Starts then dies

Josh Brown

Josh Brown

Member
It has been a month since I tinkered on the Scout. Last time it started and ran fine, now it starts and dies, I only have power to the coil under startup, when the ignition is just in the on position no power to the coil. I have a 345 with a mallory unilite. I'm guessing it has something to do with the ignition, where do I start looking?
 
The full voltage to start your engine is supplied by a wire that runs from your starter solenoid to the coil. That supply would appear to be functioning properly from your description. You didn't mention what year your Scout is, for shame for shame. The voltage to keep your engine running is either supplied by an ugly, cloth insulated resistor wire or by a standard awg wire that is interrupted by a ceramic ballast resistor. Which is it? Only you know that. Either way, the wire in question will be part of the loom that goes through the main bulkhead connector on the passenger side of the firewall. If you know anything about scouts, then you know those bhc's are the single most problematic pieces of shit on the entire rig.
To rule out this being anything other than a voltage supply issue, you can jump a wire directly from the + terminal of your battery to the + side of the coil as a temporary hotwire. If the engine continues to run, you know for certain the problem is in the run circuit that supplies b+ voltage to your coil. Don't run the engine too long this way as it will damage your coil and/or points.
 
Wow some good info on here. I usually to go to the binder bulletin but it is down, glad I found this site. I started messing around and even though I checked the bulkhead connector earlier I didn't do a good enough job, it was loose, it was on, but loose. It's like female side that comes through the inside of the firewall lost part of what holds it in it's slot and it falls slightly back into the dash area and just barely comes loose. I'm thinking of putting some glue around the edge to hold it in place. Thanks for the help.
 
Don't juryrig the bulkhead connector...eliminate it! It serves no purpose other than as an "assembly aid" when the vehicle originally came down the production line.

And the quality of the connector components that IH chose was absolutely bottom end shit to begin with, worst possible choices from an engineering/technical standpoint.

You have so far experienced just one of many issues with those connectors, the rest of the problems will start showing up as you dig deeper into this project.

Do it once...do it right! Then move on to the next hurdle.
 
What is the condition of the wire contacts in the bulkhead connector?

Is there any indication of "heat"? Burnt contacts? Burnt wires?

If there is no indication of "heat", you can probably "get along" for a while (with luck, a long while).

I know michael will disagree with this as he is "death" on bulkhead connectors and all the problems caused by such.

If you search / "look" you will find a post with "many" pictures michael has posted on bulkhead connectors -- including "their removal".

No, I do not think you need to do a complete rewire... Though a rewire of the engine compartment May be a little "cleaner".

But, you need to be able to do it "correctly" so that you do not cause yourself even more problems....

Removed statements about taping bhc -- I went downstairs to the garage and the bhcs on my t/a are slightly different from those on scouts - as michael has stated.

The pictures that I referred to are in the thread "78 terra no start" in basic tech. Michael might have other bhc pictures posted in other thread(s).
 
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