stock mopar electronoc distributor with a magnetic pickup.

 

I would first check the distributor shaft bushing and then the PCV system. It is very possible that the distributor is wearing more than a stock Mopar unit would.

And, another vote for a Mopar electronic distributor with a GM HEI controller. My flat six in my pickup is getting a slant six electronic moded to fit along with an HEI unit. But, the controller should be mounted on a heat sink with plenty of airflow. Either buy one for a GM vehicle or make one from a slab of aluminum. I'm using a piece of 1/2" plate with "machined' fins ( cut on my table saw!) and mounted with the heat transfer paste.

It's getting electronic mainly because new points and condensers are a crap shoot.

 

While checking your PCV system, do not forget to check the breather on the opposite valve cover. When I worked for the Dodge dealer it was common for the breather to clog. Cars would come in with milky oil and leaking oil at every gasket. Every time we would find the breather clogged. It was one of the items we kept on the shelf under the parts counter along with dual ballast resistors and the plastic gear for a slant 6 distributor.

A friend ran a Dodge with a 440 at Bonneville. It was a stock bodied car with a potent engine. On one of the runs at speed it suddenly shut off. He found the distributor completely full of oil. In his case the problem was running at high rpm for extended periods. I don't know what he was running for crankcase ventilation. The fix was to run lines from each valve cover into the exhaust. One way check valves in the lines kept the exhaust from coming back into the engine.

 

Are the bushings worn in the distributor? Can you change the pressure relief spring in the oil pump to low the pressure, 70 is pretty high. Can you put some felt gaskets in the distributor body between the bushing, it would trap oil and/or really slow it down.

 

Good news that you were able to safely park near Terre Haute, still making the show.
The advice above will get it right
My wonder tho, is 70 pounds right?

 

For a Mopar, that sounds perfect. These things run a ton of oil pressure. A friend of mine has one that runs damn near 100 psi cold. It's a mind-screw when I get in my Mopar powered car after driving my Olds, where it tops out at 35 psi.