What is it with me and MSD boxes?

[dodgestang]

I just had to get towed home for the second time in 13 months because of a MSD BOX failure. Its never the box

Anyway.....besides having to put in ANOTHER new box now I have to figure out what is wrong in the car that is causing this problem.

I was thinking I would

1. Install new 1 wire alt setup and loose the regulator
2. Change the box ground to a new location
3. ??

[John_Del]

Where physically is it located? These things don't like heat.

John

[silverblueBP]

I have my 6AL mounted right behind the fins of the radiator on the pass side. Grounded to the rad support and use the regulator with a one wire HO alternator. It hasn't misfired after 8 years of track and street abuse.

Face it, you car hates you!

[dodgestang]

I have it mounted on driver side engine front just below the washer bottle/catch can combo unit. Same general place I have had the MSD in the 65 for 10 yrs....which gets to 220 all the time and the 68 hasn't been over 200.

[Alan _MacDougall]

Are you using the rubber mounting isolators? Seems like a common place for the box to reside. My Crane box is basically in the same location.

[tooponies]

I've had some problems with mine over the 11 year period it's been on the car. I've replaced the pickup once...the coil twice and sent the box back once to be repaired. I had bought another box from a guy that hadn't used it very much and it had a problem a few years ago. When I was having the coil problem MSD said it was because I had it mounted on the head. I don't agree with that since the old yellow top coils sat on top of the intake manifold for so many years. Seems to me the coil on the face of the head would be getting plenty of air right behind the fan.

[DrStang]

Originally Posted by dodgestang

I just had to get towed home for the second time in 13 months because of a MSD BOX failure. Its never the box

Anyway.....besides having to put in ANOTHER new box now I have to figure out what is wrong in the car that is causing this problem.

I was thinking I would

1. Install new 1 wire alt setup and loose the regulator
2. Change the box ground to a new location
3. ??

Do you have an analog or digital unit? I say this as friends in the HP parts retail industry have seen some digital MSD failures come back to the counter

[dodgestang]

Originally Posted by DrStang

Do you have an analog or digital unit? I say this as friends in the HP parts retail industry have seen some digital MSD failures come back to the counter

Just plain old MSD 6a box.

[wantaboss]

mines mounted on the inner apron left side i ran a ground to the engine block havent had any problems and its a cleveland ,the only way it will run is hot lol so i dont think heat is your problem

[dodgestang]

Originally Posted by silverblueBP

Face it, you car hates you!

All my cars hate me...they say I don't change their oil enough.

Originally Posted by wantaboss

i dont think heat is your problem

I don't think so either.

It was actually funny because as I was sitting on the side of the ride an rx8 pulls over and literally a 20 something younger person with possible Asian descent jumps out and says "dude what can I do to help"...and I said "nothing, the MSD box crapped". So he says "even with that MSD dizzy in there you can ground out this wire, jugger this that and the other thing and it will run, it won't win any races but it will get you home."....all I could do was give a blank look. And then he doubled down with "are you still running a seperate voltage regulator? Those things are notirious for letting 14.2 volts get through and they burn out MSD boxes all the time you should switch to a late model alt setup."

All I could say was "uhhh....yeah...its got the old setup"

[John_Del]

Originally Posted by dodgestang

And then he doubled down with "are you still running a seperate voltage regulator? Those things are notirious for letting 14.2 volts get through and they burn out MSD boxes all the time you should switch to a late model alt setup."

All I could say was "uhhh....yeah...its got the old setup"

Dude may be onto something, although it's probably not the 14.2 that kills it, as I'm sure the MSD has an internal regulator that can handle that kind of voltage. A mechanical regulator may allow an average of that voltage, but it's the switching noise and spikes that can put out brief impulses that the battery's impedance can't filter out. If you have a mechanical regulator, I'd try the new electronic drop in replacement. Otherwise, a radio noise kit (inductor choke and capacitor) right at the MSD's power input will help if that's what's causing the premature failure.

John

[65fast]

Originally Posted by dodgestang

it won't win any races but it will get you home."....all I could do was give a blank look.

I find this kids comment hilarious LOL.

[juan]

Originally Posted by John_Del

Where physically is it located? These things don't like heat.

John

Yes indeedy. Mine is located in the glove compartment. This is NOT recommended, however--I have a small vent cut into the defroster line to cool the unit. Works fine. John--Las Vegas.

[dodgestang]

Here it is.......brand new box wired in on 4/15/11

[ScottsGT]

MSD

My
Spark
Disappeared

I should be careful what I'm saying since I bought a Digital 6 to run my Duraspark dizzy.