MSD coil failure

[Thomas800]

Have any of you found a crack in your MSD coils ? We have been chasing a miss most of the summer and narrowed it down to #3 cylinder today by moving our O2 meter from cylinder to cylinder in the header. We came back from our last run and it dropped # 3 again while idling (normally would only do it under heavy load). There right in front of us was a nice blue spark from the secondary to the side of the coil. Once we got a real close up view there is a crack under the secondary and it's arcing back into the coil windings. Can a person use Dyna coils on an MC-4. I don't know the resistance of the primarys or the winding ratio of either yet. Maybe we just got a bum coil?
Thanks Tom

 

[Ted Jannetty]

Have any of you found a crack in your MSD coils ? We have been chasing a miss most of the summer and narrowed it down to #3 cylinder today by moving our O2 meter from cylinder to cylinder in the header. We came back from our last run and it dropped # 3 again while idling (normally would only do it under heavy load). There right in front of us was a nice blue spark from the secondary to the side of the coil. Once we got a real close up view there is a crack under the secondary and it's arcing back into the coil windings. Can a person use Dyna coils on an MC-4. I don't know the resistance of the primarys or the winding ratio of either yet. Maybe we just got a bum coil?
Thanks Tom

I have not seen any problems with MSD coils, I would calll tech assistance and send them the coil in most cases they will replace it for free.

I live by MSD products they are the best no 2 ways about it.

Ted.

 

[Thomas800]

We have always ran MSD stuff on all our cars over the years, and had really good luck with it. We've bought two new MSD coils now, but I'll talk to them and see what they have to say. The new coils are physically smaller than the old ones. They appear to be the 4573 small blaster. They are listed for use on an MC 2/3 or 4. The old ones were in the original kit from Simons and appear to be 8204s. The 4573's have a 75:1 winding ratio while the 8204's have a 100:1 ratio. I would think the output voltage on the small ones should be sufficient. What do you think Ted?
Thanks

 

[Ted Jannetty]

We have always ran MSD stuff on all our cars over the years, and had really good luck with it. We've bought two new MSD coils now, but I'll talk to them and see what they have to say. The new coils are physically smaller than the old ones. They appear to be the 4573 small blaster. They are listed for use on an MC 2/3 or 4. The old ones were in the original kit from Simons and appear to be 8204s. The 4573's have a 75:1 winding ratio while the 8204's have a 100:1 ratio. I would think the output voltage on the small ones should be sufficient. What do you think Ted?
Thanks

All my ignitions have the 4573 coils, so you will be fine.
The 4573 puts out 45000 volts and the 8204 puts out 40,000.

Ted.

 

[gsxr]

We have had msd 6460 marine box failures ,1 last summer but 7 times this summer ,supercharged bb chevs.

MSD says nothing wrong with them.
We put on a new box all is good !

I think the quality is going to China ! Be careful of msd !

 

[Ted Jannetty]

We have had msd 6460 marine box failures ,1 last summer but 7 times this summer ,supercharged bb chevs.

MSD says nothing wrong with them.
We put on a new box all is good !

I think the quality is going to China ! Be careful of msd !

Boats have huge Grounding issues, Radio Frequency issues, Ionozation, corrosion of connectors etc.

If you sent the box back and they say it is good than it is good.

7 boxes cannot be bad, I would take a real hard look at all your connections, Do NOT use crimp connectors, if there are crimp connectors remove them and solder and heat shrink all connections.

Verify grounds, and resistance in all ground wires from end to end.
Electrical parts and water do not play nice together.

When your changing out the box your moving something that temporarily makes a connection and it starts up so you thing that was it.

Ted.

 

[Thomas800]

"The 4573 puts out 45000 volts and the 8204 puts out 40,000." Being basically stepup transformers, with the higher winding ratio on the 8204, wouldn't those output voltages be the other way? At any rate, the smaller packaging will be nice and those crappy secondary extenders/adapters are GONE. Ours always vibrated loose. I'm not sure why MSD would have used those adapters in the first place. Why not just make the coil fit the wire.
Thanks
Tom

 

[Ted Jannetty]

"The 4573 puts out 45000 volts and the 8204 puts out 40,000." Being basically stepup transformers, with the higher winding ratio on the 8204, wouldn't those output voltages be the other way? At any rate, the smaller packaging will be nice and those crappy secondary extenders/adapters are GONE. Ours always vibrated loose. I'm not sure why MSD would have used those adapters in the first place. Why not just make the coil fit the wire.
Thanks
Tom

1kv is 1000 volts right?

It is in they're spec sheets on the coils this way 4573 45,000 volts, 8204 40 kv.

Ted.

 

[Thomas800]

If that's what they say, that's the way it is. I was just curious theory wise.
Thanks Ted