albarnett_99

Pink wire is long gone. Will try the multimeter on the coil while cranking.

It was running fine last season.

When I originally encountered the problem, I had spark at the plug wire (MSD distributor). Last night I retraced my steps on the second distributor (Mallory) and discovered that I did NOT have spark at the plug wire. I had just under 12v at both sides of the coil. I’m thinking I may put the MSD back in and try to further troubleshoot since I had spark at the plug wire. I’m open to other ideas from others as well.

Need some help solving a no start condition. I recently started the car and was warming it up in the garage. Suddenly it died and I was able to restart with no issues. Motor died again and then would not start after multiple attempts. Checked battery terminals, grounds, spark plug wires, coil wire, etc. Validated that I had spark, fuel in carb, a fully charged battery and was getting 12V to the coil. Shifted transmission in and out of Park (neutral safety switch). Pulled the cap and inspected it along with the rotor. All looked clean. After multiple tries to start without success, I decided to swap in another coil (known to be good) with no success. Thinking that perhaps the module in the distributor had gone bad (MSD Ready to Run), I decided to pull the distributor and replace it with a spare sitting on the shelf (worked fine prior to removal). Swapped out everything and attempted to start again. Cranks fine but will not fire. Not really sure where to go from here. Looking for additional ideas or tests with a multimeter that can be done. Appreciate any ideas you may have.

Performed a voltage drop test on all grounds today and all had the same readings of 0.19v while cranking the engine. From what I have read, anything below 0.5v is good.

Not sure what can be done to protect the ignition module from heat. Moving the coil to the inner fender panel is another option. gordonr seems to have a ton of knowledge related to electrical gremlins. I certainly don’t! Hope he checks back and can shed more light for those of us who aren’t electrical experts!

gordonr - sounds like I am missing something or don’t clearly understand what you have been trying to convey. Is there a test I have missed that will shed more light on the root cause of my loss of power and spark? Electrical is not my thing, but I am certainly willing to research and learn more.

I got some time today to test my grounds with a multimeter. I found that the reading on the chasis (block to chasis ground cable) had a reading of 0.6 ohms. I decided to relocate to another part of the block and cleanup the terminating point at the chasis. New readings are at 0.1 ohms. All others are reading 0. I decided to order some heatshield so I can wrap the coil and protect it from some heat. Not sure if this will help, but it’s worth a try. Will keep everyone posted.

gordonr - not familiar with the term dead heading. Are you referring to testing the primary and secondary sides of the coil to see if it’s within manufacturer spec? Or are you referring to your tests of ground?

Midlife - not sure if this matters, but the tach operates normally for extended periods of time (no bouncing, no wide swings in reading). It is usually during a long drive when the tach starts to get erratic. After it gets erratic the car will often die suddenly. Total loss of power and won’t start for an extended period of time. I initially thought it was caused by the coil getting hot. Not sure anymore.

Here are some additional updates: 1969_Mach1 - the tach is an aftermarket Autometer gordonr - I will take your advice and use the multimeter to test all grounds Midlife - yes the coils get very hot with a big block in a Mustang engine bay. Interestingly enough, since I installed a stroker motor with ceramic coated headers, engine temps dropped significantly. It runs in 180-190 degree range well below what it did previously. How do I isolate a wire with a potentially poor connection or splice? Would I start with the wire that was inserted to bypass the pink resistor wire? Or do you suggest another?

Midlife - I have the traditional ground strap from the head to the firewall along with the battery ground to block and block to frame. About 2 years ago, I upgraded the battery to block and block to frame grounds with 1/0 gauge cables. All paint was removed and surfaces cleaned. At that time, I upgraded the cable from the solenoid to starter with the same gauge cable. After a recent incident of a dancing tach, I decided to check all 3 original grounds and added a couple more. I added a new ground from the back of the intake manifold to the firewall as well as firewall to frame. I have noticed a recurring pattern of the dancing tach just before I lose spark. Most times, everything dies within a few minutes of the dancing tach. The car will die with or without the aftermarket tach installed. The last time it happened, I was able to get the car home before it lost power. The next day, I had no spark.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I called MSD Tech Support today and they suggested I put a test light on the negative terminal of the coil and move my distributor ground from the intake manifold to the battery. Before I attempted any of that, I pulled the distributor cap and validated that the rotor was turning. Inspected the rotor and cap; all looked normal. I then put the test light on the coil and it illuminated. I relocated the ground to the battery and attempted to start. It fired immediately. gordonr or Midlife - what would cause excessive current draw from the coil? 1969_Mach1 - no clue what type of ignition module is used in the MSD While I am happy it is running again, I am still concerned that I have either a bigger ground issue or resistance problem. I have been through multiple coils and instances like what happened above over the past 4-5 years. I have purchased a refurbished harness from Midlife but have held off on installing it. May have to finally get it done.

Need help diagnosing why I've lost spark. I'm running a MSD 8595 distributor and Blaster 2 coil in a 390 FE. Battery has 12.49 volts and I get 11.63 volts at the + side of the coil. However, when I disconnect #1 plug wire and try to ground it, I get nothing. I also get nothing when I disconnect the coil wire from the distributor and try to ground. Not sure where to go from here. Any help you can provide is much appreciated!

Starter was wired per RobbMc instructions. I tried both wiring options he suggested and got the same results. Not sure about the battery.