Is It The Ignition Switch?

Was in the hayfield with the 1967 CJ5 225 V-6 odd-fire moving hay-wagons and it died out, something like running out of gas, but had a full tank. I thought it was fuel related so I tried--choke, no choke, pedal to the metal, remove gas cap, remove oil-bath air cleaner on the 2G Rochester carb .

Coming back to it a bit later. It would start good & run for 3 seconds and die out. Hot day & saw vapor rise from carb. so let it set a couple hours and went back to retrieve it, but same thing--start good & run okay for seconds then die.

So after the 2 hour rest. Attempted troubleshooting as above with no results. So, I thought, "How far can I run it on starter power?" When I tried that, I soon realized if I held the key to the "start"position it not only started, but continued to run. First ran it fifty feet in 1st gear then let go of the key & it died--try same again--same results. Okay, I've got a short 1/4 mile to the garage, put it in 3rd (it's a granny 4-spd) dropped the clutch and ran it with full power into the garage holding the key to "start". What may be the trouble? Electrical? Ignition switch? or ? --I have a brand-new switch in my spare parts to try.

To confuse the the issue, maybe, I've had the "die-out" issue in the distance past (last year), and thought it vapor-lock like, but it restarted after a short rest with no tinkering and it remained unsolved.

 

I'm saying it is the coil or the ballast resistor, if it has one.

 

Any sudden failure like this has to be fuel or spark. First thing to do is look for both. Fuel in the carb? Spark at the plug?

You can easily bypass the ignition switch with a piece of wire from the battery to the coil: the classic "hot wire." Bypassing the ballast resistor for several minutes won't hurt anything. You could also run the wire to the switch side of the ballast resistor from the battery, and test any effect the ballast resistor might have. Divide and conquer.

A 6' piece of wire with a sturdy clip on both ends is a good spare to carry.

 

Do you have a ballast resistor in series with the coil? If so, that resistor is sometimes electrically bypassed when the starter is engaged. Meaning that the coil is energized directly from the ignition switch when engaging the starter but through the ballast resistor when the key is in the on position. Check it out.

 

Thanks everybody!

Ballast Resistor was the problem. Took the resistor off the '66 and "haywired" the different terminals on to the '67 and it is running strong. I'll get the correct terminal Ballast Resistor and be back in business.

 

After getting a new-from-the-store blade-terminal ballast resistor--thought I'd check it with a meter--it reads 2.1 ohms. The removed bad ballast is "open" , so no reading.

 

Thanks for the research & I'm glad you got her fixed.

 

Yes. Two is even better.

 

It was fun to tackle the problem with help. Somewhere, ten years ago, I saw the first part of my personalized definition:

Ballast resistor-- A device designed to last long enough to forget it exists, but fails unexpectedly--and it being the problem doesn't come to mind until prompted by the good folks at EarlyCJ5

 

I love happy endings