Speaking of Danged Chryslers

showcrop

Well-known Member
What was that replacement electric part that you had to carry in your glove box of Omnis and Horizons when cars were first going electronic back in the 70s?
 
That brings back memories - back in the 80's I commuted 250 miles a day with a couple Omni's. I got 300,000 miles out of each of them. Front wheel bearings were the biggest wear item for me - they would only go about 50k, but they were easy to change
Pete
 
I?ve always hated anything mopar related growing up in the
70?s&80?s. We broke down and bought a new Caravan in
2012 and loved it. Had almost no issues in 5 years. We traded
it for a Jeep Cherokee but missed the space more than we
thought we would so traded that last summer on a half ton.
We?ve had nothing but positive experiences in 7 years so
far,love the products. I really don?t like the look of the new 1/2
ton GM?s and the Ford trucks are ok,some are really nice if
they have a chrome grill.
 
I always carried a one of those resistors in the glove box of any Dodge I had back then too. I never needed it myself, but I did lend/sell one to other stranded drivers. People thought I was nuts when I would walk up to them and say, hey why don?t we just try plugging this thing into your car, and see if it starts, lol.
 
For Dodges it was the ballast resistor.
For Ford's you had better carry an extra ignition control module. The 6 or 8 inch square silver box under the hood.
For my GM's you never knew what would brake next ?
 
I have owned GM ,Ford Dodge,and even Nissan, as
well as a Ford Ranger built by Mazda. Liked them
so long as they worked, but the Dodge I liked the
best. Probably never own another GM , since they
closed down the assembly plant in Oshawa, and
while I really like some Ford vehicles, others are
plan ugly.
 
A ballast resistor.

Those weren't too bad, simple point eliminating electronic ignition. Still used a vacuum and centrifugal advance.

Then they went with "Lean Burn Ignition".

An early attempt at electronically controlling the ignition timing. A horrid contraption with a computer box built inside the air cleaner. Hesitation, unpredictable rough idle, sudden loss of spark, mystery problems that even the dealer couldn't solve!

I remember a local Dodge dealership having a row of "dead" new cars sitting out front with flats and weeds growing under them. I assume they were lemons, brought back and replaced or refunded.
 
You have it backwards. The Ford Currier was built by Mazda. The Mazda B series were built by Ford since 1994. I had 4 Rangers and 2 '96 Mazdas. They had a tag on the drivers door that said "Built by Ford Motor Company in USA for Mazda Motors Corporation".
 

For GM a spare rotor button :) They made me a many a dollar.. If no rotor available a stick of gum to patch the hole in the rotor...

Back to Chrysler the only good I can think of is interchangeability... Back in the day I use to keep a fleet of mail runners up they were Dynasty's everything about a FWD van would interchange parts were EZ to come by and cheap...

They would beat the front ends all to ell in a couple hours you could drop the front end out of a van it was a direct swap into the Dynasty :)...
 
We had a '76 Grand Fury with the 360. During the transition weather spring and fall the choke liked to lock up when you started it. Had to teach the wife how to wedge a key or screwdriver into the linkage to hold it open so it would start. Always carried a ballast resistor but never had to use it.

Also knew an older gent who was a mechanic at a Chrysler dealer. He told me their fix for the lean burn problems was ONE turn of electrical tape around the temp sensor pin in the distributor. It was just enough insulating to correct it.
 
A new coil,that is about the only thing that would
leave me stranded. Most people could go their
entire life and not have a problem with one. I had
one fail on about every car I had
 
After looking seriously at the market place I bought a Caravan in November for the business,its been great,one of my measuring sticks was the high milers with no issues in the used market.So if used is good,new is better. Had to replace the old Astrovan that clocked 275000 miles, (445000kms).
 
Omni and Horizon were the K car family. If
they had the 4 cylinder, you need a head
gasket and timing belt in the glove box.
If it was a bigger K car, or van, with the
3.0 Mitsu engine, the trunk needed to be
full of cases of motor oil.

When I look back on those days when I began wrenching, I wonder why the big three even still exist. They built such crap in the '70s and '80s. If the anti-Asian import sentiment had not have been strong to allow them to get the act together in the '90s, they would be gone.
 
We really liked it,we had 110 000 miles on it and the warranty was used up and we no longer need 7 seating as our oldest is on his own now so downsized in seating capacity. There?s a ton of those vans on the road and most people are happy with them. They?ve been unchanged since 2012,the pacifica looks nice but they?re pricy.
 
I heard a guy at a show say he worked on that original lean burn. When the guys he was talking to acted real 'impressed' he defended with "it worked in the lab!"

RT
 
Had several K-cars and never had any problems with any of them. Liked best the one with the manual tranny; great mileage and never a mechanical problem. Don't remember if it was a 4-speed or 5-speed.
 
We would All look awfully funny trying to haul tractors around with a Toyota car 🚗 or compact pickup
cvphoto16283.jpg
 
Had a '75 Valiant for my first car. Leaning tower of power. Had to keep a spare voltage regulator. Dad was a Chrysler guy but that Valiant cured me. Been trying to hold together GM's ever since....haha
 
Just spend the money on the OEM voltage
regulator. Napa's are junk. Last one didn't
run but a few hours and pegged just short
of full output.

The mopar performance blue "race only"
regulator puts out a constant 13.5-13.8
volts. They tend to last longer than the
black one, which has temperature
compensation. 10 below 0 it will put out
about 15 volts, down to about 13.5 in
really hot weather. Right beside the
battery would be the best place for it, but
under the hood allows it to get some
outside air.

A small pair of vice grips will allow the new one to be clamped to the plug retainer on the old one to get home. They don't work without being grounded.
 
Been happy with my Caravans, have had one from about every generation, all went high mileage, 94 had 260,000 when I sold it. Presently driving a 2013, like the accessories and power, that 3.6 is amazing. When I was looking thought I didn't want motorized doors but the one I bought had them and now I'm happy it does.

Never made sense to me to pay the premium for a Town and Country.
 

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