Ignition Troubleshooting: Part II

My car is back on the road, running fine, and most importantly, no longer stalling out at freeway speeds. The problem? Ended up being the MSD ignition coil. I had the ignition control module checked at Autozone, it passed 10 consecutive tests, though I was still skeptical. Fortunately, the problem was frequent enough that I could begin to troubleshoot while the problem was occuring. I hooked up my fuel pressure gauge and the pressure never dropped below the 45-50 psi range, so I knew it wasn't a fuel problem. I swapped out the ignition module with the factory one I had lying around, that I had replaced at some point. Engine wouldn't even fire, so that told me at least at some point when I replaced the module, it was the problem then...though didn't fully answer whether or not the replacement module was having intermittant problems.

I removed the coil wire from the coil and grounded it out on the intake, and my early presumption was correct, I wasn't getting spark when the problem showed it's ugly head. I proceeded ahead and replaced the MSD coil with the stock one, which I also had lying around in a cabinet. As you can see, holding on to those stock components proves beneficial! Low and behold, it was the problem. With the stock coil in place, everything is back to normal and running fine. When I find some time, I plan on shipping the coil out to MSD. Who knows, maybe I'll get a free coil out of the deal, but what I really would like to know is why the coil failed in the first place. MSD components are made in the USA. I've ran them on my Camaro for years and never had a problem. I prefer to buy American products whenever possible, and will continue to do so. When a problem like this accurs with a product, I don't wish to write it off as junk, but instead contact the maker and perhaps help them find out why it failed, and correct the problem. Below are some pictures of the repair process.

Cage fighters. LOL Little one holds her own and stands her ground. For anybody wondering where the term Bitch - female dog came from, well, here is your answer.

The ignition module from the distributor.

Where the module resides.

Stock parts...worth holding onto!

The threads on one of the attaching bolts to the battery were also in poor shape. I thought that perhaps that was the root of the problem, as most ignition systems need a constant 12 volts to operate, though it wasn't the source of my headaches.


Stripped bolt on the positive side.


Replacement bolt.

Plug wires all back in place. 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, how could any gearhead not know?

Fuel nipple on the fuel rail to attach a pressure tester to. One of these days I'm going to install a fixed gauge, so it'll take the guess work out.

Fuel pressure gauge.

Back together and running.

My new gauge lens also came, so I installed that as well.

Pre-lens install.

Lens and surrounding cluster back in place.