Posted By: Mr. T
Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 02:03 AM
Anybody ever have either one go bad slowly? Or are they like a light bulb that suddenly blows? 
Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit?
Posted By: theraif
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 03:14 AM
Posted By: Pacnorthcuda
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 03:17 AM
.?????????????
Posted By: hankcrank
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 04:09 AM
I had a 6AL quit with no warning...one minute fine next minute no spark.
Posted By: Deepockets
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 04:15 AM
My programmable 7 just quit. No warning at all. I started the car to drive it off the trailer just fine and then two minutes latter, no starty.
Posted By: Chris'sBarracuda
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 04:18 AM
They usually quit when you're in the burnout box going into the final.. 
Chris..
Chris..
Posted By: Dragula
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 04:20 AM
Coil leaks or swells up....Tough to find though. Had a 6AL go bad..
Posted By: wesw
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 05:18 AM
yep. made a pass and shut it off my digital 7 never worked again. 
had to buy a 7Al3 from someone at the track to finish the race.
had to buy a 7Al3 from someone at the track to finish the race.
Posted By: Cab_Burge
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 05:39 AM
The last MSD race box, 404C, quit at the head of the staging lanes on Sunday morning just before the first round at the MATS race three years ago No warning at all
No warning at all
Posted By: smokinwoody
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 08:18 AM
no warning....7aL-2 never woke up...the pro-coil dries up..the HVC coil burns out at the rear where mounted so you never see it coming...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 08:33 AM
I've had no problems yet with my USA made version, but I always have my spare coil and box in the trunk just in case Murphy comes to dinner uninvited.
Posted By: SomeCarGuy
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 04:14 PM
I've seen a few act funny before dying. Intermittent. One racer I know told me he chased all sorts of ideas trying to find out why his car suddenly wouldn't pull good past 1000'. He finally changed out the MSD box out of desperation and it ran great.
Posted By: Porter67
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 04:21 PM
I had a friend with the car to beat at a Pinks race watch a probable 10k go by when his 6al decided it was time to go down hill as the 1000 ft mark.
Posted By: bonefish
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 04:32 PM
yes they do,but they dont tell you.
Posted By: GTX MATT
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 05:55 PM
Not sure, mine just went though. I layed into the car and it broke up, tach bouncing all over the place. Tried to ease into it, same thing. Would rev up clean with the clutch in and ran fine if you drove it easy. Started heading home and made it about a mile before it crapped out. When it died it was actually running, barely, with the tach at 0. Tried to refire, tach bouncing everywhere and ran for about 10 seconds, then died.
Thinking back on it, the car has smelled a little gassy at idle for the past 2-3 weeks and when I got on it with a buddy a few weeks back I swear it broke up and missed a little in first.
Thinking back on it, the car has smelled a little gassy at idle for the past 2-3 weeks and when I got on it with a buddy a few weeks back I swear it broke up and missed a little in first.
Posted By: CHAPPER
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 07:20 PM
Quote:
Not sure, mine just went though. I layed into the car and it broke up, tach bouncing all over the place. Tried to ease into it, same thing. Would rev up clean with the clutch in and ran fine if you drove it easy. Started heading home and made it about a mile before it crapped out. When it died it was actually running, barely, with the tach at 0. Tried to refire, tach bouncing everywhere and ran for about 10 seconds, then died.
Thinking back on it, the car has smelled a little gassy at idle for the past 2-3 weeks and when I got on it with a buddy a few weeks back I swear it broke up and missed a little in first.
Just went through the same thing a few weeks ago. Ran fine until under a load. Free revved fine, ran fine in water box...as soon as the motor was under load, it would break up/miss on both sides. The box I had on the car was made in '94 according to the number code on the back. I had another box on my run-in stand that was new in '01. I switched the boxes and coils and the miss went away. I sent the old box and coil back to MSD to be tested together and repaired if needed. I got them back in about 2 weeks. They sent the test papers of both. The coil was OK but the box failed. They put 3-4 electrical components in and re-tested for 2 hours at 4000 RPM...test OK/Pass. Cost with shipping was $61.xx. I had never had a box cause a miss before. Others have told me they had. I had only experienced them just completely failing, as in NO start.
Posted By: AndyF
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 07:50 PM
If you know what to look for you can tell when they are going bad, but very few people spend the time checking coil resistance or things like that. NASCAR teams might have a team gopher who tests the eletronics before a race but I don't know any drag racers who do that type of work. Most guys just back the car out of the trailer and pull to the line.
Posted By: CHAPPER
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 08:13 PM
I thought NASCAR guys just put in 2 systems to be safe. I always thought that practice should have sent a message to MSD..... 
Posted By: GTX MATT
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 08:22 PM
Quote:Quote:
Not sure, mine just went though. I layed into the car and it broke up, tach bouncing all over the place. Tried to ease into it, same thing. Would rev up clean with the clutch in and ran fine if you drove it easy. Started heading home and made it about a mile before it crapped out. When it died it was actually running, barely, with the tach at 0. Tried to refire, tach bouncing everywhere and ran for about 10 seconds, then died.
Thinking back on it, the car has smelled a little gassy at idle for the past 2-3 weeks and when I got on it with a buddy a few weeks back I swear it broke up and missed a little in first.
Just went through the same thing a few weeks ago. Ran fine until under a load. Free revved fine, ran fine in water box...as soon as the motor was under load, it would break up/miss on both sides. The box I had on the car was made in '94 according to the number code on the back. I had another box on my run-in stand that was new in '01. I switched the boxes and coils and the miss went away. I sent the old box and coil back to MSD to be tested together and repaired if needed. I got them back in about 2 weeks. They sent the test papers of both. The coil was OK but the box failed. They put 3-4 electrical components in and re-tested for 2 hours at 4000 RPM...test OK/Pass. Cost with shipping was $61.xx. I had never had a box cause a miss before. Others have told me they had. I had only experienced them just completely failing, as in NO start.
Got my RMA and am planning to ship it to them this afternoon. Did your tach go nuts too?
Posted By: Bigcube
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/03/14 11:37 PM
Back in 08' I bought a brand new Digital 7, it was DOA. I sent it back and they repaired it. Ran a total of about 1/2 hour. Two days later, no spark. No warning on that one. Sent it back again and this time they replaced it. Drove it a couple time this summer, then no spark. Was worried it was the box again, turned out it was the crank trigger PU. No waring on that one either. I think it's an MSD trait LOL
Posted By: jamesc
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/04/14 12:45 AM
i've never been particularly impressed with msd (mighty stupid design) products. unfortunately they have had a stranglehold on performance ignition for a long time. crane had some strong products and imho the best bracket race ignition ever made was the holley line of digital ignitions
Posted By: CHAPPER
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/04/14 02:02 AM
Quote:Quote:Quote:
Not sure, mine just went though. I layed into the car and it broke up, tach bouncing all over the place. Tried to ease into it, same thing. Would rev up clean with the clutch in and ran fine if you drove it easy. Started heading home and made it about a mile before it crapped out. When it died it was actually running, barely, with the tach at 0. Tried to refire, tach bouncing everywhere and ran for about 10 seconds, then died.
Thinking back on it, the car has smelled a little gassy at idle for the past 2-3 weeks and when I got on it with a buddy a few weeks back I swear it broke up and missed a little in first.
Just went through the same thing a few weeks ago. Ran fine until under a load. Free revved fine, ran fine in water box...as soon as the motor was under load, it would break up/miss on both sides. The box I had on the car was made in '94 according to the number code on the back. I had another box on my run-in stand that was new in '01. I switched the boxes and coils and the miss went away. I sent the old box and coil back to MSD to be tested together and repaired if needed. I got them back in about 2 weeks. They sent the test papers of both. The coil was OK but the box failed. They put 3-4 electrical components in and re-tested for 2 hours at 4000 RPM...test OK/Pass. Cost with shipping was $61.xx. I had never had a box cause a miss before. Others have told me they had. I had only experienced them just completely failing, as in NO start.
Got my RMA and am planning to ship it to them this afternoon. Did your tach go nuts too?
YES...I didn't give ALL the info on my problem!! I will try to now,,,
The first time it started acting up, I thought it was just the spark plugs needing replaced. I replaced them and still had the missing problem. I was CERTAIN it was an electrical/ignition problem. I inspected/replaced the cap & rotor with new ones. They looked OK to me. While I was running the car in the garage,,adjusting carb/etc, trying to get it to sound right, I looked in the car at the tach to set idle RPM, I saw the tach was jumping from 1100rpm to 2800 rpm with NO change in engine speed. I had an older Sun tach (period correct) with an MSD tach adapter to run it. I figured THERE is the problem!! So I put a new Autometer tach in that I had on the shelf. The tach jumping went away, but the miss was still there. As I have said, the miss was only under load,,so I had to make a few hits on the street in front of the shop. I did a leak down on the engine and a valve spring test,,,all checked OK. THEN, I changed the box and coil,,,,also, I replaced the wires. I am SURE the box was the problem. My wires were fine ohm checking wise, with no oil saturation or chaffing/etc. I am sure the box was the culprit...my first time to experience this type of problem, but
Posted By: sunroofgtx
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/04/14 02:45 AM
MrT,if you are looking for a replacement for the 6AL, please give Ron Wilson, or Mancini a call. They have a great alrternative. 
Posted By: Monte_Smith
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/04/14 08:02 AM
You guys complaining about MSD, act like 1 of 2 boxes is bad. Their actual failure rate per units sold is outstanding and by far the best in the business. These days what you have to be careful of is "knockoffs". Very hard to spot as they look identical. If you find a "new" box from a non mainstream supplier at a smoking deal, you should likely pass.
Me personally, have been racing for over 30 years with pretty much exclusive use of MSD products. I have had one box go bad in that time. That said, they are electronic and parts fail from time to time
James, you mentioned the Holley.........I assume you mean the "Annihilator".........your kidding right??? That stuff was a wiring nightmare. There is a reason we don't make that anymore........LOL!!!
Monte
Me personally, have been racing for over 30 years with pretty much exclusive use of MSD products. I have had one box go bad in that time. That said, they are electronic and parts fail from time to time
James, you mentioned the Holley.........I assume you mean the "Annihilator".........your kidding right??? That stuff was a wiring nightmare. There is a reason we don't make that anymore........LOL!!!
Monte
Posted By: Bad340fish
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/04/14 01:32 PM
My msd box(digital 6+) gave me smoke signals when it failed on drag week last year. It did give me a little notice though, it started to smell right before that lol. Actually it didn't want to start at the checkpoint just a few miles prior to where it died. I had a coil go bad on me last year on drag week as well.
My biggest msd problem is a digital 6 I have that misses in high gear. I replaced the box and the miss went away. I had msd check the box last year and it worked fine for them. I had to use that box as my spare this year and sure enough the high gear miss was still there.
My biggest msd problem is a digital 6 I have that misses in high gear. I replaced the box and the miss went away. I had msd check the box last year and it worked fine for them. I had to use that box as my spare this year and sure enough the high gear miss was still there.
Posted By: sixpacksteve
Re: Do MSD boxes or coils give a clue before they quit? - 10/04/14 02:13 PM
There sort of like women fine 1 minute the next not so much!