Show of Hands-HOw many people have had an MSD magnetic pickup fail???

[*El Ocho 1*]

Bumping this old thread.....wondering if this is what happened to me.

Stopped at a light & I notice my tach starts to go wild, jumping up & down. (engine was still idling normally at around 850rpms.) Then car just dies. push it to the side of the road & battery was low, so I gave it a jump. Engine would just turn & turn, but wouldn't start up. Figured it was spark, so I checked distributor cap & saw that the rotor & contact points were pretty corroded. So I towed it back home & ordered a new cap & rotor.

Installed them the other day but car still doesn't want to start. cranks, fires a few times & dies again. I saw that the magnetic pick up is a bit rusty, could that be it? Really dont want to order a new MSD 6A box, expecially since I just sold the Cobra, & I'm just repairing it for the new owner (I have to give him a car in good working order. It's the right thing to do).

any help would be appreciated guys. Thank in advance

So I changed the distributor cap & rotor a few days ago. I checked the magnetic pick up, & although it it rusty it was showing 580 ohms. Also checked the ignition controller for spark as per MSD's instructions & I was getting some spark from the coil.

Car started right up again, although it had a slight backfire at around 3000rpms.....

Anyways, yesterday I'm taking it to the storage unit & it suddenly dies on me again. Won't start, just turns & turns, but won't actually crank....

I'm really thinking that it may be the ignition control box that's checking in & out. It's mounted behind the dash, but that whole car is hot as hell & vibrates like crazy.

what do you guys think? I'm going to test everything again in a couple of days, but I wouldn't surprised if everything checks out again.