So I pulled my car into the shop at school today (we have an awesome auto program) to adjust the valvetrain because the right side has been tapping a little lately, more so than the Rhoads lifters usually do. It's tricky with the Rhoads lifters without removing the intake, but it's doable. I get it done, button everything back up, fire it up, it sounds like a sewing machine. Fantastic, so I warm it up for 10min while I clean up. Runs perfect. Wind it up to 4500 before I go anywhere, just to be sure. Screams and turns heads. All is well.

I pull out of the compound and gas it. Runs like a scalded dog, laying a good black strip down the road at 30-40mph. Get to the next light, gas it again...knock-knock-knock-knock. WTF. Let off, get back on a little, knock...knock...knock-knock... Pull over, intermittent knock from d-side vc, or so i think. Meanwhile, my roommate pulls up after getting out of class. We pull the vc, thinking maybe i forgot to tighten a rocker and it worked loose, hitting the valve cover. No dice, rockers are solid. Throw it back together, try to fire it to check oil pressure, has pressure while cranking...but won't fire. Check fuel, it's getting fuel. Check spark...no spark. WTF. Check coil with test light, coil is getting power. Still no spark.

Fed up for the night (it's dark by then), we run to town to grab a friend's trailer and come back. Trailer is a cluster in itself. Ramps can't be positioned properly for the width of the car, so we have to have one side right next to the rail, and have one tire half off a ramp. Then we couldn't get it up the ramp with just the two of us, so I called another friend who showed up with his friend to push it up onto the trailer. We then managed to put a gouge in my roommate's tailgate because he forgot to lock the hitch to the ball. After fixing that, we finally got the car on the trailer, put it in gear, applied the parking brake, and strapped the strut rods to the front of the trailer (completely insecure and unsafe), then pulled the car (slowly) back to school where it sits now. We then proceeded to drop off the trailer, come home, and drink, where I sit now.

Our thinking is that it's possible my $280 MSD Pro-Billet distributor crapped out. That would explain the knocking as detonation from failing timing control, and would explain the now nonexistant spark. That said, I've never even heard of a crapped out MSD distributor. MSD makes quality stuff, which is why I bought it instead of a cheapo Accel or something like that.

The other option is that the coil died, which likely wouldn't cause the knock, which then means that something else is knocking, which could be very, very bad.

I picked up new points/condensor and coil for tomorrow. I'll swap the points into my original distributor (which Jonward conveniently burned the pertronix out of last month:P hehe) and throw that in, then check the coil and see what's up with that. Hopefully I can get it fired and see if it still knocks. If it does...I dunno. I'll have to recheck the valvetrain (maybe with the intake off), then go from there.

 

Ouch, sorry to hear about that Tad, let's hope its just the distributor and not something way worse... even though the distributor problem would still suck haha. Let me know if you need an extra set of hands

 

That sucks. Hopefully its one of the simple cheap solutions. If you need help let me know, I would be willing to lend a hand too.

 

Hold on, before you go replacing parts just yet. MSD does have their failures and two of them are distributor modules and 6 series boxes. If you are using an MSD box with the mag trigger from the distributor (purple and green wires), get a paper clip, unplug the trigger wires at the distributor connector, short across the terminals and as you remove the short, you should get a spark. The easiest way to test for spark without removing any high tension wires is to put your timing light on the coil secondary and hold the trigger while doing this test. If the light flashes your good from the trigger point and the distributor module is bad. If you are using the white trigger wire, same approach only ground the white wire and you will get a spark everytime you remove the ground.

If that doesn't work, put your test light across the coil primary and try it again. If the test light now works, your coil is bad, if not the box is not working and you can check other inputs to determine if the power is all there and the box is bad.

Good luck, it sucks having problems!

 

I have had both a MSD 6 box and MSD Blaster Coil 3 fail this past year. Do not take that stuff for granted. For what it is worth, when both of them failed (2 different instances), my car did not knock, but sputtered like it was dead rich, which is basically was.

 

I hate to ask, but have to ask. Did you shear the distribuotr gear roll pin or strip the gear? I've also had these failures and it was never a knocking sound. I have seen knocking when the gear stripped and eventually the cam spun freely. This means the distributor will not send a signal to the box or coil. It also means your oil pump will not turn!

 

Thanks fake, but no box, just the ready-to-run distributor. I'm going to test the coil first (ground then disconnect), replace if necessary with an Echlin coil from work, and then see if I can get the distributor to spark. If not, I'll throw in the old distributor with points to see if that works. If I can get it fired, hopefully I can trace down the knock.

 

And I don't think I messed up the drive gear. Rotor turns when cranking, oil pressure while cranking.

It's got me confused as all hell, because it ran ok before I shut it off, minus the knock.

 

Well, that's a relief! The knocking has me puzzled??!!

 

Your welcome! Now just think if you had tried to use your stock dizzy with your blaster 2, you would have burned it up too!!! so in reality, i saved you another headache.

i am one considerate sob