Hey guys, I've got a '69 Ford Mustang Mach One with an MSD Ignition system. I have MSD 8584 distributor, Blaster 2 coil, MSD 6A box and 8.5 spark plug wires. For the past month, I have been having problems with a no spark condition on this car. April of this year I purchased an aftermarket streetrod wire harness by Haywire and had installed. At the time I had an MSD 6AL box and ran for four months. Then I took to a shop to have the wiring inspected because the alternator that I purchased blew up the battery because it was over charging. So, the alternator got rebuilt and put back in the car. After bringing the car home, it ran fine, parked it and shut it off. Two days, later I go to start it and no spark. So the car has been sitting for a month and a half. On Tuesday(11-23-04), I had some time on my hands and started working on the car. I called MSD direct and walked me through the spark test and told me it was the box because I saw no spark coming from the ignition coil wire by shorting the box. I swapped it for a 6A box and hooked up everything according to the MSD wiring diagram and replaced the coil since it had low ohm readings. I wired everything correctly except I had an issue where to connect the regular red wire. The MSD wiring diagram shows it going directly to the ignition key wire and on the old 6AL box the red wire was connected to the starter solenoid where the "I" inscription is located. Is this the correct place to connect this wire? Is anybody out there who has had this problem? What is causes a no spark condition, anyway? Please anybody, help me. I want my car to spark. This is very frustrating. I'll be checking periodically, Thank you.
No Spark
- Thread starter Purple Stallion
- Start date
You should have 2 red wires. One large red wire that goes to the battery or solenoid, and a smaller red wire that goes into the ignition wire off the starter (that runs to one of the solenoid terminal blocks). I think it a brown wire, but that's probably not your problem.
The most likely cause is that you burned up the magnetic pickup, in the distributor, when you overcharged. MSD will send you a new one for free... I've just gone through this exact problem, minus the exploding battery. Oddly enough, it was a '69 coupe.
The most likely cause is that you burned up the magnetic pickup, in the distributor, when you overcharged. MSD will send you a new one for free... I've just gone through this exact problem, minus the exploding battery. Oddly enough, it was a '69 coupe.
How do I know that an alternator is overcharging?
Hey thanks for replying, I was asking about the small red wire. I got it connected to the "I" terminal block on the starter solenoid. The heavy red wire is connected to the positive side of the battery. Do you think MSD will give a magnetic pickup for free? I've had the distributor for four years and by the way it came from a previous 351W motor that turned out bad--bad boring in cylider walls. If I can't get for free, I can purchase one. How does it connect to the distributor? Do I have take out the distributor? Oh, I also don't have a voltometer gauge in my car. How do I use my multimeter to measure current on the alternator. I don't want this alternator to overcharge again. By the way, don't the new aftermarket high out put alternators fry up the batteries, due to high amperage?
Hey thanks for replying, I was asking about the small red wire. I got it connected to the "I" terminal block on the starter solenoid. The heavy red wire is connected to the positive side of the battery. Do you think MSD will give a magnetic pickup for free? I've had the distributor for four years and by the way it came from a previous 351W motor that turned out bad--bad boring in cylider walls. If I can't get for free, I can purchase one. How does it connect to the distributor? Do I have take out the distributor? Oh, I also don't have a voltometer gauge in my car. How do I use my multimeter to measure current on the alternator. I don't want this alternator to overcharge again. By the way, don't the new aftermarket high out put alternators fry up the batteries, due to high amperage?
WORTH
20+ Year Stangneter 
Purple Stallion said:
The regulator controls the charge rate, doesn't matter if your alternator is 65 amp or 265 amp, if the regulator is working it wont fry the battery.
To check the charge rate, connect teh black lead of your meter to ground, and the red lead to the "+" terminal, it should be charging somewhere between 13.5 and 14.5
Magnetic Pickup
Ok, I just looked at the Magnetic Pickup inside the distributor. There is a mechanism inside with two springs on each end. Below is the the magnetic pickup. I tried using an allen wrench but I couldn't unscrew the hexagon screws-they're jammed tight. So, GaPonyFarm, I don't have to remove the distributor out of the block, right? If not, after removing the hexagon screws, how do I go about removing the wires and the connector, do I snip off the connector end and snake it through the distributor housing and remove?
Ok, I just looked at the Magnetic Pickup inside the distributor. There is a mechanism inside with two springs on each end. Below is the the magnetic pickup. I tried using an allen wrench but I couldn't unscrew the hexagon screws-they're jammed tight. So, GaPonyFarm, I don't have to remove the distributor out of the block, right? If not, after removing the hexagon screws, how do I go about removing the wires and the connector, do I snip off the connector end and snake it through the distributor housing and remove?
Magnetic Pickup install done
Ok. I've got the MSD magnetic pickup installed. It took longer than 20 minutes though. The problem I ran into was that I didn't know the black distributor housing could disassembled to get easier access. Second, I had trouble with strain relief(the rubber plastic boot below the housing where the magnetic pickup wires snake through). I had a hard time getting it to snap in so with some toil I got to snap into the distributor and hooked up the connector. All I need to do is get the distributor rotor on the number one cylinder mark on the distributor cap. I hope this car sparks now.
Ok. I've got the MSD magnetic pickup installed. It took longer than 20 minutes though. The problem I ran into was that I didn't know the black distributor housing could disassembled to get easier access. Second, I had trouble with strain relief(the rubber plastic boot below the housing where the magnetic pickup wires snake through). I had a hard time getting it to snap in so with some toil I got to snap into the distributor and hooked up the connector. All I need to do is get the distributor rotor on the number one cylinder mark on the distributor cap. I hope this car sparks now.
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