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

I just had another magnetic pickup fail on my MSD distributor. This failure took place directly after receiving my distributor back from MSDs repair department. It had to go in for repair because the advance mechanism was hanging up and would not release. They told me to send it back, but it took over 6 weeks to get it returned this go around, plus shipping now costs just as much as a new pickup.
This seems like a common problem with MSD distributors according to what i have read online. So i am curious, how many people have had a magnetic pickup fail?

Out of all the stuff that I've used from them, I've had one 6AL box fail right out of the box.

I'm laughing as I'm typing this though, because underneath your post is an MSD advertisement.....:LOL:

I had on go bad , Fixed one for a friend , saw one being fixed at a shop .I keep a spare. should read 400 ohms Msd should let it be known about a bad batch . And let you send in the old for a new one ...actually , they probably would .

Add me to the count.:mad:

In the past six years, we have installed 68 6AL boxes and 59 MSD mag dizzys. Zero box failures, 4 pickup failures, 2 cap electrode explosions. The worst failure cost us a service call from Houston to Harlingen and back in a day (7hrs one way). While that is not a great success rate, it is better than the luck we have had with Mallory or Accel. In their defense, MSD has replaced the defective part every time within a few days.

The blue Field Coil and magnet (with exception of the attached mounting plate)are the same as what Ford used in ALL the engines 4,6,8 from inception of their Duraspark ignition in 1974 until about 1983 (design change). Failure rate overall is minute, but it seems huge when it is your car.

My (351 C 1970 Mach I) MSD gear failed and left me stranded 150 miles from home. After a $375. tow bill, I switched to Mallory with no problems.

I was informed by the MSD tech that the OHM test is just a guideline and that it doesnt actually tell you if the pickup is bad. I know it worked on the first one that went bad, but i havent even tested the second one because i know its bad. I had the car running with a mallory before i installed the MSD and i have spark coming out of the coil wire when i short the green and violet wires on the box together, so it must be the pick up. I hope there isnt something wrong with the box that is frying the pickups.

Sorry in advance to any MSD fans but I'll tell this story any chance I get. I suspected I had a bad 6AL box and went through the troubleshooting procedure in their site to confirm. I'm a EE and specialized in multi level PCB repair and troubleshooting in the military so I figured I'd take look and try the repair myself. I drilled out the four corner rivets and opened the box to find a fried zener and other accompanying power circuit related devices that failed. After looking a little closer I noticed that the overall quality of the PCB build up was a bit on the sloppy side and not what I would expect from MSD.

The picture below is the populated side of the PCB. The top two circles are failed devices and the third circle between those is an empty through-hole on the side of a step-up transformer, that rectangular thingy. Transformers are inherently heavy devices. That hole is on either side of the xformer and designed in for a screw that holds a bracket around the xformer which is not installed here and never was. You can see the other side of the board in the second pic and the same holes on either side of the rectangular device. Pretty common cost saving cut to leave it out but at the cost of quality. The only thing attaching the xformer to the PCB are the leads from it to the board so its actually floating in the PCB cut-out. In a vibrating environment, it's only time before it fails at the lead. I sent the whole thing back and was returned with the sticker attached in the third pic. The choice is yours.

http://www.ffcars.com/photopost/data/500/Dsc00071.jpg

http://www.ffcars.com/photopost/data/500/Dsc00073.jpg

http://www.ffcars.com/photopost/data/500/Dsc00072.jpg

Hey, Todd, at least it has a made in USA sticker. Perhaps the return sticker should have said, "This unit can not be repaired as all US based technicians were fired and the work sent to China."

To be fair to MSD, I had one pick up fail out of about 20 I've used. That was in my 1970 Olds 442 convertible with a 455. I had one box fail, an MSD 2, but I think it was my fault as I forgot about it and welded a sub-frame patch on my 1966 Mustang only to then find the box died.

yup, MSD ignitions and welding don't play nice. And again, there are some pretty simple designs to prevent circuit damage in this kind of environment. Seriously, these boxes are born from competition cars and who would even THINK of welding on one of those? :LOL:

Well, i certainly have not been welding on the kirkham. I think it must have been damaged when MSD was repairing the mechanical weight system that was freezing up.
I asked if they test the distributors after being repaired and before they are shipped out and the answer i got was, "i dont know, sometimes i think" Really?

Been using MSD boxes since '77 and have never - knock on wood - had a box failure.

My car is almost 7 years old and has 2500 miles on it. I've had two MSD magnetic pickups go bad.

Most of the problems with MSD Ignition Systems could most likely be traced to improper electrical connections. This includes a bad ground or power connection or a cheap ignition switched that breaks the power contact supply to the MSD box's small red wire causing intermittent power surges.
Another box killer is a power spike. If you flip your battery cut-off switch off while the engine is running, you'll get a power spike from the cars power source switching to the alternator from the battery.
(Bet you thought the car would turn off – I think the vast majority of them will not – but that’s another thread)
I believe the MSD instructions suggest grounding the unit as directly as possible to the negative terminal on the battery.
MSD also makes a noise capacitor (PN# 8830) that in addition to insuring clean supply line power to the MSD box, also protects the MSD box from Voltage spokes and current surges.
Mounting the MSD box upside down allows moisture (from rain or temperature swings) to collect in the cover. So if you drive in the rain, or if you do some crazy car washes you run a risk…
The under cap problem is a different issue. Checking the phasing and checking the interface of the rotor and cap contacts is time well spent. MSD does not preset the rotors center contact at the factory. Many a cap has been destroyed from arcing on the center carbon contact.
Another suggestion for the corrosion problems inside the distributor cap could be due to poor grounding of the aluminum cylinder heads. This can cause excessive heat in the cap leading to condensation and corrosion. Where you live and how you drive your car also make a difference, if it rarely gets up to temperature and stays there a while there is no chance to burn off any accumulated moisture under the cap.
Someone once wrote that the height of their rotors end contact in relation to the dist. caps 8 contacts was too big, so he shimmed up his rotor with washers to lessen the gap. I would tend think that maybe some mis-matched parts were actually installed in this particular case.

Well, i followed their directions very carefully and i can assure that my engine, heads, msd box, etc. are grounded extremely well. I believe that MSD has a major issue going on with the magnetic pickups and they just dont want to admit it. MSD refused to cover the replacement cost of the magnetic pickup that initially failed in my distributor, even though i only had two starts on my new engine.

yesterday i removed my 8594 distributor from my 445 to change the advance springs and bushing onlt to find the advance plate was frozen soild, this is a new distributor has not been run yet but i have had it for 2 years. i was able to work it and free it up. can you use a aftermarket pick up or do you have to use the msd? will they sell you one or do you have to return it to be repaired?. my msd tfi distributor failed and they wanted 90.00 to repair i installed a aftermarket module.

Orielly's and others sell and stock the MSD module. If not available locally use can substitute the parts from a 74-83 ford engine (same module) with different connectors. Carefully grind the rivet heads and push out the rivets. Do this carefully and do not fracture the magnet when pressing out the rivets. Keep the magnet in the same position(do not flip it over). When reconnecting the wires the black/orange connects to the violet wire from the MSD Box, and the black/purple one to the green one. Adjust the air gap to about .025-.030.

i just checked my distributor and my module is bolted in with small allen head bolts?.i would like to buy a module to keep in stock for when or if it fails.

I've been using MSD products for over 30 years. Never had a failure with any of them.