I washed my motor yesterday at the car wash and the car has not run since. I was careful to keep the low pressure spray away from the carbs and distributor, but somthing bad happened. I've done this before with no problems at all.

First the car would not even turn over, just a clunk noise. After about 10 minutes it started turning over, but I had no spark. My engine is a stock 2.0/4 with pertronics and MSD 6AL.

I figured I must have gotten inside the distributor wet, so I towed the car home and left the distributor cap off over night. Here in Tempe AZ the air is dry, it should have dryed up fast. Well this moring the car still would not fire. I tried replacing the MSD and Coil with units a friend just bought, but I had the same problem. I verified the wiring on the MSD verified that I had 12v on the heavy Red wire, ground on the heavy black wire, and power on the small red wire when the ignition is turned on.

I'm not sure what to do next. I've never messed with the insides of the distributor, and I'm not sure what could have gone wrong.

I'm puzzeled why the car did not turn over at first, thats why I took the time to check voltages at the MSD.

Any ideas on what to look at?

I have no experience with the msd, but water in the egine bay is not a good thing. That's why they come with a engine lid rain tray. When you turn on the ignition switch with everything wet, you run a risk of shorting out all kinds of electrical stuff. The pertronics unit does not like water. Same with the coil. If you don't have a relay box cover, there could be a problem there as well. Make sure the high pressure water didn't blow off any hoses or electrical connections. Water inside the diz can fry a rotor or cap when it fires.

The relay box is covered. There was moisture in the cap. What does a fried rotor or cap look like? I have an old cap that I can try.

Thanks,
Brian

The car didnt turn over because it had water in a cylinder. It hydro-locked... ask me how I know..

Where were you looking for spark ?? Plug wires on cap or from the coil ??


B

I looked for spark at the plug wires, and from the coil. I've convinced myself that pertronics must be bad. I tried a new MSD and Coil, voltages are good, MSD is wired correctly.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the pertronics/points are responsible for controlling the coil (collapsing the magnetic filed to produce the large spark) Maybe I did learn somthing in Auto shop 20 years ago. Since I'm not getting any spark and I'm confident that the other components are good, my money's on the pertronics. My buddy is bringing in a set to work today. I'll try replacing them tonight.

Am I making sense? Thanks for the relpy.

Brian

Brian, definitely sounds like the pertronics. Let us know how you come out tonight. Be sure the points an condenser are hooked to the coil properly.

Yep.. pertronix.

There is a way to test for spark and prove if the pertronix is bad with the MSD. You can fire the MSD with the white wire hanging out of it. Touch it to ground. It will fire the coil each time you tap it to ground (This is in the MSD paperwork).



B

Got the car started tonight. I did the MSD test and it failed. No spark from the coil. I decided to bypass the MDS and it started right up! Now I wonder if my buddies MSD was bad, if I fried it, or if somthing else was wrong. Anyway, I'm glad the cars running. I'll get my MSD repaired or get a new one. Is the Crane system any better? Just wondering.

Thanks for the help. I think it's just as helpfull to sit down and communicate what I'm thinking. It helps me to put things in perspective.

Brian

I have fried 4 MSD's in the last 2 years in the SAME car. It was the Tach making it puke (even with the tach adapter). The Pertronix is fine...


B

Congrat's Brian, doesn't it feel great to fix it your self? Look how much you learned about your car.