MSD Mechanical Advance not returning to stop postion-anybody else have this problem?
 

My MSD 8594 Distributor has an interested issue with the mechanical advance.

I could not figure out why the car was having such a difficult time starting and would kick back. Well, yesterday i took the distributor cap off and went over the weight system. It turns out that the mechanical advance is not returning to the stop position about 90 percent of the time, which leads to the ignition being in almost full advance at start up.
So, i took the distributor out and cleaned off the corrosion that had already built up on the shaft directly underneath of the sleeve that has the prongs/arms on it that the mangentic pickup assembly reads its signal from. I put a small amount of lithium grease under the sleeve and did my best to work it up and under the assembly. HOwever, i did not want to leave too much lubrication on the shaft, as i figured it would just sling off and cause the magnetic pickup to fail. I have tried using every combination of spring to see what would help return the advance mechanism back to its stop point, but no combination solves the problem. If i turn the assembly by hand when installed, it will return, but once the car is run, it jambs up.
I called MSD and they want me to return the distributor, but I know they are going to say that it was my fault because I had the iron gear replaced with a steel one.

Anyway, anybody else had this problem?

I had that problem with my previous car. With mine it would return to zero advance when it sat but it took a while so the idle was all over the place. I just gave it a shot of WD-40 every now and then and it seemed to take care of it. Apparently they have some rust issues on the where the shaft goes through the housing. I think it's a condensation thing under that cap and the moisture settles and runs down the shaft to the lower bushing.

Unfortunatley, i do not believe it is due to rust. I think that was helping it hang up, but it also appears that the springs do not have enough tension to pull the assembly back to the stop position. Im debating whether to send it back or just buy a mallory. I am sure MSD will charge me for whatever they do since i had a steel gear installed.

I had the light silver springs in and the result was a hanging idle. I took the distributor apart and cleaned any gunk buildup and still had the same problem, slightly better though. I put the blue springs in and solved the problem.

I had this happen recently, it was slow to return and sticky. I had not serviced the distributor in 4 or 5 years other than occasionally replacing the cap & rotor. I have had an upper radiator hose burst but never felt (or thought) it necessary to check for moisture inside the cap. I removed my distributor and squirted some carb cleaner under the upper pivot plate until it was moving freely, then gave it a little WD-40. The corrosion issue we face is caued by moisture condensing inside the cap. During the off season I am either going to remove the cap or the distributor entirely.

Gasses from within the crankcase are forced up into the bushing clearances of the shaft AND that of the assembly the reluctor is attached to. Things get gummed up. If your particular engine has significant blow by, this gummed up issue will be more pronounced.

A local buddy of mine had an MSD distributor that did this exact same thing on an FE and it turned out that the pins the weights sit on were worn out. If the weights can move around on the pins, its time for a rebuild.

This is really nice information share here. Keep it up///!

On my race car (small block Ford) it does the same thing, very slow to return to the idle timing setting, doesn't return all the way a lot of times,I've taken my distributor apart and cleaned it and oiled/greased it numerous times, tried different springs, it seems to help some but has not cured the problem, that's why I'm going to use a Ford Duraspark distributor.......I doubt I'll ever buy another MSD distributor again.....

David

Polish the shaft and the inside of advance mechanism where one goes inside the other, they tend to bind up.

Clean off all excess grease, reassemble with a PTFE spray lubricant.

And run a spring combo that starts at 1100 -1300 rpm.

My question is to you is what made you want to change the distributer gear? Someone tell me if I'm wrong, but a steel gear is for a roller cam and an iron one is for a flat tappet cam. Either is bad in the wrong situation.

I regularly hear of problems with the MSD dist. I decided to go with the Pertronix Ignitor III. It has the Chevy type weights and springs on top, with multispark and rev limiter, all in the module inside the dist.. No more big box.

Well, this will open a whole can of worms!

Generally you are correct, so I would assume he has a roller cam as he is an experienced builder.

You do have to be carefull with the generalization of when an iron, steel, bronze, or composit gear is used. Some manufacturers like Comp Cams make a retro series of roller cams with iron cam gears. They are designed to be used with the original iron distributor gear while getting the advantages of a roller cam. Personally, I would never use a composite or bronze gear as they are considered consumables and while the composite will last longer than the bronze, both require periodic inspection and eventual replacement.

Yes indeed,always someone having a problem with MSD distributor, mostly corrosion/rust/and sticking parts........but on the flip side, you never hear of those same problems with the factory Ford Durspark distributor....they were used on millions of cars that were driven millions of miles!!!!!!!

I'm switching to the Duraspark distributor and still using my MSD box, all thats needed is the adapter to plug the box into the distributor using the factory plug.....

For me,it's a no-brainer, just tired of the problems with MSD.....

David

I wouldn't be so fast to pre-judge the folks at MSD. Their customer service has always been MORE than fair to me. On several occasions they would send me parts to fix my dist. issues without any payment mentioned.

When you have the car down for other maintenance or seasonal storage , take their advice and send it in to them. You might be surprised at the result.

Z.

I just did the same thing and went to Pertronix Flame-Thrower Ignitor III. Spark was way better and no more goof-box.;)

One would think and hope and expect for the price of an aftermarket high performance distibutor (MSD) one could get one that wouldn't rust up to the point it doesn't work within a few months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take apart any Ford Duraspark distributor and look in them, I have, the difference is like night and day......and I can get a remanufactered one with a lifetime warranty for quite a bit under 100 bucks!!!!!!!!!!!

I've had MSD distributors and ignition boxes on 3 cars,starting back in 1995,never again!!!!!!!!!!!

people seems to either love them or hate them. Over a 15 year period, and more than 60,000 miles driven, I've had fantastic service from my MSD products, specifically the Digital 6+ box and several different distributors.

Others have had the opposite experience. One thing everyone can agree on, stick with what works FOR YOU.

Z.

Gaz64 has it right, I have had to do this on just about every msd dizzy I have worked on. Make sure you clean the parts well before assembly, I use a little 30 weight oil. It needs to fell smooth and spin freely.

Lock out the timing and have your ignition box handle this.....way more accurate.