MSD help?

[Craig]

OK, boats been sitting for a year :( The last time I cranked it over in the yard, it was hard to start. Cranks over, got fuel, but doesn't fire. Today never got it to start. Checked the power to the MSD 6M. Big red MSD wire that goes to the starter has 12 volts. Small red MSD wire splices into the Mercruiser purple ignition wire, when cranking over it has 10 volts. So it appears the box has power, any tips on checking anything else? I'm running the MSD Pro Billet distributor as well. I'll call MSD tomorrow if I have to, but looking for suggestions :)
Thanks

[Jetaholic]

Here are some troubleshooting steps that I scanned directly from my MSD Wiring Diagrams and Tech Notes book.
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=34539&stc=1&d=1183932180
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=34540&stc=1&d=1183932180

[Craig]

After I posted originally, I thought I'd see if anyting was on the MSD site and saw the same thing you just posted :D I rechecked the voltage to the little red wire and it was 12 volts, not 10 volts. Unfortunately, I did the jumper deal and got nothing. I grabbed the coil off of my car that I know is good, and still, nothing. I guess it's a bad box :mad:

[Jetaholic]

After I posted originally, I thought I'd see if anyting was on the MSD site and saw the same thing you just posted :D I rechecked the voltage to the little red wire and it was 12 volts, not 10 volts. Unfortunately, I did the jumper deal and got nothing. I grabbed the coil off of my car that I know is good, and still, nothing. I guess it's a bad box :mad:
If that is the case and the test was done correctly, then yes it would be a bad box.
This is what I love about having the ready to run distributor is that if the box is suspected bad you can bypass the box and run the motor without it.
Feel free to call me if you have any more questions. (559)292-6274

[Morg]

Let us know how this turns out.
I had two failures with MSD. The first was a timing box. It was returned to MSD who claimed the box was good. I have not run it since. I know it was not.
The second was when all of a sudden the 6AL box would lose spark above 4K rpm. I have not bothered to return it. I talked to MSD about the box & frankly was really put off by there "It must be something you did attitude"
I am now running a magneto.
I had absolutely no problems with msd until the motor started spinning above 7K.
BTW I have seen an MSD 7 box not fire when the volts dropped below 11v during cranking.

[Craig]

Yeah, I had a red 6 box on my old jetboat. It'd just die and then fire up in a little while. Sent it back to MSD twice and they kept saying nothing was wrong with it. Mine was set up with a factory Ford distributor, so like Jetaholic says, I could just bypass it and get home. After it acting up for months and doing all of their tests, plus the fact that if I bypass their box, it ran, they finally sent me a new box even though the one I had was over a year old. Good out come, but only after a lot of frustration with them :mad: I think I'll get some small clips or paperclip tomorrow morning to test one more time. Kind of hard ensuring I have a good connection inside the plug.

[Rexone]

Make sure you have a good solid ground. Over 90% of issues with MSD boxes trace back to bad connections on the power lead or bad grounds.
Remember anodize and powder coat are both insulators and will not ground anything. Oily bolt connections are not good either. Just things to check.

[Craig]

Went out the day after I originally posted this thread. Checked the ignition again, this time used a paperclip to jump the connector, and there's spark. Hmmm, maybe the old coil was bad and I wasn't getting a good jump using a piece of wire? Took it to the lake the next Monday to just run it on the trailer. Shut down and started up 10 times without a hitch. Screw it, I'm going for a ride. :D Got about a 100 yards out and it died :mad: No spark, nada. Had to paddle about 1/3 back to the ramp before some guy in a bass boat took pity on me! Ordered a new MSD 6M. Put it on Thursday night. Went out yesterday and the boat ran great all day. I guess these boxes have a limited life span :confused:

[g935]

Sorry but I couldn't help chuckling. I'm surprised that it didn't tease you out a little farther. That would have been my luck. Make sure that you use the rubber feet grommets with the new box. Excessive vibration shortens the life span. On a similar note: I had a situation about two months ago when I was testing at the lake. I was about a mile and a half out when the motor quit during a pass. It was early morning and I'm sitting there stranded. I see a house boat cruising between me and the shore line. I'm standing up waving my arms. The house boat was about 100 yards away. It just kept on going. I managed to fire the motor about 10 minutes later and cruised back to the ramp. There's the housboat at the ramp. I pulled in right next to him and shook my head. :mad:
Geoff

[LUVNLIFE]

Do you have a kill switch with lanyard wired in on your boat? Earlier this year my kill switch went bad and I had an intermitant prob. Changed the box and the prob didn't go away. Found out the kill switch was wacky.;) The small ignition red wire goes through the kill switch.:)

[Unforgiven]

Craig. as mentioned by Rexone..you have to have a good ground...after changing the drag boat to MSD 44 with the MSD boxes...we were starting in the pits then dead on water. Changed boxes..did it again..Talk to a Tuner on a NHRA top fuel team... he told me..to ground (bond) the heads to the block, block to chassis and run ground from box to that main bond point (block, heads and chassis..) also to mount box with the rubber feet provided by MSD..I've sent the boxes back to MSD plenty of times..(they sponsored us) so we would get a new one back..There is a guy you can get in touch with (go to INSIDETOPALCOHOL.COM) he is a electronics guru and fixes the msd boxes..seems the soldering job on the boards is a weak link..He also will tell you about a proper grounding..another problem we found..The connections connecting to dist, to box, and to coil..The pins in the connectors are POS..we found after inspections to run a small zip tie thru the connections to keep them together...hope this helps...Eddie/Unforgiven

[Craig]

luvnlife, I don't have a kill switch on my boat, even though I know I should ;) I did have the old box mounted to a plate I got from Teague. Box on one side rev limiter onthe other. I didn't use the rubber feet then or now. But, I think I will go back and put the little hummers on, seems to be a popular recommendation! :idea:
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=35405&stc=1&d=1185125770

[LUVNLIFE]

I have the same plate and originally it did not have the pads but I added them last time. Well I guess it's not the kill switch in your boat:D

[Paul128a]

As to fixing the MSD's, I once had an MSD 6 box that would not have a spark at all.
I brought it to an electronic shop, he replaced a 10 cent resistor that was busted and it has run another 80 hours on my boat with no problems up to today.

[W.O.T]

ive had two msd boxes fail on me. if i couldnt send them back to be repaired i wouldnt have bought another one.