no spark (msd ign)
 

I pulled the boat out to try to fire it up this weekend. And its not getting any spark

over the winter I pulled the dist, (MSD 8361) took it apart, and cleaned it up. Reassembled, and put it back in (was changing intake gaskets for an oil leak, and discovered the dist. was rusted)

anyway. I have vefied my 6al box is working by doing MSD spark check. I did the resistance check on the magnet, and got 600 ohms (MSD 500-700 is fine)

I am not getting any spark at the plugs. Can the magnet in the dist be bad, even if the resistance check is ok? Only other thing I can think of is the coil (blaster 3)

You said spark check was ok so coil is good. I would put your meter on DC and put on the distributor out and crank the engine, you should see low voltage sine wave at the distributor. You may need a scope to see it. Meter should rise and fall as the stator passes the pickup. I did have a problem with a 6M that would check ok by shorting the distributor input but wouldn't fire while cranking. It ended up the 6M was bad.

If box is bad cut your loss now and do not buy a new msd box
if you want some thing to last then buy this one way better and ony one wire to hook up. I would get rid of the msd mess
http://www.performancedistributors.com/marinedui.htm

thanks for the input. I pulled the dist. outta my cousins race car, and it will install it, and see if if fires, that should help me narrow it down a little. I havn't touched anything else except the dist, which is why I am leaning towards the dist.

I know the reputation for the MSD box isn't good, but I have had no trouble with it, and we've never had one fail on a dirt race car either. Maybe lucky?

most likely the pickup in the dist took a crap...cheap chinese made part...lots of failures...do your self a favor can the msd..put in a good H/P HEI.....

Take a piece of wire(or paper clip) and connect to the pickup wires from the box, when yoou remove the connection the box should fire the coil. If no spark change the box

Finally getting back to working on this (wife, and son's hobbies, have put my hobby on the back burner :mad:)

N E way. borrowed a MSD dist from my cousins race car, and boat fired right up. Good deal!

I am sending my MSD back to get rebuilt, and I can borrow this distributor till I get mine back. My question is since the race car had a roller cam, the dist now in the boat has a bronze gear.

Is it ok to run it a few hours this way, or am I better off just waiting till I get mine back?

Fixx
 

just wait it out! just so you know all you have to do is buy a new pick up coil from summit racing for 28 bux or another supplyer,,install it on your distributor and set the air gap and put it back in..

http://www.race-mart.com/MSD-MSD-84661.html

thanks I thought about going that route too.

How do I set the gap? I took the dist apart, and cleaned the hell outta it this winter (full of rust) for all I know it could just need adjusted again, but at the very least I would replace the pick up.

Fixx
 

you may not have to...just put it on ..

http://www.msdignition.com/uploadedF...structions.pdf

I had 4 friends that had MSD boxes go bad last year. I honestly dont know how they stay in the marine market. When I had them on my boat, I carried a spare.

Best of luck but you are probably better off going to the Thunderbolt or something else. Just my opinion.

thanks, yea I know about the MSD issues. I'm not ready to replace the whole system just yet. this is the first issue I have had with it. I had to replace the stock merc dist on my last boat too.

Luckily I have a spare box, and now have a back up dist, just need to change the gear on it.

If I continue to have problems with it, It will get replaced.

have you checked to see if there is any spark at the underside of dist cap? That is where I had a problem last year. Spoent days trying to figure it out. Put on a new cap and fired right up. It sounds too simple I know but the connection had burned out in the cap.

actually yea I did. I took the dist apart over the winter to clean it up. I think I screwed the magnet pick up, when I cleaned it up.

I tried taking it apart again, and the c clamp bascially crumbled, and all the seals, and bushings etc were rotted, so I am just gonna send it back, and get her refurbished.

I'm just glad thats all it is. I did ALOT of electrical work this winter, and was afraid, I goofed something up, and wasn't looking forward to retracing all the wires. :eek: