Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

I had an MSD 6 in my prior boat, and have one in my current boat also. Zero problems or issues. MSD is the only legal ignition currently allowed in NHRA Pro Stock cars, producing over 1300 HP, turning 9800+ RPM, and running deep in the 6.70 et range, must be doing something right.

Larry

62 Bel-Air 409

260 Eagle XP HP500EFI

2002 Corvette M6 Coupe

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

Its weird that some people have never had one fail out of dozens and others have had nothing but failures or is it someone had 1 fail once and now they are a Msd HATER :rolleyes:

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

Do NOT charge your batteries with the cables connected with a MSD. You will blow if for sure. You MUST disconnect the cables when you hook up a charger.

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

I dont think they're junk. They seem to work great in cars, but their failure rate in boats IS a lot higher than the Tbolt ignition.
And unless you're running a big cam or a blower, they dont add anything. So why use it? One more thing to break that your marina doesn't stock.

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

I better Knock on Wood!! The 6M box in my Cigarette is 12 years old.I did have the distributor rust,but i disassembled it and bead blasted ,then painted all parts.I don't know about every one else, But I do look at the condition of advanced weights yearly because after 10 seasons they did wear out.

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

I've run Msd in 2 boats over the last 10 years. Both twins. One box has failed. All dists. and coils held up fine. An acceptable record I think.

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

I do it all the time. never had any problems.

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

For a system that doesnt add any useful hp and its only benefits are to cover up idling quality issues or provide high rpm ignition, its quite a success story for their marketing department that so many non-racers are using it. Ive seen more than one race boat having pairs of msd boxes so they could switch when one puked. Having lost an engine myself due to msd timing going heywire, I believe the Crane HI-6 is more reliable and used a couple for years on the formula. That being said, guess what Im using now, T-4's.

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

i started with msd stuff when they first started manufacturing. i had some of the prototype 7 series which worked very well. the only failures we had early on were a structural issue where the boards would break loose inside and fall and short. shock mounting the box properly to deal w/ the hi freq vibration that the cars generated fixed that problem. the 6's were a different deal. i never ran them myself as i had crank trigger driven 7's that i was using for other reasons but my customers... dozens and dozens of them started running the 6's because of the hype . and they failed all the time. and there was absolutely no benefit to them that i could quantify either on the dyno or the race track. and when i say " all the time " i mean that every single one of the guys that ran them carried multiple spares. now... the majority of these cars ran no alternator so , as such, maybe they would go to low voltage and the box not like that... or maybe because the batteries were constantly being charged they didn't like THAT or that these guys would occsionally forget the ignition on after downloading their data and it didn't like THAT.... but regardless... on probably 10 occassions i saw cars on the false grid simply fail to start and run and have to go to a back up box to get to run... and dozens and dozens of on track failures... and that simply wasn't good enough for me for a system with nothing going for it anyway.... i pushed my customers to a british system ( not lucas but the name escapes me just now) which put an optical trigger in the distributor and we used any number of stock coils , my favorite being the nissan oil filled ones that were about twice the size of normal, and the failures simply stopped. everybody that bought and carried spares, ended up giving them away when they sold their cars. the optics gave perfect timing accuracy to 9500 and that was the end of that.

i don't think there is any rocket science at all to firing spark plugs when you need to with the correct energy level to get full combustion. i think MSD has discovered that the " zoom" factor and hype can sell a lot of stuff. i am sure that their products, for the most part are at least as well thought out and executed as any other mass produced aftermarket component...

but having said that, would they be my supplier of choice for any component i needed for the boat or any new project ? no... they would not.

Re: MSD Marine ignition problems!!!!!! MSD = total junk?
 

My 20 year old Merk IV with a 60,000 volt coil keeps on ticking for my stroker. Find an older Merc pack withou the rev limiter, you can find one with the right curve for all most applications. I use a 20 top with 12 on the bottom, there are about 8 different ones.

Phil