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MSD Blaster 2 woes

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Old Aug 16, 2019 | 04:40 PM
  #1  
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MSD Blaster 2 woes

My 73 390 shut itself right off in line at the Chik-fil-a after work today. After a push to the parking lot, seeing that it had fuel, I narrowed it down to either the msd 6a box or the coil. I did the white wire test (only tool I had with me was a screw driver, so it worked out nicely) I could hear the box giving signal, but no spark off the coil plug. After 20 minutes of trying to get the tiny coil wires off I was able to switch it out with an old spare coil I had under the seat (This isn't the first time I've had a coil go bad in a vehicle!) and she started right up.

Now... is failure common with these MSD coils? I believe this one is less than a year old... though, I could be wrong, it was new in a box I found in my garage. The 6a box serial number dates it to 2000, so maybe the coil was bought then too. If failure is common, what coil do you guys that are running an MSD box use? Thanks.
 
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Old Aug 16, 2019 | 06:10 PM
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Failure is common with MSD. I gave up on them years ago.
 
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Old Aug 16, 2019 | 07:21 PM
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The MSD is most likely your problem and they are very unreliable.
 
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Old Aug 16, 2019 | 07:22 PM
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M y
S park
D ied
 
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Old Aug 16, 2019 | 07:40 PM
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You'll hear good and bad from people about MSD.

I've only had one 6A box and one Blaster 2 coil from MSD circa 2004-5 and I still have both of them working fine. The coil on my 78 Bronco started acting up shortly after I bought the Bronco and I swapped it with the Blaster 2 that was on another truck and it's been working fine since then (about a year or so).
 
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Old Aug 17, 2019 | 08:11 AM
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I have had my 6A box,pro billet distributer and blaster coil in my 70 bronco since 2001 and still works great.
 
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Old Aug 17, 2019 | 08:52 AM
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Msd products are the biggest waste of money out there. They do nothing for performance that a duraspark won't do on a stock or mild engine, and always cause headaches.

There is not a single msd product out there that I will personally ever consider buying.
 
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Old Aug 17, 2019 | 10:32 AM
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No no no, it's; " MSD=MY SPARK DISAPPEARED"

They still make the pure race stuff here in the USA, but all the other crap is made overseas, I had a billet dist fail a module in 1500 miles and the stator failed at 3000 miles.

A working 20 year old MSD box is golden.
 
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Old Aug 17, 2019 | 12:20 PM
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Just like most everything as soon as it's moved off shore to the cheapest bidder it goes to crap. See way more woes on msd than dura spark. Only had 1 Ford coil and 1 Duraspark module malfunction since I've been driving, granted Duraspark didn't come out till I'd been driving 6 years. Both of those malfunctions allowed me to let them cool and get home. Maybe I've been blessed.
 
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Old Aug 17, 2019 | 01:41 PM
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I believe that this particular coil is oil filled and, thus, is supposed to be mounted vertically. How was yours mounted?
 
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Old Aug 17, 2019 | 02:23 PM
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It was mounted vertically. I know only the epoxy ones can be mounted horizontally.

Also, from above, I do not believe my 73 F100 came with a duraspark. So, are some of you suggesting I convert to one?

Really I'm just looking for a recommendation on a good coil that can be used with the 6a I have.
 
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Old Aug 17, 2019 | 04:07 PM
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Your 73 would have initially had points. Honestly that's what I would put back in it. Delete the Chinese crap and forget the conversions.
 
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Old Aug 18, 2019 | 07:47 AM
  #13  
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I even tried a Pertronix distributor, was ok for a few months, started miss firing, they said to add a ground wire to the dist and verify full voltage, I did, it had a full 12v. they said they would send a new module but I had to send a pic of the old one with the wires cut off, I asked "what about just sending me one it's under warranty" no, I had to pay for it and get a refund if I wanted to keep the truck running.

The second module started miss firing when hot after a few months again, I put the Duraspark dist back in with a super old MSD box, runs great.
 
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