Voltage regulator question

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Ya actually I quit drinking 6 years ago, too much of a good thing is right. But here is where I am tonite, I turned it over with the switch and the led was flashing so I guess I have feedback from the dist. and no spark yet, I tried an old Accel super coil and still no spark, then I checked continuity on the coil wires and they checked out good, I understand you have to have an O scope to see the voltage at the coil right. so now what? How do you know Miller valley? just out of curiosity.
 
As much trouble as you are having, I'd be tempted to "rig" the ignition and test it "hot wired"

The MSD site has a lot of troubleshooting info

What distributor are you using and how is it hooked up?

Also is ANYTHING except the MSD box hooked to the coil terminals? Unhook it if so.
 
So the coil + is getting +12V?

Be testing the spark from the high voltage coil tower spark plug lead so that the distributor rotor is out of the picture. The spark ought to jump a > 1/4" gap.

And you can test the coils in your car; just disconnect the - lead from the coil coming from the MSD, and then momentarily ground the - lead of the coil with a jumper to ground with the key in RUN. Each time you release the ground you shoudl get a spark; easy way to test your coils. See here in this video:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJYJ3KvPhhY"]Ignition Coil - How to Test - YouTube[/ame]

Miller Valley? I used to rally up in the midwest for years and my co-driver was from Milwaukee and I used to stop in all the time on the way to/from events in the U.P. and northern MN. Also had 2 Navy buddies from there (Hartl and Sladek). Never did go tavern hopping up US41 on snowmibiles though!
 
nm9stheham said:
So the coil + is getting +12V?......And you can test the coils in your car; just disconnect the - lead from the coil coming from the MSD, and then momentarily !
Click to expand...

!!!NO NO NO!!! This is an MSD, (unless I missed something) not a switched ignition. There is no 12V to the coil.
 
You're right... my mistake... thanks for the catch, Del! I had Pertronix on the brain.... sorry!

Yeah, so to test the coil... you'll have to take it out of circuit and connect the coil + to the switched +12V (or battery) and then test by grounding the coil - for a moment and release to see if there is a good spark. (Best not to be holding the ground wire when you release the ground.....)
 
All right this is what I needed, how to test this coil, I will do this after work and let you know, ill also take a look at the rotor contact. and to answer the other question, its a Mallory comp ss series 32 distributer mech. advance. I never had a ignition like this before and it pisses me off that I had it started right away, it started right up damn it.
 
Do you have ANY other dist that you can try, IE a stock Mopar breakerless?
 
Ya I have the original one Ill try swapping them if I cant find anything else wrong with the coil or rotor in the new one
 
Yeh. The thing is, the Mallory dist is an active device, it could certainly be the problem. By using a stocker, you are down to a magnetic trigger feeding the MSD box directly. This eliminates "a lot" of ground, at least for testing.

As I said, if you have not, go to the MSD site. The destructions have some steps in there for troubleshooting
 
Well guys, here it is. I checked the coil, even bought a new one (different kind). The old coil checks out as good , neither one will give e a spark, changed the distributer back to the orininal, still nothing. I think I am returning the box even though all the led flashes are there, I think there is no voltage going to the coil, but that's the only voltage I cant check. What would you guys do?
Thanks Ed
 
MSD does not feed DC to the coil. It's a completely different system than a "switching system" which includes points, Mopar ECU, HEI, Pertronix and maybe a few others

I assume? by now you have carefully gone through the MSD destructions?

Checked for voltage at the proper box terminals?

Done the MSD "white wire" test? (as if it had points)

and you have NOTHING hooked to the coil EXCEPT the MSD wires. One wire to each coil terminal. No tach, no condenser, and no other wires
 
Ok, No there is nothing else hooked up to the circuit. But I did the white wire test and got spark, then I hooked up every thing with a spark tester on #1 wire and it shows spark, what the real problem was I don't know, might have been something loose , I don't know I am just happy to have spark. Thanks for all the help guys you are great, I now understand this system pretty well.
thanks again Ed

If you are ever in my neck of the woods let me know, Ill have beer
 
Just got in from the garage and IT LIVES!!!! poped right off:burnout::burnout:sounds great, I haven't had it running like this in 24 years
 
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