In April of 2002 I put in a MSD6 and a coil 8202 (not the horseshoe terminal fitted one though 8205). About 3 months later after some backwoodsing to check out some hunting land, the truck left me sit. Substitutting a known good coil solved the problem and I took the defective coil back the autparts store for a replacement. No problem... Last month the truck shut off during one of our cold winter mornings. Check for fuel, ok... check clutch/ignition switch...ok check for spark... no spark. Substituting the old ford blue coil gave immediate startup. So I emailed msd tech for some answers. Their reply was that the coil should be mounted vertically in CDI systems.

I hadn't read that in any of their literature...plus.. they sell a 8205 coil that has the horseshoe connector terminal which would lead you to think that the 8205 coil could be mounted in the same horizontal position as the original coil.

I've since been running the original ford coil..(if it ain't broke, don't fix it) but I have a second msd replacement coil behind the rear seat ready for install once I am satisfied that I won't toast it again. Has anyone else had problems like this or heard that the coil needs to be mounted vertically? Or should I bark up another tree?... ie... search for poor grounding or somthing like this. By the way, I have almost new Ford Racing wires and the msd dist cap.

Thanks... ford truck forums are the bestest.

 

I should include that the truck is a '87 F350 with a 460 and the duraspark (now msd) ignition.
Tony

 

I've never heard of that, I have let mine sit sideways since I put it on over a year ago. I'll warn you about those Motorsport wires, don't run more than .060" gap on your plugs-the MSD will love it, but those wires can't handle that much voltage. Mine are arcing everywhere, I had to put about 1/2 mile of duct tape on 'em to get it to quit. TK

 

Funny, I think you were maybe (not sure) the reason I got the motosport wires to begin with I agree about the wires. I have the ngk's set at .50 and at night i get little flickers here and there. Nothing like the stock wires though that looked like a christmas tree. Now that the Ford coil is back in there, I checked under the hood at night and not a single firefly. Amazing what an extra 15,000 volts will do. The only real difference that I notice with the ford coil is a slight hesitation when trying to idle through a stop sign in 3rd gear...... know what I mean??? The msd coil doesn't allow the truck to stumble while the ford coil does.

I think I should take some '0' or '2' guage welding cable and make a real good ground cable one of these days. Nearest I can tell, the one that is in the truck is original and probably has some funkiness and green moldy stuff inside it. That would at least eliminate that from my mind.

I am still puzzled by the msd techs response.

Tony

 

I'm thinking about some MSD Super Conductors, and how they might help the arcing situation. The motorsport wires are the best ones I've used yet, there's not doubt about that one, but they're still not quite doing what I need them to do.

 

I have one truck with the MSD coil verticle and another horizontal, no problems with either. I would prefer the verticle in case the oil starts leaking.

There is little point to increasing the point gap beyond .050". The problem is containing the high voltage to prevent crossfire and misfire. With wide gaps the high voltage may find an easier path to ground.

It would be interesting to know how the MSD coil's failed. I would guess voltage breakdown of the wires insulation. The primary side gets a pulse of up to 500 volts. The secondary steps this up until the plug fires. I haven't tested it but I would assume the coil would run cooler then one that uses a lot of current , like a points or transistorized system.

 

I don't know the reasons for their failure. The first one was intermittent for about 20 miles and then gave up the ghost. I had very faint or no spark after that. The second one just kinda died almost like when a timing belt breaks, or when a tank of fuel runs out. There was very little sputtering and it would not refire.

I'm as curious as anyone about their failure. Unfortunately, I took them both back to the autoparts store for replacement rather than sending them back to MSD.
Tony

 

i just bought some msd plug wires when i got my coil i opened the gap up to .60 and was running fine but then a week later it would die checked the cap /rotor they were pitted /worn bad replace with new and regapped it at 50 runs good .this weekend i'm going to make the msd wires up (got the universal set )so i can cut them to custom length

 

yeah, I just regapped mine back to .050" today. Runs much better. At .060", I've gotten it to run outstanding, but I was very disspointed at my own gap job on the plugs, today when I pulled 'em and measured them, I had anywhere from .055 to .065. the ones that were over .060 were all sooty because they weren't firing, Motorsport wires can't handle that much voltage, the spark would rather jump through the boots into another wire or ground itself into my alternator. .050" gap works great. TK

 

Are you using the inline resistor? Not using it will burn them up. They should come with one if you don't already have one built in to your ignition system. You should not have 12V present on the positive side with the engine off and key on. It should be like 6 - 9V.

 

I thought of this. I am supposed to have a resistor somewhere in there, I think. However, I also think I remember that we tested current and had 12 volt. I'll recheck.
Tony

 

The resistor can be put in series (spliced into the wire) with the wire that goes to the positive side of the coil. These coils will burn up without a resistor either built in from the factory or installed separately. I really hope you have 12V right now becasue this should be a sure fix.

 

If we are still talking about operating with the MSD ignition box, a resistor in the coil circuit is not used. The coil is just a step up transformer for the pulse coming out of the MSD box, approx 500 volts.

 

YOU KNOW WHAT MIKE? You're right. I didn't see that he was running a 6A. There shouldn't be a resistor I do believe.