Just went out for a short run and half way back truck stopped running, mechanic freind was with me (lucky me cus I'm Tupid)
Diagnosed a shorted coil, coil blew a 15a fuse so we stole power of the break switch 3km from home , my budday carries a spare coil in his mini, went and got it and it got me home.
Anyway, does anyone have any input with these coils or MSD products?
Well i currently have MSD ready to run Distributor and a coil on my Pontiac . It has worked great for 3 yrs, but i had issues.
The first distributor just didnt work and after a local electronics guy looked at it ...junk. So another unit was obtained.....another dud. The third one and current is fine.
The next year the coil halfway through the season failed...not happy. I wasnt as lucky as you ...tow home. It was bad on the secondary side of the unit.
Local speed shop gave me another...so far so good.
So....after reading about the company and some stories on the net, seems to be a common deal. High failure rates. Its basically quality control and nothing made in the USA.
The stock units were really the best , and back in the day when good replacement parts were available it wasnt a issue.
i have msd on 2 cars with no problems for some yrs now, knock on wood apparently, maybe. your buddy carrying a spare coil around is/was pretty lucky in today's world. that is definitely old school today.
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I just got one in that I will be installing in a Ford 302 in my Sons truck. It's a ready to run from Amazon .. It was just called a pro-billet Small cap .. But it came in a white box with not much for instructions or anything else in the box.. So I am hoping it does not give me any grief.. Hell how complicated can it be to have decent electronics in it.. That is the one thing that really eats my lunch with online ordering from the US.. Returns are a pain and we usually end up eating that loss rather than the hassle of returning anything under a 100 bucks..There is so much chit on the market How is a guy to know anymore .. Even the big name guys seem to sell a lot of crap.. I know most time they will replace it , but it's still a major hassle for us Canuks that order from the South of us..Keeping my fingers crossed on the one I have .. I don't expect I will get it installed for a bit yet.. I am still wiring it at about 1 day a week .. I have a couple other projects going at the same time.. Have not even got time to work on my own car to get it out for the summer.. All I am going to say about one project I was not planning on is Stinkin Darn Mice ... What is it about wiring that seems so appetizing.????????? I hate mice..
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I too had issues with MSD some time ago so I switched over to Pertronix with the Flame Thrower coil using full 12 volts with no resistor and never had an issue. I have installed Pertronix in the last 3 vehicles that HAD points.
I have lost 3 Pertronix over the last 5 years. the first two because the bracket was mounted on the engine and they couldn't handle the heat and the last one just last week because I left the ignition key on over night. Don't know if this means they can't handle it or I just don't treat them right.
I have also read about the quality control issues, picked up a new one today at performance, only one left, they checked the original and said it was good, it was throwing a healthy spark!
I'm thinking it's open after it gets warm?
Going to put it back in and see if I can prove its opening once hot, I now have a new one to carry around.
If its a HEI type distributor Ive had a bad negative wire let the coil saturate . It would fire back up after sitting 10 to 20 min and the charge dissipated
If its a HEI type distributor Ive had a bad negative wire let the coil saturate . It would fire back up after sitting 10 to 20 min and the charge dissipated
That is why I'm going to see if it fails again, after they put it on their tester it appeared to be good, and I think it is shorting or going open once warm?
Well, installed the new fuse and reinstalled the old coil (tested good at performance mashing) well I made it to the bottom of the driveway and it quit again, this time n blown fuse.
Changed out the defective coil for the second
No time, installed the new coil and it started right up and went for a short Fidel without incident.
That experiment is officially done,
I believe that coil is open once it heats up, now I'm certainly not very confident driving to far. Funny, I tried my best to buy nothing but the best of parts from reputable vendors and companies and here we are.
I hope this coil hangs in, I think I will try to buy a standard low budget matching coil (cheap) for a spare carry around so I'm not stranded.
I'm pretty up beat about this as I have learned a real world problem to overcome, just need to be sure there is not an underlying issue taking the coil out.
Well on the way to a local cruse night and what do you know, another failed coil!
I'm not sure what's taking them out, we believe the MSD box is functioning correctly, installed my now third and current spare coil (carried in the truck at all times) fired right up.
First coil I had no warranty because I bought it a coupe of years ago while still doing mock up the two current coils 1 failed and spare(now installed) are 2 weeks old
First coil approximately 60 km. Run time The second coil failed after approx. 220 km.
Are these susceptible to heat? They are oil filled, I have read in many posts throughout time interweaving that these are notorious for failure, but I don't feel confident with the product at all.
I too had issues with MSD some time ago so I switched over to Pertronix with the Flame Thrower coil using full 12 volts with no resistor and never had an issue. I have installed Pertronix in the last 3 vehicles that HAD points.
falcon Futura
Im running an MSD tistributer and box on a 302 stroker what are you running in your Falcon?
do you have a part # for the Pertronics? Does it require a ballast resistor? Or just wired straights from the box like the MSD?
maybe I will try one, I think I'm going to fab up a small heat shield with a 3/4" air gap to shield it from the #4 cylinder/header area, maybe to much heat?
I am not running the MSD at all, just pulled the plug on it and have not had a problem since.
Just drop in the Pertronic's pickup and rotor in the distributor and run 12 volts from ignition to the Blaster coil, it puts out all kinds of voltage.
I am not running the MSD at all, just pulled the plug on it and have not had a problem since. Just drop in the Pertronic's pickup and rotor in the distributor and run 12 volts from ignition to the Blaster coil, it puts out all kinds of voltage.
Thanks for the reply, so far my issue is with the coils only! Crossing my fingers on that, Im not certain yet if I am causing the failure as the best location for me to mount the coil is between my power steering pump and the #4 cylinder/header pipe. It's mounted upright as stated in the manual, I fab bed up a small scoop out of aluminum sheet to shroud the back side from the pipe and so it may potentially direct air around the coil if this is a problem.
I see most cars have them mounted horizontally and on top of the intake or rigth in front of the driver side cylinder head, both warm locations and not vertical ?
