Ignition Problem

[Vspeeds]

I have about 1300 miles on the car and everything worked flawlessly until yesterday. While I was driving on the freeway, the car's engine suddenly stopped. No stuttering, no power loss, the engine just stopped. I couldn't get the engine started again so I had the car towed back home. I was only able to trouble shoot for a few hours as I had to leave. (taking my son to Disneyland).

So I am using a FiTech EFI and an MSD ignition system. Like I said everything worked flawlessly for 1300 miles. The starter cranks, and I could hear the fuel pump running. I'm getting fuel into the throttle body and can smell it also, although I do not know how much pressure. I did not take the spark plugs out to see if I get a spark. However, I did use a Harbor Freight in-line spark tester which attaches between the spark plug and the spark plug wire and this tester illuminated indicating power to the spark plug; but I don't know how much power by not seeing an actual spark from the plug. Interestingly, while the engine is cranking, my right rear LED light flashes rapidly even when the lights are switched off. It seems there is some kind of electrical back feeding going on. The electrical systems seem to be working fine. Gauges work, headlights, brake lights, turn signals, all work. The only anamoly seems to be the flashing taillight LED when the engine is cranking. Also a few days before this issue, my Fitech EFI would not log data into the handheld controller and I thought that was just the SD card running out of memory.

Unfortunately, I am away from home and won't be able to work on it when I get back home next week. So in the meantime I'm racking my brain as to how to what is happening. What do you guys think? Anyone out there with similar experiences? Any suggestions?

[skidd]

What are you using as an ignition controller?
The FiTech? Or.. an MSD 6AL? Fi-Tech to the 6AL? Or does the MSD distributor you have .. have a built in HEI module?

I had something similar happen about a year ago. Ran fine.. and one day.. dead.
The "screw driver into the spark plug wire" trick showed a spark... so I thought the ignition was fine.
Thing is.. the spark was weak, and I didn't really notice.
My neighbor had one of these.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/autocraft-ignition-tester-ac664/10051080-p
Which.. when set to a small gap (S or E) make a spark.. but.. set to a nice long gap (4)..made NO spark.
I have a GM Hei module, driving a Ford E-Core coil. More than enough to jump that (4) gap.
As it turned out, the HEI had failed, but was still causing a very weak spark.
Replaced the HEI.. and I was getting a STRONG spark at all gap settings on that tester.
After that.. everything worked fine again.

Cliff Notes: Make sure you're getting a good strong spark.

[Murd]

Had something similar when my pertronix ignition module in my distributor burnt out. Got a spark but intermittent and engine wouldn’t run.

[Itchief]

John

The first thing I would check is the coil resistance if you are running a MSD blaster 2 coil the primary windings 12 volt + to - terminals should be around 1 ohm and the secondary - terminal to high voltage output should be about 4.7k ohms. If you have to replace the coil you may want to check out the epoxy filled instead of the oil filled

If the coil checks out and you are using the MSD ready to run distributor and you had the distributor powered on while you were testing the wiring it may have zapped the distributor you can send it back to MSD to be repaired. It will take them a few weeks to get it back to you or you could purchase the Summit ready to run distributor for about $250

I have had both of them fail on my build and the distributor died almost the same way you described

Good luck

Rick

[Vspeeds]

Thanks for the input gents. I do have the blaster 2 coil and the MSD 6AL digital. Ill look into those things when i get back.

[Boydster]

If you need some replacement parts, I have some really almost new MSD stuff for sale posted in here. Pretty cheap.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?33021-MSD-parts-for-small-block-Ford
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?33045-MSD-Distributor-for-SBF

[Vspeeds]

Turns out it was a bad coil. Interestingly, i tested the old one with an ohm meter and it seemed to be within range. I was getting a spark but it was very week. The MSD tech stated it might be the coil and you need to test the coil under load. So i bought a new one. Replaced the coil with a new one and it fired right up.
Now can coils just go bad on you? I had about 1300 miles with no misfires, rough idle, or power loss. The engine just died while i was driving on the freeway. The spark plugs look good. I hope there is no underlying problem that caused the coil to fail.