No Spark?

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awohlers

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Hello,

I have a brand new 400 I just installed in my car and broke it in no problem. Went to fire it up yesterday and the starter was binding up so I pulled the starter installed a new one and fired the engine up no problem. It ran for 20 seconds and died. I have power at ignition, the ballast resistor, and power at the POS side of the coil. When I hold the test light on the NEG side of the coil it doesn’t blink and stays solid. The coil is a brand new MSD Blaster 2. The distributor is a brand new Proform distributor and I checked the gap on the reluctor and it was good. The Orange box was pretty hot to the touch. I am guessing it fried but it only ran 30 minutes for the break in. I knew they weren’t super reliable but this seems pretty odd. Anything I might be missing or would you just swap out Orange boxes and give it another shot?

Thanks.
 
awohlers said:
Hello,

I have a brand new 400 I just installed in my car and broke it in no problem. Went to fire it up yesterday and the starter was binding up so I pulled the starter installed a new one and fired the engine up no problem. It ran for 20 seconds and died. I have power at ignition, the ballast resistor, and power at the POS side of the coil. When I hold the test light on the NEG side of the coil it doesn’t blink and stays solid. The coil is a brand new MSD Blaster 2. The distributor is a brand new Proform distributor and I checked the gap on the reluctor and it was good. The Orange box was pretty hot to the touch. I am guessing it fried but it only ran 30 minutes for the break in. I knew they weren’t super reliable but this seems pretty odd. Anything I might be missing or would you just swap out Orange boxes and give it another shot?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

i had a box go out on me. I would swap the box. There dirt cheap at rock auto.
 
Be sure your box is properly grounded, a d the power to it is switched, so it is not powered when the key is in the off or acc positions
 
Dana67Dart said:
Be sure your box is properly grounded, a d the power to it is switched, so it is not powered when the key is in the off or acc positions
Click to expand...
This is good advise. Im fairly certain the rusty self tapping screw, poorly grounding my box to my rusty chassis was precisely why it went out.
 
Super weird. I got a 6AL box installed it and no luck. Pulled the coil wire and no spark. Pulled the distributor and if I spin it by hand quickly it sparks, but as soon as I spin it at low speed when the reluctor passes the pick up theres no spark. I hit the pick up with a screw driver and it only sparks sometimes. I gapped the reluctor at .008 and no change. I think it may be time for a new distributor even though this is a BRAND NEW, ran for 30 min for break in, Proform distributor. Has anyone used an MSD Pro Billet? Is it worth the $$$?
 
I don't know. Make sure the dist to box connector is good and tight and not corroded. Could be any connector, the dist, or the box. We had at least one member "evidently" had a bad box and it would not trigger reliably, either. I think he had swapped more than 1 dist
 
You can test a magnetic pick-up with an ohmmeter for continuity and for AC output while spinning them on the bench.
Going from memory the continuity is around 350 ohms at room temperature and I forget the AC output but Ima thinking 1 to 2 volts.
But Magnetic pick-ups are polarity sensitive too. In your engine they have to be designed for CW rotation in a SBM.
 
awohlers said:
Super weird. I got a 6AL box installed it and no luck. Pulled the coil wire and no spark. Pulled the distributor and if I spin it by hand quickly it sparks, but as soon as I spin it at low speed when the reluctor passes the pick up theres no spark. I hit the pick up with a screw driver and it only sparks sometimes. I gapped the reluctor at .008 and no change. I think it may be time for a new distributor even though this is a BRAND NEW, ran for 30 min for break in, Proform distributor. Has anyone used an MSD Pro Billet? Is it worth the $$$?
Click to expand...
awohlers how did you go with that? Did you find what the issue was? I'm having the exact same problem with my 383 and new proform dizzy and it's driving me crazy!
 
See if the coil has power while cranking the engine.
 
Also suspect connectors, especially the dist. connector but also the main ECU connector Of course you've eliminated the last one with the MSD. Go to the MSD site there are troubleshooting hints there. You can trigger the MSD with the points wire to test it
 
67Dart273 said:
You can trigger the MSD with the points wire to test it
Click to expand...
And you don't even have to go quite that far. On the points input to the MSD, it only requires a make and break trigger. So what I have done in the past is to lay a coarse file on a ground somewhere convenient and then just drag that MSD input wire along the file. With the coilwire near-grounded, a stream of sparks should issue forth. This prooves the MSD and coil are fine.
BTW, in my experience; the CDI ignition systems work best with CDI-compatible coils; like E-cores. The MSD Capacitor discharges at 525 volts IIRC, and 12 volt coils may not endure that for long.
 
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