Superperformance - Having engine trouble - need help

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by snapier

My Superformance (SPO1400) had the same problem after 2 weeks of trouble shooting I found out that I had a faulty magnetic pickup in the MSD distributor and also a failed Control box that is just under the glove box. This was tuff to troubleshoot because both must have failed at the same time. Good luck.

It's pretty rare for two electronic components to fail at the same time without an underlying cause of some sort. Jump starts, misbehaving alternators, flaky voltage regulators, a "fast" battery charge, they can all hasten an MSD demise.

[Blas]

Poor grounding and improper installation are the major causes for MSD failures from what I have seen. Spikes in the wiring are a close second.
Blas

[tortuga]

Originally Posted by Blas

Poor grounding and improper installation are the major causes for MSD failures from what I have seen. Spikes in the wiring are a close second.
Blas

So to prevent to the maximum extent the early demise of the Msd box, should a capacitor to shunt spikes and direct heavy ground be run from the box to a very good ground? What else would fall under poor installation?

Thanks

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by tortuga

So to prevent to the maximum extent the early demise of the Msd box, should a capacitor to shunt spikes and direct heavy ground be run from the box to a very good ground? What else would fall under poor installation?

Thanks

Think. A "good ground" is more than just a fat wire going from the MSD box to the side of the block or battery. Good grounding is an overall network that provides the return path to whatever it is that is generating the source current. Here's a quiz: What is the return path of that 40,000 volts or so that jumps across your spark plug? It's obviously going to the cylinder head, but where does it go from there, why, and how does it get there? And is that path different on an MSD system? FWIW, I have my fat battery negative cable going to the passenger side cylinder head. One ten gauge wire running from that cylinder head to the aluminum firewall dashboard grounding source. Another grounding strap running from the intake manifold to the aluminum firewall. A four gauge wire running from the negative battery terminal to the chassis frame. A two gauge strap running from the driver's side cylinder head to the frame at the same point where the fans and headlights pick up their ground. And, finally, a ground strap from the transmission to the frame.