BEWARE msd ignition

[hot rock]

BEWARE msd ignition

We were chasing our tails also this year,thought it was yhe coil,car would start and run then either cut out or just die,we bought new coil ran fine in shop.next morning would not start.we bought a new msd box digatal and it had a light on it,when we turned on the ign.light would come on a few seconds then go off.we disconnect wires hooked to battery charger light stayed on ,figered out we had a grounding problem,put our old box we had for years ,left new coil on car,went to track car dies while under caution.i went to msd trouble shooting website,and starting every oming every thing out it kelp saying change coil and try again.put our old coil back on that we had for years every things fine,so yes i would say msd has a quality control problem.

[Egoracing]

We were chasing our tails also this year,thought it was yhe coil,car would start and run then either cut out or just die,we bought new coil ran fine in shop.next morning would not start.we bought a new msd box digatal and it had a light on it,when we turned on the ign.light would come on a few seconds then go off.we disconnect wires hooked to battery charger light stayed on ,figered out we had a grounding problem,put our old box we had for years ,left new coil on car,went to track car dies while under caution.i went to msd trouble shooting website,and starting every oming every thing out it kelp saying change coil and try again.put our old coil back on that we had for years every things fine,so yes i would say msd has a quality control problem.

Just to let everyone know, ohm ing out a battery problem + or - may not find the problem. I deal with emergency battery backup power daily and you can have a great connection that OHM's out perfect, put that connection under load and it can completley fail in seconds, let it cool down and the connection will OHM out perfect again. If you think you are having a current problem, the only way to check it and be sure is to get it up to operating temprature and then load test it, not use an OHM meter.

Hot Rock, if you found a ground problem then that could have easily damaged a new ignition and coil. I would not blame MSD's quality for an issue with your car that could have been what killed/damaged the new parts. That would be like buying a hew tire, running over something and cutting it and then blaming Hoosier.

[jeff mack]

Not sure you understand the problem.MSD has mad a phaseable rotor button for years,thats not your problem.The problem is the polarity between the distributor and the MSD box.No engine builder would know its wrong.You have to check it when you put the engine in the car.

oh believe me i understand the real problem just saying. when the connector is right and the dist is wrong from the factory there is the problem. it started doing this from the begining car is correct but the motor builder should have had the meens to check out the dist after it fried the 2 4 6 pistons... also there is a motor builder in jackson that has a msd problem, all new msd box and dist. motor will not run, pull all the high dollar stuff out stick in a stock hei and it runs great compaired to the msd.... msd has a problem as i am finding out more and more every day, but they don't think they do

[jeff mack]

We were chasing our tails also this year,thought it was yhe coil,car would start and run then either cut out or just die,we bought new coil ran fine in shop.next morning would not start.we bought a new msd box digatal and it had a light on it,when we turned on the ign.light would come on a few seconds then go off.we disconnect wires hooked to battery charger light stayed on ,figered out we had a grounding problem,put our old box we had for years ,left new coil on car,went to track car dies while under caution.i went to msd trouble shooting website,and starting every oming every thing out it kelp saying change coil and try again.put our old coil back on that we had for years every things fine,so yes i would say msd has a quality control problem.

amen to that

[dirtdevil]

the engine builder is in joplin mo

Does the name start with a "H" ?? If so, I notice a racer out of Springfield Mo is now using different engines.

[jeff mack]

hate to say it but yea and have to add that they have treated me right so far on this ... they have stepped up and took on the rest of this so i cannot say nothing bad about them so far.... i know he went to rousch engines

[dirtdevil]

I will not say nothing bad about them either. Used to use them years ago, was always good, friendly people. Just wondering if something has happeded quality wise.

On your subject though, this may have been mentioned, but Bill Hendren and even Perfconn used to always remind people to not run their coil wire parallel to the MSD harness.

[hot rock]

BEWARE msd ignition

Just to let everyone know, ohm ing out a battery problem + or - may not find the problem. I deal with emergency battery backup power daily and you can have a great connection that OHM's out perfect, put that connection under load and it can completley fail in seconds, let it cool down and the connection will OHM out perfect again. If you think you are having a current problem, the only way to check it and be sure is to get it up to operating temprature and then load test it, not use an OHM meter.

Hot Rock, if you found a ground problem then that could have easily damaged a new ignition and coil. I would not blame MSD's quality for an issue with your car that could have been what killed/damaged the new parts. That would be like buying a hew tire, running over something and cutting it and then blaming Hoosier.

never said it damaged msd box,and yes you can find a lot of electrical problems,with an ohm meter.when i took the coil back the guy at parts store tested it and said,we have had a lot of these returned lately.

[hot rock]

BEWARE msd ignition

thanks for agreeing with me,aperrantly ego racing.is more ego and no racing,or works for msd havent heard any big races he's won lately.(or is he jimmy owens or scott bloomqulst under a different name?)

[Egoracing]

thanks for agreeing with me,aperrantly ego racing.is more ego and no racing,or works for msd havent heard any big races he's won lately.(or is he jimmy owens or scott bloomqulst under a different name?)

You stated that you had a ground problem and had a bad coil, bad grounds kill more ignitions and cost more power than most people ever realize. An engine not grounded too the chassis correctly can cause the coil to overheat, not to mention running a parts store coil in a racing application. Ego has nothing to do with knowledge, If you are relying on the motor mount bolts to ground an engine you are loosing power and can be cooking the coil. The steel chassis is NOT a good ground and and engine can easily pick up 15-20 HP just by running a ground wire from the battery to the engine block and both heads.

[dualdj1]

You stated that you had a ground problem and had a bad coil, bad grounds kill more ignitions and cost more power than most people ever realize. An engine not grounded too the chassis correctly can cause the coil to overheat, not to mention running a parts store coil in a racing application. Ego has nothing to do with knowledge, If you are relying on the motor mount bolts to ground an engine you are loosing power and can be cooking the coil. The steel chassis is NOT a good ground and and engine can easily pick up 15-20 HP just by running a ground wire from the battery to the engine block and both heads.

That's an interesting statement. I know aluminum is a far better conductor than steel, but wouldn't think you'd lose that much power by going through the frame. obviously the better grounds you have, the better electrical travel you are going to have (be it spark, etc), but I didn't think it'd be that much difference.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

That's an interesting statement. I know aluminum is a far better conductor than steel, but wouldn't think you'd lose that much power by going through the frame. obviously the better grounds you have, the better electrical travel you are going to have (be it spark, etc), but I didn't think it'd be that much difference.

I think the problem is you don't always get a good connection to the chassis. I have seen a lot of problems corrected by running a ground too.

How good of a connection do you get to the engine when it is bolted into a painted chassis?

[dualdj1]

I think the problem is you don't always get a good connection to the chassis. I have seen a lot of problems corrected by running a ground too.

How good of a connection do you get to the engine when it is bolted into a painted chassis?

Yeah I usually make sure where it's bolted there's no paint, or alternately use a ground strap. My statement was more regarding where good ground connections existed, and was more in reference to ground bus material (steel vs alum vs copper) I get the point though that a lot of people don't think about making sure they have good metal to metal connections, where paint may be an insulator.

[Egoracing]

I always run a GOOD #4 ground to the engine block from the battery then a #10 form there to the drivers box for grounds. We had an issue with distributors and spark and I started adding a #10 wire from the block bolt to each head and the distributor and the problem went away. When I hear of a bad coil, dist problems, or engines having issues that is always the first thing I check.

The reason I started wiring them like this is after a complete car that was bought from a major mfg that we had started having electrical problems and I found that they grounds in the drivers box were to the aluminum of the box and there was nothing grounding the box, After than I run all my own wiring. We had 1 electrical issue after that, the main power switch that was brand new, died. It was easily found and replaced.
I think it was Bill Hendren that posted that he had seen a head ground wire gain 20HP on the dyno.

[jedclampit]

Lets not forget the rear engine plate is a multi point source of ground for the engine also.
I personally have never ran any extra grounds,nor had a ground problem..... ever!
One to each head, and the block may be a bit over redundant in my opinion.
YMMV