MSD 6AL ignition box

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Canuck Bryan

Canuck Bryan

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Hey Guys,
Hoping for some help here.

I just installed an MSD 6AL ignition box in my '71 duster. I checked that it is wired correctly, though it took a bit of searching to realize that ther isn't supposed to be power to the coil. I did the spark test as outlined by MSD and it all checked out - great spark from the coil wire to ground when shorting the trigger wire.

Problem is I don't have spark at the plug. I called MSD and the only thing they could come up with is that the box wasn't getting enough voltage during cranking. I checked with a voltmeter, got 12.4V with the ignition "on" and 9.4V while cranking. The tech said to try to keep the voltage above 10V when cranking. So while I charge the battery back up to 100% I was wondering if there were any other possible issues I am missing.

The car fired and ran fine with the mopar electronic ignition before doing this swap and as I said the wiring check out as per the spark test. The distributor is new (came with the mopar performance electronic ignition kit) and the rotor spins while cranking.

Any thought?

Thanks.
 
you have to hookup the dark blue AND the brown wires to the cd box trigger wire, 1 wire is for key in cranking position and the other is for the "on" position of your ignition switch.
 
I have the box power wire running off of the old coil +ve wire as outlined by the instructions. The brown and dark blue wires are still run through the ballast resistor.
 
I experienced a similar situation. turn the key to the on position. get out and jump the starter solenoid. If the car starts your power line in the issue.

Also, did you get rid of the old Mopar crap CDI box or is all that wiring still in there.

Last, delete the ballast resistor.
 
delete the ballas resistor..connect the brown and blue wire together and connect that to the thin red wire on the msd.
 
Canuck Bryan said:
I have the box power wire running off of the old coil +ve wire as outlined by the instructions. The brown and dark blue wires are still run through the ballast resistor.
Click to expand...



MSD uses a "trigger" wire which causes the box to power up, this is the "small red," and draws little current. As someone mentioned above, your original switched "ignition run" and the brown "bypass wire" need to be hooked together, in other words, all wires originall hooked to the ballast need to be jumpered/ junctioned together. THEN your original coil + can go off to the small red trigger wire.

The "main" box power --the wire which actually powers the box is the large gauge red wire, and is supposed to be hooked to a good big live power source such as the start relay. In the chart below (out of the destructions) it's called "HEAVY RED"

If you are getting LESS THAN 10V during cranking, either you have wiring issues, wired wrong, bad / dead battery, or your meter is AFU. A good battery during cranking should deliver closer to 11V.

The destructions:

[ame]http://www.msdignition.com/uploadedFiles/MSDIgnitioncom/Products/Ignitions/6420_instructions.pdf[/ame]

How and what do you have the distributor wired to? The coil? Make sure the WHITE wire is unconnected and taped off

You have a tach? How is it hooked up? Do NOT hook your tach to either coil terminal.

You should have your Mopar distributor hooked to the green and violet, and on page 10, you can jumper across those two to check for spark.

Make CERTAIN that you have not reversed the orange and small red. Orange goes to coil +

Sounds like with a Mopar dist. you should be using the diagram page 19
 

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70aarcuda said:
delete the ballas resistor..connect the brown and blue wire together and connect that to the thin red wire on the msd.
Click to expand...

67Dart273 said:
You need to re-read the instructions because that is NOT what they "say."

MSD uses a "trigger" wire which causes the box to power up, this is the "small red," and draws little current. As someone mentioned above, your original switched "ignition run" and the brown "bypass wire" need to be hooked together, in other words, all wires originall hooked to the ballast need to be jumpered/ junctioned together. THEN your original coil + can go off to the small red trigger wire.

The "main" box power --the wire which actually powers the box is the large gauge red wire, and is supposed to be hooked to a good big live power source such as the start relay. In the chart below (out of the destructions) it's called "HEAVY RED"

If you are getting LESS THAN 10V during cranking, either you have wiring issues, wired wrong, bad / dead battery, or your meter is AFU. A good battery during cranking should deliver closer to 11V.

The destructions:

http://www.msdignition.com/uploadedFiles/MSDIgnitioncom/Products/Ignitions/6420_instructions.pdf
Click to expand...


Follow what these two are saying and you'll be golden.
 
i still have the ballest,the small red wire goes to the wire in the four wire connector that used to plug in to the stock ecu. i used the hot feed from there.big red to starter relay,black to ground :tard: and the orange and black to the coil.green and purple have a plug in to dist.my car fires instantly all the time.
 
Thanks guys, I will try wiring the blue and brown together and connecting that to the small red.

As stated in the original post - I did the spark test with the ignition in run and it produced a spark at the coil wire - according to MSD this means that the box is working and wired correctly. I also made sure the distributor was turning.

The only wires to the coil are the orange and black from the msd box and I spliced the violet and green wire onto the distributor magnetic trigger.

I tested all grounds and everything checked out.

I charged the battery over night, so we will see if the voltage drops off - it read at 75% when I hooked the charger up.
 
Any one have the specs for the resistance of the magnetic pick up for a mopar distributor?
 
The actual resistance doesn't matter so much, and there are different published specs

Best thing to do is to inspect the reluctor/ pickup for dirt/ debri and damage, and set the reluctor gap, .008" (inches not metric) using a brass feeler which O'Reallys has

Hook the dist connector to your multimeter on low AC volts and spin or crank. It should generate about 1V AC

You should not have continuity from either wire to ground, and I don't recall, 200-400 ohms or so across the pickup. This value is not critical.

If it was running with the Mopar box, there's little reason to suspect a bad pickup
 
67Dart273 said:
The actual resistance doesn't matter so much, and there are different published specs

Best thing to do is to inspect the reluctor/ pickup for dirt/ debri and damage, and set the reluctor gap, .008" (inches not metric) using a brass feeler which O'Reallys has

Hook the dist connector to your multimeter on low AC volts and spin or crank. It should generate about 1V AC

You should not have continuity from either wire to ground, and I don't recall, 200-400 ohms or so across the pickup. This value is not critical.

If it was running with the Mopar box, there's little reason to suspect a bad pickup
Click to expand...

Awesome, thank you sir. Just want to test all possible angles. The resistance was 343ohms. I will check what voltage it puts out during cranking, but as you say it did run fine with the mopar box - so this should not be the issue.

Will update tonight after I get a chance to play around.

Bryan.
 
So I got around to playing with this last night - connected the blue/brown wire - still not spark. I checked the voltage across the trigger wires during cranking and wasn't getting anything so I figured it must be the trigger. I checked the reluctor gap - way too big!! Reset that and voila - beautiful spark. Not too sure how the gap opened up, but the screw holding it down is very tight now.

Thanks for all your help guys,
Bryan.
 
i had same problem on my 70 dart .while cranking i was not getting power where i should but with key on it seemed to be wired right .i tried a bunch of different ways and finally just ran a hot wire from the fuse box to a toggle switch on the dash . so now if somebody tries to steal it also it wont start unless they know aabout the switch and if you have to shut the motor down because of problems while driving just flip the switch and its dead but the key is on so youre steering doesnt lock. i think the problem with mine is the wiring harness is kinda butchered and needs to be replaced.good luck
 
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