Why do MSD ignition boxes go bad?
 

So I am most likely going to run the msd ignition on my new motors for just one year. I assume the reason why they are so u reliable in the marine world is the vibration when they are mounted right to the engine. I was thinking about using the rubber mounts and then making a bracket and mounting it to the boat under the gunnell. Thought? Comments?

IDK, Teague uses MSD 6M-2L Ignition Control box and its mounted on the front of the engine.

Daytona sensors

This is exactly what I’m in the process of doing. I tend to agree with you in the vibrations and I’m mounting my boxes with isolation mounts. Time will tell.

Quite often he runs a second redundant system as well, at least in the pics I’ve seen.

I’m going to running the Holley hp ecu for the ignition next year. Just trying to get by for this year.

I mounted my M6 box on the transom and have nothing but flawless performance to report since 2013. I see offshore race boats all the time with MSD boxes under the hatch.

I use MSD in 2 boats (3motors) for years now. One is mounted to the transom 1/4" thick rubber washers between them. The other 2 are mounted to the motors (by a little home made shelf). I do use the MSD 6T # 6400's which are made for circle track racing. The capacitor and transformer receive additional bracing, and all of the circuits and components receive an extra-thick coating of Humi-Seal, to give even more vibration protection (from Summit Racing). All I know is they work.
On a side note, I buy mine on eBay used. I don't care if they work or not and then send them off to the factory. For like 80 bucks they totally rebuild them to brand new inside, they use your old box.

I have my 6M-2L boxes mounted on the transom and have never had a problem. Seven seasons and 500+ hours. Can't say that for the MSD distributors or the coils though.

I had one go bad and it was mounted on rubber isolators away from the engine.
MSD = might suddenly die.

they seem to last a lot longer if the rubber isolation mounts that come with them are used,when mounted solidly failure happens quick most of the time.

I couldn't imagine running any ignition box without the rubber mounts however I've had two msd in my muscle cars for years and no issues however they are older 15-20 years old now. Not sure if it's where it was manufactured or if boats just don't like them. Lol... think it's hit and miss honestly. Most people I know that have run them in boats over the last 5-8 years or so keep a spare in the cabin. Personally I'm purchasing Daytonas as I've yet to hear of one failing and have the features that I like. If I'm not mistaking Daytona adopted the old crane boxes which for the most part everyone really liked. With SC engines especially the ability to fine tune/map your own advance at different rpm's is a must. Not just lock out at your weights at your typical 28-32 and call it good. Goes way beyond that but not without extensive testing and tuning.

So in a nutshell I can't say msd has treated me bad over the years on the street however would I purchase for new sc marine builds? No.... Heard to many horror stories and like what Datona has to offer at a good price.

Run an MSD 8222 capacitor. Brad Smith idea, voltage spikes kill boxes, especially the newer ones for some reason.

I have a Daytona Sensors™ CD-1™ Kit, Part #102003 new in the box I don't need, has all paperwork, software disc and all computer cables for tuning. Hard parts list below;
Part #102001 ​CD-1™ Ignition Module (with Wiring Harness)
Part #102002 Ignition Coil
Part #115012 ​2 Bar MAP Sensor (for supercharged applications).

That's a good to know post. I would imagine many boats have multiple stereo amplifiers that probably don't help much either. On and off throttles quickly with larger voltage output alternators etc.

how much.

Everything that has been said above. Mount with rubber, Vibrations are a killer. Also I ran all separate wiring. MSD boxes do not like variations in current. I pretty much isolated them. If they are in anyway involved with your stereo system, power fluctuation will eat those boxes. I always kept spare boxes, I saved weekends for at least 3 boats plus myself at a few poker runs. Suddenly nothing, no reason, just turn key and no spark and nothing you can do, no signs, they are podded for moisture. Have seen many race boats have spares mounted with a switch so if one dies, they can switch over the boxes. They are very unreliable. I have had MSD in 3 boats, I would not initially ever start with them. They were already installed. Not to mention the pickup, caps, rotor, literally last 1/2 of a short season and they look like they have 20 years of rust and found on the bottom of a pond and I boat in fresh water....lol.

All good info. I do recall mild thunder among others giving the inners of distributors a light coat of CRC??? Something or another and they won't corrode but you'd have to do right from the get go. I'm not sure where msd comes from anymore however if you compare with some of the knock offs you can hardly see any difference if any. I have no idea so not fair to say but... Not really anything to do with the ign box. If you do look up msd distributors the net is full of threads from various forms acknowledging the same issue with corrosion. Sounds like the coating is the ticket without a doubt. I'm going to try the Daytonas but who knows they may be no different. (Distributors).

I run the capacitor like everyone has said I also use the rubber spacers. one other thing I do is by the plug and play msd gm adapter harness that just plugs in. if and when it goes bad I unplug and plug the original pigtails into my coil and run it without it to get back to shore and I also carry a spare just in case but I have never been left stranded from one of these going bad.

The Daytona Sensors stuff retails for $700 so $375 to your door.

Rig the MSD boxes with quick disconnect wire connectors and carry spares.
Ben

Some ignition failures can be cause by battery chargers

Also poor connections on electrical & or ignition sides of the systems causing resistance and spikes. Corrosion as well.

Improper sized cables and wiring

heat

vibration

Just keep this in mind. When I was a contractor at Depot they did a survey. If you do a super good over the top job maybe the customer will tell 5 people. If you do a bad job in anyway they will tell 33+ people. Pro Comp was junk. Now Eagle is junk and Pro Comp is the preferred crank. If I said that on a crank thread even though I have had more then one machinist tell me this along with personal experience Pro Comp would be called junk in the very next reply.
Like said. Mount the box proper and they do also make a marine version like the circle track version I use that is filled with gue to stop the boards from shaking apart. If you are using one that belongs in a car in a marine environment you get what you get.

No more anything MSD for me. I ran them years ago on boats and such, and had fairly good results. I built a rockcrawler fairly recently and used their distributor and 6A Offroad box. First box left me about 4 miles into a trail in Oklahoma. Get out hours and hours later, put in a call to MSD, "yeah, we've seen some failures with that box, send it in". Fluke? I send it in, wait several weeks to get another back. Cool. But it dies again. I will cut a super long story short(er), I had several die, at intervals of 2 months to 1 year, so I ended up buying a second box so I'd have a box to put on it when the other died and was in transit. I was on a week long trip, BOTH died and left me in BFE. Got back, pulled it all (inside of dist. was rusted) and put in a DUI. Ran way better, 7 years not one issue.

In my opinion(I know mine) I dont see any reason to run anything MSD, boxes fail without warning, dist corrode to the point a 1 year old one looks like came from WW1. We have run many of the HEI's with a petronix dial rev limiter with zero failures for many years. The DUI's are great, not sure if they last longer than the less than $100 ones you can get from summit, jegs etc or not, cant answer that, but in a nut shell the old HEI's are very reliable and the HP ones work great at the RPM's we turn marine engines

Sounds like a good time. Ouch.

Ive ran my DUI for four years now with zero issues. I boat in salt water maybe 10% of the time and the internals still look brand new, which raises the question of what the f*** is MSDs problem. It may not impress everybody here but I’m stoked with it.

I run a 25 year old 6m2 box that has spent the night under salt water twice, and a pro billet distributer that's 14 years old and has been under salt water for a night along with the msd coil I still run. I've never understood the bash msd posts, except maybe the fit of the rotor in the cap which once addressed isn't a problem.

I guess it didn't have power on under water did it?

I ran a MSD 6AL in my previous Challenger. Mounted to transom with supplied rubber isolators. 12v power leads ran directly to battery. 1992 to 2014 when sold to donzimatt. I never had a problem. Same goes for the Blaster 3 coil used.

Maybe that's the key to longevity. Soak all MSD components in salt water. Overnight for distributors and coils, two nights for all electronic components.https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/...ons/icon10.gif

Msd = JUNK, i loved msd products until 6 or 8 years ago. The old ones were better i think. I had a 6btm, lasted 10 years till it was dropped 6 feet at a dyno session where it fell off a ladder when taking everything apart.
So, i bought a msd 6m marine box, pile of crap. I don't remember the exact order of failures or problems but the condensed version is one of them wouldnt Rev over 4200 no matter what chip was in it, mounted on rubber, with a capacitor to smooth out voltage , on fibreglass, from the minute it was installed. The warranty box that replaced it would cut in and out randomly. When i got the THIRD box to replace that second box , i invested in a msd tester. Its a little signal generator you can clip to a box (anybodys ignition box) and make it fire w/o even installing it in boat. I still had the first two boxes i hadnt sent back yet. So i bench tested all 3, box one went on a rev limiter at 4200 even w chip removed, box two would break up if you tapped on it while test firing it. Box 3, right out of package wouldnt fire at all but if you wiggled the harness where it entered box it would fire. I called msd tech line, retards kept telling me i had a electrical issue with boat, i laughed, tried to explain to him the problems i saw bench testing them in a controlled enviroment. Super tard tech guy at msd never even heard of a msd tester. I asked him if they wanted the serial numbers off them because they must have had a bad batch, he didnt give two ****s, said the numbers didnt mean anything. I bought a crane box to replace them, testing it with msd tester i could leave it firing at 10,000 rpms on bench and a hour later was still going strong. Boxed all that garbage up and sent it back.
Was NOT a install problem, i dont BASH them for no reason, just junk ass garbage! Have never bought anything msd since, Smitty

They are hit and miss for sure. I'm not a big MSD fan from my experience. I have been using a Crane box for 20-25 years and never had an issue. There were pictures of a 6A box with the back removed on the internet. It was absolutely the worst as far as build quality. It looked like a 1st grader put it together with no direction. There were just wires shoved all over that were way to long. I tried to find the pictures to post but couldn't find them. I'm going to keep looking. To carry spares with you so you don't get stuck says it all.

I do have friends running the digital boxes with better success.

I liked the Jacobs stuff the best but there long gone. MSD issues have mounted them on rubber mounts on anything they were installed on. wiring improperly, fake boxes and not using shielded wire to the coil most issue have run into. Have had lots of issues with their dizzs and moisture issues i always carry spare caps. Called them on that they said i live in a high humidity area as the cause. Said you should start testing them in Oregon.

Currently run the programmable A9Ls with locked out dizzy advance

What's the deal with all NASCAR using them with switchable spares all about. MSD make some heavy donations fo NASCAR or what? I know I wouldn't be racing with them. Not a chance even if they were personally greasing my pockets. Been a lot on jabber on the net about them being imported from China. Not sure how true that tha is. So much is nowadays where it wouldn't necessarily bother me if they didn't fail. But dammmmm.

Nascar would have two of everything if they could and except for the motor they do.

I jjust bought 10 of the datona sensor marine boxes from a business that went south. See swap if interested.

Negative on Daytona adopting the old crane box. Daytona developed the crane box and also sold their own more advanced / expensive unit. I think what's left of crane ignition after the bankruptcy was purchased by a company that made aftermarket Harley engine parts. Can't recall the name right now.

I'm looking for just a coil, not the whole kit. I'll see what you put in swap.

sent you a message.

....or is it the pounding?