I finished my tranny installation today. In my rush to finish, I put the negative cable on the positive battery terminal by mistake(8560). I realized quickly why I was having problems attaching it. The car will not start. I have an MSD billet all in one distributor. No spark from the coil and I have 10.5 volts on both positive and negative sides of the coil with the ignition in the “on” position. Have I fried the pickup in the distributor or possibly fried the coil? Thanks
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You might just have a battery problem. 10.5 volts is quite low. You might have a dead or weak cell, or some other battery issue. Or the battery might be naturally drained by sitting while doing the tranny work. Maybe try charging the battery.
I just now checked voltage on the two Panteras in my garage and both read about 12.7. Both cars have been driven recently.
And the car with full MSD had a 0.2 volt drop with key on.
The battery is fine - 13.2volts at the terminal. I have about 11 volts on both the positive and negative terminals of the ignition coil. If I remove the wires connected to the negative side of the coil, I still have the 11 volts at the terminal. I am guessing the coil is fried.
Well, have spent the day testing everything. Bought a new ignition coil and changed the battery just in case.
With the ignition switch in the “run” position, there is 11.3 volts on both positive & negative terminals of the coil. When the key is turned to the “start” position & the engine is cranking over, the voltage drops to 1.4 - 3 volts....not enough to power the ignition.
Should I be looking at the ignition switch as a possible issue?
Thanks!
I would look at replacing the ignition module in the distributor. You should have 12v at the coil.
You are right. Went through diagnostics with a faulty volt meter. Cost me many hours of frustration. Finally with a working voltmeter, the distributor became the defective part. Bench tested it with a motorcycle battery and also checked the resistance - bad pickup.
Now that we are discussing an MSD distributor, can anyone confirm that the pick up for the MSD and the pick up for the Ford Duraspark are one and the same??
Larry
I found allot of info on the Petronix troubleshooting site - thanks to Steve who called me from Orange County. i have a “ready to run” billet distributor from MSD. The similar magnetic pickup technology has existed for quite awhile. Very simple if you examine it - a switch. I was a novice a few days ago and injected unnecessary money in replacing the starter, solenoid and coil. I now have backup parts😊. I had a faulty volt meter that led me on a goose chase. I suggest checking your volt meter accuracy before testing. Once I had accurate volt results, the distributor was isolated as the problem. Bench testing and checking the resistance led to the decision that the MSD magnetic pickup was dead. Need to send it back for a rebuild.
You can purchase the MSD magnetic pickup for $33, don't need to send the distributor back unless you feel it needs other parts as well.
The distributor has maybe 3000 miles on it. So, yes, I would like to buy just the pickup. Do I order it from MSD directly?
Thanks!
Not sure what model# your MSD distributor is, but if it is the 8350, this should help.
"
Asked by MICHEL on March 22, 2019
Michel, the ASY19970 is the correct module for your 8350 distributor. We recommend sending the distributor to MSD for the module replacement. Please contact our Tech Support at 1-888-258-3835.
MSD Ignition Answer - March 27, 2019"
This was pasted from the question section from Summit Racing for ASY19970. Summit do not show this part listed as fitting 8350 though.
If you look at repair parts section of 8350 on Summit (if that is your distributor), it does list ASY19970 and also the pickup which is much cheaper.
It is the 8350 - Thank you for the info😊.
