Strangest thing failed distrib and box distributor need advice help

[bigmanjbmopar]

So after geting my car back from the body shop and seeing it only started up briefly twice in a year suddenly went to start it and NO fire. cranked all day long until the battery died. Did the testing on the ignition box like the books says, jumper out the magneto pair and tap one side on and off watching for spark at the coil wire as it lays a 1/2" next to the block. didn't get anything so figured ok box took a **** get another, new one shows up did the test it works ok, then same thing cranks around no spark, break out the spark plug tester and no spark at all.

Open up the fairly new firecore distrib and see a lot of rust, after tossing a few wrenches around tried to see if there is anything that looked like it would prevent the magnetic pick up from working and didn't see anything, oh by the way found whole pick up replacement for $7 on ebag yep $7 Mancini has them for $28 lol(these ebay ones have the orange box connector on them too!). Anyway, haven't gotten that far yet, tried to adjust the pick up so it was as close as possible but I think she is dead Jim! still no fire no spark at all. pulled the distrb out, in a hurry to get this working just ordered another new distrib from Mancini while I wait for that the new pick will show up and I 'll try to replace the pick up in this 2 yr old distrib! But now also noticed the new ignition box didn't test good now wtf? would a bad magnetic pick up in the distributor do that much damage? is it shorted out? what is going on? Also does anyone know how to get the reluctor off the shaft in these firecore distributors?

 

[oldbee]

Bad ground on box from paint dust flying around? You know, look at grounds first..

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

yeah good old grounds funny I replaced my old ground from firewall to block with a 2" wide braided ground strap I got in my stereo kit that was the only ground change. Plus were way fouled from the new shop motoring it in and out of the shop briefly a few times and maybe idling to long. cleaned them up just get to get a no spark situation. ignition is stood off with rubber but bolt through is fender to box ground and a Neg from the battery goes right to it as well. Just wold have never thought a pick up would go bad, wonder how to test it? hmm

 

[69 GTX]

Did you check the ballast resistor.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Not running a resistor looks like the pick up is intermittent that with a weak battery seems to be it once parts show up we will see i guess

 

[oldbee]

Electronics always like at least 10v.

 

[dieseldazzle]

Went through this same **** and it ended up being a replacement oer tachometer was shorting to ground. I found the problem when I was swapping coils and left the tech lead off on accident.... thank god. Threw me for a loop. Tested everything good that I took off but replaced it all anyway with new... wasted almost 500 bucks but more importantly an entire day of my time !

 

[RJRENTON]

Remember the old saying: "Fancy gizmos don't work" or MSD strikes again......
Bob Renton

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Lol need me one of them RT garage fancy orange boxes sumthin bout a rev and nator lol

 

[Shorthorse]

Sounds like you've done the proper tests but it's that part about just coming back from the body shop that kind of sticks out. While not impossible, I'm always skeptical about two different parts going bad at the same time. Were they working around the engine compartment?

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Yes and they pulled and painted the dash and reassemble snd i did give them a mew correct ignition switch ti use since the one i had was the wrong replacement type i think this may have caused some it plus i found the starter relay inbolted from the fire wall so maybe combo of a few things caused a short on top of the rust. Just getting the dizzy rebuilt now goinf to try it later tested real good not intermittent

 

[Shorthorse]

Yes and they pulled and painted the dash and reassemble snd i did give them a mew correct ignition switch ti use since the one i had was the wrong replacement type i think this may have caused some it plus i found the starter relay inbolted from the fire wall so maybe combo of a few things caused a short on top of the rust. Just getting the dizzy rebuilt now goinf to try it later tested real good not intermittent

Sounds like they had their fingers in all the places that could be suspect. You know how stubborn old connectors can be to deal with. A simple move like tugging on the wires instead of the connector body can cause issues later. It might not be a bad idea to get back under that dash and take a thorough look at everything, even if you have to remove the front seat.

Gibbs Rule 39: "There is no such thing as coincidence."

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Well got the new pick up installed, firecore distrib was fun to take apart and re install only took me 8 times lol sadly still no spark. I took my original summit box apart snapping one of the pot metal corners of grrr looked inside and the circuit board is stamped MSD! lmao anyway just for shits and giggles powered it up right off the battery and used the pos to put 12v+ on the IGN red and used the jumper on the pick up purple and green and sure enough it lit up and acted like the instructions said! some of a bitcha! now what? I suspect my battery even metering at 12.5 is too weak to send a trigger. I m also wondering if my one wire tuff stuff Alternator is the main cause? this is what killed my MSD 6al box! found a pinched wire on the regulator that is built in to the back of it. but how would the alt prevent a spark? hoping the battery has 13v+ on it this morning from charging all night in the mean time I have a new firecore coming hopefully Mancini hasn't told me its shipped yet I hate being so far away it sux. Should I trade the guts of my old Summit box with the new one? or just send the new summit box back for an exchange? or see if a fresh battery brings the new summit box back to life? wondering if there is a short some where?

 

[440beep]

never mind original comment, looks like you checked the coil already

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Yeah have 3 coils now lol 2 msd and 1 accel last night i looked at the charger and it still didnt have a green readu light on meteres tje batt and see 13.55 but the charge must be having a hard time with it might be time for a new one? Will check it tonight wjen i get home just cant help but think its the battery watched thw 12v on the key while crankingand it sropped to 9v from 12.6 so thinking i need a big inital bimp to get tjis thing to generate a decent spark might be the summit (aka msd) box too. We will see finally bugged Mancini and got tgem ro ship out the new distrib they were having too much fun at the track i guess lol it wont show up until this Friday in the meantime got an 07 Charger R/T to go see about.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

SOLVED - Was the old -NEG connection I had made over 2 years ago came loose so the unit wasn't getting a full 12v direct from the battery that along with the intermittent pick up. I guess moving batteries in and out over the course of the body shops and when I got it home just finally broke it open.

I have to say that $7 pick up and firecore rebuild was interesting but it works! lol still waiting on the Mancini new unit to show up. Figured out you can ohm meter the pick up if the distrib is out of the car just by metering the leads and spinning the shaft you should hear the beep of the continuity check on the meter over and over as you spin it around, that is how I found the old rusty one was intermittent. Summit box which is really MSD circuit board says it will operate on as little as 7 vdc up to 18 vdc when I saw that I knew I had a break in a wire somewhere and began to continuity check all of them starting at the power supply (Battery) it only took the first wire to figure it out then.

Hopefully this helps other who wind up with an issue like this I know electrical can be a pain in the arse! On to the Borgeson power steering swap!!

Rebuild in progress shinny new like before now