I'd recently bought an '88 LX convertible back in late January. My 'Stang is retro'd/mod'd with acarbureted 302 anda 5 speed. When I purchasedit, it didn't start as there was a bad MSD coil which had subsequently burned out the 6AL box. After installing both a new MSD coil and box, the'Stang has been running great for the pastfew months since then. Last week however, the 'Stang just died right in the middle of street. After slowing to a stop, I was able to push it towards the curb and eventually get it towed. It looks like the MSD box and coil have both gone bad again. This will be thefourth time in as many years (twice in the last4 months!!)that the box and coil pairhave gone bad at the same time(the dude I bought it from replaced both of these once before he sold it to me). The mechanic working on the latest failure showed me that the box is getting power in but there is nothing coming out and that the "hot" side of the coil is dead.

I've considered that the wiring might be to blame but the ingition wiring has been replaced between the 2nd and 3rd failures (the wiring in the ignition is brand new as of February this year) so I ultimately doubt this to be the problem.

Is anyone familiar with this problem?Does anyone have any advice for me? I could really used some help on this.

 

sounds like the ignition is back feeding into to box and coil I know some coil can not be used with the 6al becuase tehy need a balis resistor call mds tech line they are good people there

 

Thanks for the advice but I'm expecting them just to tell me to send them the busted box and conclude what I already know: it's fried. I guess I'll call them anyway...

I had a brainstorming session with a friend last night. Could there be a distributor problem? Is it common for a factory distributor to cause a bottleneck in power to cuase a gradual overwork and eventual burn-out of the coil? Does anyone recommend changing out the factory distributor tothe appropriate MSD distributor?

I just found out that the '88's (among others) had an ingition recall. I don't know if the previous owner had the replacement change made... Assuming that the recalled ignition is still in there, could this bea problem?

I appreciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions...

 

yeah I would change it out for the MSD one I got it and you will see a differenc a bit plus most likely the recall wasnt done rather be safe than sorry also you have a better part on there aswell