PatsLs1vette

i went out on this dark and empty road no cars or houses no lights....74 vette helped me figure out my gtech so i decided to make a few pass's and see how it runs...well at the top of third gear on first run it layed down and fell on its face and i look at tach..on 0...coasted for a few feet and pulled over...crank it and no start :mad now im mad..i pop hood and smell burning smell.go over to msd box and its hot and smells real bad..pull wire put spark tester in and NO SPARK :mad good thing for cell phone and friends with roll backs..got it back to the house put my race hei dist. in and back to life...funny part is it now has a ton more power then it did with msd in it....spins tires like it nothing..maybe is was bad to begin with...but they are getting it back and it better be right when it comes back.ok rants over.oh it ran a 13.9 at 90 mph not bad for shutting off in third gear and coasting...good thing nitrous wasnt on.. :D

Warp70

All's well that ends well. Hopefully you can get a fully functional MSD put back in and then see what she'll run :D

nunus79

That sucks big time!

Do you think the mounting area had anything to do with it going sour? BTW, where did you mount it?

rainman69

My understanding from talking to lots of guys in the car race/build circuit...the reason MSDs (that aren't bad to start) die is because of a poor ground. I'm not saying that it was your fault, but especially with an MSD, you want a bare metal to bare metal ground. :smash:

CDaniel525

damn pat.....that sux! :mad :cuss Where did we ground it to...i dont remember?? Mine is directly to the frame.
Are you going to return it or exchange it??


Chris


[Modified by 74VETTE, 12:18 AM 1/17/2002]

427Hotrod

Same thing happened to me once. I still have points in mine and was able to "McGyver" it to get home.

It now has two ignition circuits. I can be back to pure 'ole pints by switching two wires. Takes about 10 seconds.

This particular unit has been fixed for free twice by MSD. It has died on two different cars.

By the way grounds are good and so are feeds. Both times it was a resistor internally they said.

Works great when it works though!

Jim

PatsLs1vette

i have it grounded right to the frame right to a ground that i made that goes to the block also...i too have had them go bad before so its not my first one...and chris ill sen dit back and see what theyll do first...and i dont think its where i mounted it either right above the wheel well..alot of air pass's right by it . :rolleyes: i think :D

GWHITE75

This is good to know. Is yours the 6AL? I mounted mine out of heats way, in the windshield wiper trough, have it grounded to the head and run the MSD mag distributor, with the advance/retard module. I have had it for about 8 years, but not daily driven. Maybe I should look at a backup, as well.

Alwyn678

Seems like another reason to stay with Points...Man..That sucks Pat

rainman69

I've been using mine (6AL) since last July. Daily driver, no major problems. :smash:

clem zahrobsky

the hot and ground wire for the MSD box should run to directly the battery.

63Banshee

That’s the first MSD failure I’ve heard about. I’m sure it happens, but no one I know has lost one in such dramatic fashion or else I would have heard about it.

Ganey

Have heard of many failures. Have a MSD hanging on the garage wall. Anybody ever fix one?

zwede

I had a MSD6A. Lived less than a year. Switched to a Crane HI6. It lived 3 months before it would misfire badly above 2000 rpm. Got tired of the aftermarket crap and got a GM HEI. Haven't had a single problem since, except that the Accell HEI module died. I really dislike aftermarket ignition stuff!

Flareside

I've had the Accel 300+ digital ignition for 1.5 years now, and it's never missed a beat. It's half the size of my old MSD and doesn't generate nearly as much heat. Works the same.

I'm removing it to install a computer controlled HEI distributor for my new EFI system, but it has served me well.


[Modified by Flareside, 1:30 PM 1/17/2002]

Gordonm

I have had my Crane HI6 for 3 years and its even behind the dash and it still is going strong.

QuickVet

anyone ever mixed an msd distributor with the crane hi6 box? would it work?

VegasJen

you can find the answer to all your MSD problems at http://www.jacobselectronics.com. i've had my pro street ignition for about three years and about 30k miles. not only do i have no complaints but i swear by them. i've know many people with the MSD that swear at them! one of our club racers in my region accually has two 6AL boxes in his car that he can switch back and forth if (another) one fails.

63Banshee

I black listed Jacobs Electronics many years ago after a serious customer service issue 3 days before a drag race event.

I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM JACOBS ELECTRONICS! :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad

VegasJen

man, i'm sorry to hear that. i called up jacobs a couple of months ago and told them that my headers burnt through three of their spark plug wires and they just sent me new ones, no questions asked. i've had great service from them.