need help MSD 6AL

[bingham72]

So I just got my new motor started, broken in for 20-25 minutes. Everything sounds good. I leave for a bit, come back to move the car up the driveway for a nice bath, and the engine cuts out on me. Just dead. It seems to start just fine before, granted the engine is new, but it doesn't seem to have any spark. Did the MSD ignition box test, by tripping the distribution magnetic pickup wire and nothing happened three times in a row. (The coil wire is supposed to arc to a ground.) On the forth time, I heard a very strange humming and looked at the coil. The coil was arcing to the neg. post from the tower from underneath the coil cap. I pulled the jumper wire and it wouldn't stop. I had to turn off the ignition to get it to stop arcing.
MSD says the coil wire should arc to a ground. It didn't say anything about arcing to the neg. post or anywhere else.
Any ideas?

I'm still waiting for teh MSD mod to approve my forum membership request before I can ask the question there.

[MrQuick]

i think you might have let the smoke out of it....double check all your connections.

[bingham72]

Would you assume that some spark at the coil means the box is still ok?

I went through the wiring several times, but I guess it sounds like I'll be rewiring the box tomorrow.

[MrQuick]

hard to say but I hate to assume. You just have to find out what your symtoms are and see if you can rule out potential problems.

If you are doing the bypass test and you are getting an inconsistant or irratic spark then your box is a possible or most likely cause.

you did mention that the arcing didn't stop till you turned the ignition off. That raises some concern.

Vince

[bingham72]

Thanks, Vince. I'm just looking for any other ideas before I rip it out and send it to MSD. What a pain!

[nicks67camaro]

Try adding an additonal ground from the out side of the box to the chasis. I had fried the internal ground and this was a quick fix.

just a thought.

[bingham72]

Thanks, Nick. Good idea. The starter wire did come loose just before that. I wonder if that fried some wires during cranking.

[bingham72]

Checked the wires, everything looks good. MSD tech said to try the same test with another coil. I did that with 2 coils. The first did nothing. The second did the same thing. We'll see what the MSD tech says. Thank goodness there is no rain forecast in Atlanta.

[ssealeycpa]

I had a similar problem last year when I built a new big block for my Chevelle. It ran great for a short while and then it was dead. After looking everything over, I found that the pickup wires in the distributor had enough slack in them to get caught with the pickup wheel and it chewed the wires. I am running an Accel HEI style distributor. Check your wires in your distributor. Hope this helps.

[bingham72]

THanks, Steve. I took the dist. out of the equation with the MSD test they recommend. Since all the dist does is essentially connect the contact points, I disconnected it and put a jumper wire between the 2 poles. It SHOULD spark. It doesn't. I pulled the unit out last night and I'm going to attempt one more test straight off the battery. After that, it's back to MSD. I'm trying to be patient and not go buy another unit just to get it running. It is frustrating to finally get a new motor installed and then have to wait when something else goes wrong.

[prostreet69camaro]

I have had similiar problems with MSD boxes. I carry a spare in my car now because it had put me on the side of the ride.



Make sure you have the #10 Red and Black wires going directly to the battery. This is what they recommend. Not to chassis ground or off another power source.

[bingham72]

I have had similiar problems with MSD boxes. I carry a spare in my car now because it had put me on the side of the ride.

Make sure you have the #10 Red and Black wires going directly to the battery. This is what they recommend. Not to chassis ground or off another power source.

Rewired the box yesterday. I had to move the MSD box into the passenger compartment to get the wiring to the battery. The C3 vettes have a center storage compartment that worked really well and I extended the dist. and coil wires through the firewall. Car started right up now! and the engine compartment is a lot cleaner without all the wires running through there. Kinda stealth now, which is cool. It's just strange that it worked fine for so long, then it just stopped working.

Now I need to fab up a metal compartment liner to fit like the current cardboard one does so the ignition box is more firmly mounted.