Hey guys. Good news I got the car towed home. Yesterday we changed the cap and rotor (MSD) and installed new wires (MSD). It ran fine when I took it for a test drive but later when we went to leave it was misfiring a bit. We got it back home fiddled with the wires, thought maybe one was loose and everything was fine. I took her out earlier today and everything was fine. I went to take my husband some food and all of a sudden it started to misfire, then I lost power. My lights and radio still worked but I had no power to the engine. I coasted to the side of the street and tried to turn her over. She turned over then died. Now she won't turn over. Is this a spark plug/wire issue? A distributor issue? We checked the order and it's fine. Did I get a bad rotor? Is it a wire bad? Maybe the coil? I think if it was the MSD box it wouldn't even pretend to start right? I'm at a loss. If I can't figure it out I guess I'll take it in. Thanks Jeri
Sounds like something is shorting out. Doesn't necessarily have to be wet. Really dense humidity or sweating can short a conncetion. Make sure the inside of the cap is dry (shot of WD40) and all of the connections are dry (especially between the MSD and the distributor). Pull apart and add a shot of WD 40 or di-electric grease. Might be able to save some time by have someone look under the hood while you crank it after its good and dark. Sometimes you can see a spark arc out of a bad connector or across the cap (seen this on bad distirbutor caps). When the engine shuts off is the MSD box hot? Cleaver
MSD is cold, no sparks seen. Cap/rotor have been checked as well as MSD, all are bone dry. Possiblity of H2O in my gas tank? I know I'm looking for long shots but hey, whatever it takes. Now it will kick over, run rough and then cut out. AHHHHHHHggggggg! Thanks though.
Check battery voltage. A low voltage will cause electronic ignitions to run rough and intermittent. Especially since it wouldnt even turn over. Radios will work fine even though the car wont start. Even while cranking the motor, there should be a solid 12Volts across the battery. If the voltage is solid, I would suspect the MSD box is bad.
Well.....I'm out of ideas. I don't know the MSD boxes very well. The factory duraspark boxes do some crazy things when they go bad. MSD has a trouble shooting section under tech support forums. Might try there. http://www.msdignition.com Interesting reading RandyTchevy has a thread there called "MSD trouble?" where a similar problem is described. Sounded like a shorted harness. Pretty much start with the basics. First verify fuel, then verify fire at coil, then fire at plug. Process of elimination and tracing. Sorry I can't be much more help. Cleaver
put a charger on it. get the battery fully charged so it at least turns over and see if it fires. if it wont crank (turn over, spin), its most likely. low battery.
Hey Jerilyn, Check the timing chain.....It can be checked without totally tearing into the engine.Rotate the engine in one direction to TDC(0*),now remove the distributor cap,very slowly rotate the crankshaft in the opposite direction while observing the distruibutor rotor button.Stop turning motor when you observe movement of the rotor button....Now look at the timing tab(marks).....If it has moved in excess of 5*,your timing chain has most likely jumped a tooth(stretched)...I have also seen on high mileage engines,the cam gear loosing the plastic coating.
all of the ideas above are great, but i would start with the basics. from my understanding of your post, the car was working fine until you put the new unit in. id put the points set up back in and see if it runs, then try putting the msd setup back in and see if it runs. if it doesnt run with the points set up then start trouble shooting the fuel supply and timing chain, if it does you need to make sure the msd is wired correctly and securely with no shorts or grounds. check the battery and even possibly have the box checked to see if it is faulty.
My car had a similar problem, here is what I found on mine. This will not apply to you if you are not using the magnetic trigger (violet and green wires). Mine turned out to be the pins within the small 2 pin trigger connector on the MSD box. The metal pins were pushing out of the connector and not making good contact. Look at the connector where the wires are inserted if you can see silver then push them in to see if it fixes the problem. I removed the pins and bent the tab out on the side to prevent them from backing out. If you are using a MSD distributor there will be a total of 4 connectors (8 wires) to inspect.
