[Auto.Pilot]

I was an active member of this forum many years ago and now I’m back with the same car but now I have problems. There’s almost nothing stock about this car. 302 Ford Racing crate motor, MSD 8352 distributor, Edelbrock carb. Probably five years ago, the intake manifold gasket blew out and the car sat for a few years before I replaced the gasket. It ran after the repair but sat for a couple more years before I decided to sell it. All of the work here is approximately 15 years old and everything was brand new at that time. I’m having trouble starting it now. I get a strong spark coming out of the coil but no spark to the plugs. This is unfortunately a new problem in a long line of problems, I know very little about this MSD distributor, but it appears to be the problem. The car is for sale right now at a consignment shop and they are kind of pissed off at me because they can’t sell a car that doesn’t run. a couple days ago, I was getting no spark out of the coil and replaced it today. I’m seeking some advice about potential replacement for the MSD distributor or some way to test it or repair it. If anyone

has other thoughts, I am willing to listen.

 

[JC68FB]

Spark from the coil, but not at the plugs?? Then check the rotor under the cap. And also take a good look at the cap and plug wires.

That spark from the coil has to travel through the cap (middle), through the rotor and back out the cap/wires. You need to find where that spark is stopping. It sounds like the distributor is doing the job, but the delivery of the spark from the coil to the plugs is where the problem lies...

 

[mrMustangl]

i had a similar problem as this, basically the coil isn’t getting a full 12 volts when running. another member on this forum told me to get the #8961 MSD relay. i tested this by holding a wire from the battery to the + side on the coil when i was cranking and it ran great until i removed that wire. i’ll include some pictures but let me know if you got any questions about it

here’s the wiring diagram:

here’s a picture of mine hooked up, i grounded it to the front of the driver side cylinder head:

 

[Woodchuck]

I was an active member of this forum many years ago and now I’m back with the same car but now I have problems. There’s almost nothing stock about this car. 302 Ford Racing crate motor, MSD 8352 distributor, Edelbrock carb. Probably five years ago, the intake manifold gasket blew out and the car sat for a few years before I replaced the gasket. It ran after the repair but sat for a couple more years before I decided to sell it. All of the work here is approximately 15 years old and everything was brand new at that time. I’m having trouble starting it now. I get a strong spark coming out of the coil but no spark to the plugs. This is unfortunately a new problem in a long line of problems, I know very little about this MSD distributor, but it appears to be the problem. The car is for sale right now at a consignment shop and they are kind of pissed off at me because they can’t sell a car that doesn’t run. a couple days ago, I was getting no spark out of the coil and replaced it today. I’m seeking some advice about potential replacement for the MSD distributor or some way to test it or repair it. If anyone View attachment 879900
has other thoughts, I am willing to listen.

View attachment 879899
View attachment 879896
View attachment 879897

I had the same problem after doing a tune-up on a customer's car. Just a simple "parts replacement".... thought I had mixed up the plug wires but it wouldn't even sputter. Pulled half my hair out for about 5 minutes until I was staring out into space thinking "What could be the problem" and suddenly spotting the rotor sitting on top of my bench vise......

 

[Grimbrand]

I had the same problem after doing a tune-up on a customer's car. Just a simple "parts replacement".... thought I had mixed up the plug wires but it wouldn't even sputter. Pulled half my hair out for about 5 minutes until I was staring out into space thinking "What could be the problem" and suddenly spotting the rotor sitting on top of my bench vise......

I have most definitely never ever done that. Nope.

 

[Mustang_Charlie]

Try a new rotor, if there is one under the cap. I have seen them with a crack, that allows spark to travel to ground through the distributor shaft.

 

[Nailbender]

The first thing I noticed was the curved Monte Carlo bar?

 

[HPjunki]

I have most definitely never ever done that. Nope.

Yep. I bet it is a pretty good percentage of us that have that T shirt!
Troy

 

[stroker393]

Long shot possibly that plagued me was my car was hard to start for a whole season. What it ended up being was the battery. When cranking the voltage would drop below the threshold of operating the MSD box, around 10.5 VDC if I recall. New battery and now starts instantly.

 

[Magnus]

While you've got the cap off looking at the rotor, try turning it over a little and make sure that the rotor is spinning.

It seems unlikely, but if the oil pump seized for some reason it could've broken the distributor shaft. That would stop the distributor from turning and cause the spark to not get to the plugs.

 

[Rcksblr]

I had a similar issue last year. I have the same Distributor as you (PN 8352). My Dist was about 15-20 years old and the control module inside the Dist went out on me. I sent the whole Dist into MSD and they rebuild the Dist for around $120 bucks. In doing so they updated the control module to a more modern version since mine was out dated. They did not tell me the control module was changed to a newer version. I got it home and installed everything and the car wouldn't start and if it did kick over it would run ROUGH. Almost sounded like the timing was off. Well, after fiddling for a day with the timing and pulling my hair out I sat back for a second and thought it may be a voltage problem. Asked a few guys on here and ended up ordering PN 8961 Relay (someone mentioned above) which supplies the coil with a solid 12V and it fired right up.

Not sure if you recently had the Dist rebuilt or already have the relay, but figured I would share my experience. As other mentioned you should verify internals inside the Dist are good. If it were me and I was trying to sell it I would just send it off, get it rebuilt. This way you cover all your bases and the new owner will have a whole new Distributor. Good luck!

 

[mrMustangl]

I had a similar issue last year. I have the same Distributor as you (PN 8352). My Dist was about 15-20 years old and the control module inside the Dist went out on me. I sent the whole Dist into MSD and they rebuild the Dist for around $120 bucks. In doing so they updated the control module to a more modern version since mine was out dated. They did not tell me the control module was changed to a newer version. I got it home and installed everything and the car wouldn't start and if it did kick over it would run ROUGH. Almost sounded like the timing was off. Well, after fiddling for a day with the timing and pulling my hair out I sat back for a second and thought it may be a voltage problem. Asked a few guys on here and ended up ordering PN 8961 Relay (someone mentioned above) which supplies the coil with a solid 12V and it fired right up.

Not sure if you recently had the Dist rebuilt or already have the relay, but figured I would share my experience. As other mentioned you should verify internals inside the Dist are good. If it were me and I was trying to sell it I would just send it off, get it rebuilt. This way you cover all your bases and the new owner will have a whole new Distributor. Good luck!

same deal as me, same distributor and i needed the relay. i tested this by jumping the + side of the coil with a wire straight from the battery and it ran great until i removed that wire