Ok, so I have the ol 350 runnin and sitting there idling and then it sputters a few times and dies. Thought that it was the gas and junk in the fuel (wasn't), so I tried to restart and the starter got hot and then nothing would work. waited a little bit, tried to turn her over and it would just turn over for a few seconds. So, put the volt tester to it...registered 12.0 sitting and then 12.0 with aux switched on and then 7.9-8.1 for starting. Wouldn't start at all. So, my alt isn't wired correctly and I think the battery drained. Would it just die like that and quit working if the HEI wasn't getting a good juice flow?
Sure it would die and not run based on low battery voltage. There is a chart with the Gm computer cars that actually shows a battery voltage correction as voltage drops.... something like this 13.2-14.6-15.5 volts good running voltages based on make model etc...... 12.2 Normal battery static no running voltage 11 volts all electronics take correction adaptations ( ie injectors , ignition etc) 10 volts close to minimum voltsage 9.6 volts feeling pretty sick but still running 7 volts = dead !!! ride coasts to side of road.. The hei control would be close to these values as well........
I have a Pertronix unit in my distributor, and when the voltage drops to 12 volts, it dies. Electronics are pretty finicky when it comes to voltage...
Hot + no air flow could= fried HEI module. It has happened to me . Autozone can test your module for free.
thanks alot for the information. I'm hoping that it's just a charging issue. I hope that the HEI isn't shot. I'll find out in the morning.
Don from PerTronix here - something else is wrong. The Ignitor will run down to 5-6 volts on almost all cases. Do you have a big ballast resistor or resistor wire that could be caudsing a bigger drop at the coil? As for the OP, the HEI will generally drop out around 7-8 volts as GMC Bubba said, even higher with some of the Chinese modules
Don I cry foul... Hash this out on the public forum so that we can all learn something here, Please. lg no neat sig line
Not a matter of hashing anything out. I didn't want to hijack the HEI thread and what i am asking him about is his coil, resistor, wire, coil comination to see if he has an odd combo. That's all
I can help here ... The resistance of the coil wont hurt here as much as with a set of points as the pertronixs is wired in parallel instead of series. The feed wire of the pertronixs module is at the positive ignition coil and ( ***uming theres no ballast resistor) then the feed would be same as battery voltage. However if there is a ballast resistor present then that (usually) a six volt drop and i have installed quite a few pertronixs with the ballast still in place, making me agree with Don that the pertronixs unit will run very well with a six volt supply. The primary section of any and all ignition systems must use a calibrated resistance and combo of components to have a usefull and long life. The killer of ALL ignition parts is heat !!! And heat comes from too much current !!! And too much current comes from low resistance ( improper parts) etc!!!!! " remember all wires have smoke in them and only the bad ones let it out"
Possibility from the volt drop at start up is a dead cell in the battery. I would try again with the battery having a fresh charge on it. jerry
ok, so, charged the battery and she fired right up. runs great now. now, i just need to get the rest of the car in decent shape. drover her around the block the other night with my welded up drive shaft and my plumbed up front brakes and no windshield. But, wow...I fired down on it just once to see if it would hold together. I was not aware that the rearend was posi trac. Laid down 2 very nice black tire treads and squeeled down the street. Drive shaft held together, front brakes stopped well, as a matter of fact the right front locked up. Going to plumb the back brakes and put the proportioning valve inline once I get the rear hubs off the stupid thing.
I would run power to fuse, then switch, then to HEI. protect the switch and module. Also, run a 194 peanut bulb in the charge sense wire to prevent run on. gm 3 wire and hei are easy to wire correctly.
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