1981 champion motorhome with a dodge 440 engine
Grand Champion
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 5,158
Likes: 724
From: S.W. Indiana
My friend got a 1976 Dodge Champion real cheap.
it has the 440 motor.
it ran great and everything worked.
he has been driving it for almost a year.
Now all of a sudden it will die without warning.
The battery will also be dead.
He charged the battery then started it.
It ran a short distance and died again.
So he now has to jump start it but cant go more then a mile before it dies again.
He tried a few things.
He charged the battery then started the motorhome.
When he pulled the battery cable off, it died immediately.
If he starts it then turns the headlights on, it dies.
One parts place said it was the ballast resistor?
Another said battery isolator?
And another said voltage regulator?
he can't even find the voltage regulator.
Where would you look?
I have no answers for him.
He is poor from loosing his job due to covid and now lives in his motorhome.
he is desperate for answers.
it has the 440 motor.
it ran great and everything worked.
he has been driving it for almost a year.
Now all of a sudden it will die without warning.
The battery will also be dead.
He charged the battery then started it.
It ran a short distance and died again.
So he now has to jump start it but cant go more then a mile before it dies again.
He tried a few things.
He charged the battery then started the motorhome.
When he pulled the battery cable off, it died immediately.
If he starts it then turns the headlights on, it dies.
One parts place said it was the ballast resistor?
Another said battery isolator?
And another said voltage regulator?
he can't even find the voltage regulator.
Where would you look?
I have no answers for him.
He is poor from loosing his job due to covid and now lives in his motorhome.
he is desperate for answers.
He needs to pull the alternator and have it checked. If he normally pulls the cable while it is running, he may have blown the internal diode. You do NOT pull the cables while an alternator equipped engine is running. Sometimes they will still run, but it does do damage. The alternator may have an internal regulator, in which case it;s inside the case or an external and it will be a sort of flat thing with a three pronged plug going into it. Where it was put on a motorhome is anybody's guess this far after construction. I think Champion was bought out some time ago.
If the alternator tests out good, the main battery may be bad. Alternators do not have internal magnets like generators. They have to have battery power to make the magnetic field to create power. A ballast resistor will cause it to die, but it won't affect the charging.
A little tip, the motorhome may have a 413, not a 440 engine. The 413 industrial engine was put in motor homes and large trucks long after other car and trucks stopped getting them after 1978. Look at the flat area under the distributor head. The size will be stamped there.
