Spark Gremlin - MSD users come help me..

washMO66

washMO66

Founding Member
Oct 30, 2001
1,000
0
37
Washington, MO
#1
I have a MSD6AL, MSD Pro-Billet distributor, Blaster 2 coil, and a two step.

My car is having intermitted spark loss problems. It will just flat out quit running, deader than a door nail. A couple minutes later it is good. I replaced the Blaster coil as I thought it was the culprit, it was extremely hot and the oil was coming out the top, no dice. Car died leaving a show tonight and I got razzed by them bowtie A holes....

My question is where do I start to figure out what is up, this is a spark or ground issue or something. how long do 6AL boxes last, do they get hot when they run because the one on my car seems to be HOT??? The 6AL is about 5 years old as was the coil...

Everything else electrical is fine, when the car dies the fuel pump is still running, lights and everything else. Any help would be appreciated. This car has never broken down up until now so you know I am frustrated....

-Todd
 
#7
Cap and rotor would not cause thoise symptons. I think it's the box too, or a bad ground/wiring problem somewhere.

You can download a PDF from MSDs website and it gives you troubleshooting procedures. Also, they have a forum there where their tech mods answer questions.
 
#10
The magnetic pickup is the deal inside the distributor that closes the circuit going back to the box with the pink and the green wire. You could provably test it with a test light when the car wont start by splicing in at the plug. If yer not geting a fast intermitenly complete circuit when the engine is turning then that would sugest the pickup is dead, I would think. Any other suguestions on that ?
 
#11
I am going to do a full trace out of all my wiring on my set up and make sure nothing is loose. I did find where I plug in my two step module box to the MSD 6AL was loose but that can't be it because the car will run with the rev control modules unplugged......

It just dies, and then sits for 2 minutes and will restart..... After it dies three or four times last night it ran fine for the very stressful 10 minute drive home....

TB
 
#12
well....i was driving along minding my own business....and my car shut off 2 months ago.

I had just put on a cap and rotor so I automatically knew that wasn't the problem.

I performed all the test and validated it wasn't the box
I performed all the test and validated it wasn't the coil
I performed all the test and validated it wasn't the wires
I took apart the dizzy and put in a new pickup
I rewired the entire ignition system

nothing worked.

Finally I ordered another cap and rotor since it was the only thing left, and the car fired right up and ran fine.

If you are getting spark scatter under the cap from a bad rotor and/or cap you can get intermittant running as described.
 
#13
dodgestang said:
well....i was driving along minding my own business....and my car shut off 2 months ago.

I had just put on a cap and rotor so I automatically knew that wasn't the problem.

I performed all the test and validated it wasn't the box
I performed all the test and validated it wasn't the coil
I performed all the test and validated it wasn't the wires
I took apart the dizzy and put in a new pickup
I rewired the entire ignition system

nothing worked.

Finally I ordered another cap and rotor since it was the only thing left, and the car fired right up and ran fine.

If you are getting spark scatter under the cap from a bad rotor and/or cap you can get intermittant running as described.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dodge, I'll check that out as well...... Did you have an MSD dist?
 
#15
Does it always do it?

Didn't you just put on the distributor?

We put a MSD 6AL box that I bought in 1992 or 1993 in Kevin's car in about 2000 or 2001. Checked the wiring three times before trying to start it. All the magic smoke came out of the box. Talked to the MSD rep that year at WFC about it, he said send it in, I didn't send it in until after the following WFC. All it cost me was the price of sending it off, they fixed it for free and shipped it back at their cost.

Does anyone have a box you can borrow to confirm that it's the box or not?

We never ran a fancy distributor, just an O'Reillys rebuild that we removed the vacuum advance off of and staked the distributor.

Once you figure it out, you need to add a crank trigger, well, then your MSD billet distributor just becomes a fancy spark distribution device. Those crank triggers are sooooo stable. The timing marks don't dance around like they do on a conventional setup.
 
#16
Larry,

I have had this same set up on the car for 4 years.... I mean we pulled the distributor out when we ring & bearinged the motor and changed out the Camsheft but other than that it has not changed....

I'll do a crank trigger on my next build but I need to get this one right as the newly freshened engine only has maybe 300 miles on it and has not even made a pass yet......

My buddy Jeff just bought a 6AL for his truck so it will be going on next weekend. I have been traveling every week so all my time at home has been with the kids on the weekends. I am resigned to the fact that I may not make one pass this year as I still have no cage, am working through my flaming river rack & pinion issues and now this.....

Oh well, this is the nature of the beast when it comes to owning a hot rod.....
 
#17
Update -

It appears for now that it was the box. I borrowed a buddy's brand new one still in the box and installed it. Just got back from about an hour of driving with no issues...

Guess I have to go ahead and run down and by him a new one.... O'Rielly's has them for $232.00 + tax.

I hope that was it, thanks for all of you inputs. Appreciated as always.
 
#19
washMO66 said:
Update -

It appears for now that it was the box. I borrowed a buddy's brand new one still in the box and installed it. Just got back from about an hour of driving with no issues...

Guess I have to go ahead and run down and by him a new one.... O'Rielly's has them for $232.00 + tax.

I hope that was it, thanks for all of you inputs. Appreciated as always.
Click to expand...
$232 for a 6AL????? Scrap that thing and get a MSD Digital6 with 2 step,rev limit,start retard and a few other features.It cost a little more, but the features are worth it.:nice:

6520cu.gif

msd-6520.jpg
 
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