88 festiva with added ignition box problems

[wighty]

I have a 88 festiva that suddenly died one day and when I took it to a mechanic friend he said that the problem was with the distributor and that I needed a new one. I bought the part and he was to install it for me. However, when I got it back, he had put the old distributor back in the car and added an ignition box by MSD. He said that the new distributor had not been any better than the old one and that the engine wasnt getting a consistent spark or a strong enough spark. The MSD ignition box was taking care of that problem and i could return the distributor i bought. I must say that the MSD box did give my festiva much more power than it had before. Flash forward roughly two years.
The distributor once again seems to have failed. Car will not start. Its a crank no start situation. I have replaced the spark plugs and wires with brand new nkgs. New distributor cap and rotor. I even went ahead and bought a new distributor as well as new fuses in place of the fusible links. Nothing. I then decided to take out the MSD box and return the car to normal and see if with everything new it might just work normally again. I quickly realized that since i didnt put the MSD box in, I didnt know how the wiring originally looked. I have done lots of research here in the forum and on the internet to accomplish this, but i know enough about wiring to know that I dont know enough to do it on my own. So I have taken it to 3 different mechanics. All 3 said the same thing. They didnt know enough about the festiva's wiring and i would need to take it to a specialist. I dont even know where to begin to look for a festiva specialist......if one even exists in So. California where I live. I have hit a wall here and would appreciate any help or ideas that I can get. Poor festiva is just sitting collecting dust and I really miss driving it. I am afraid that the cost to get it running again will outweigh what its worth and unfortunately I cannot afford to throw much more money into it. Please Help!

[FestYboy]

It's odd that no one touched the coil... the MSD box ramps up the incoming voltage to the coil before it hits the primary winding. Then it also pulses the ground 3 times per ignition event up to 3000 rpm, then only once above that. So in order for the MSD to work, it needs a signal from the dizzy (aka the pickup coil). If the pickup coil has gotten weak or the primary coil winding has broken down, you won't get good spark.
Post the model number of your box and a few pictures and I should be able to get it back to stock.

[UglyEd]

I have an 89 with stock ignition just has an accel coil but it wires the same as stock coil, i could send u a couple of pics if that would help? Just a thought

Uglyed and the Steve

[FestYboy]

Unfortunately, no. As the stock wiring to the ignition coil is all of 2 wires. I need to see what was tapped for the MSD so that I can get him back to stock.

I also have Scrappy wired for an MSD, but I made sure I could easily revert to stock with the harness. I don't know if the OP's mechanic did the same.

[wighty]

Yes, please....anything you can send would be very helpful, thanks

[wighty]

That makes sense with what I was originally experiencing.......so I will check into making sure I have a working ignition module inside the dizzy and I did buy a new accel coil but it didnt seem to make any difference. I am starting to believe i might be going through a multiple ignition module dance.....until I get one that really works. I have read here of others experiencing this and didnt want to believe that might be happening. I will concentrate on your advice. Oh and i would send pics of the MSD box, but its already out of car.

[blowby]

[QUOTE=FestYboy;718836]Unfortunately, no. As the stock wiring to the ignition coil is all of 2 wires. I need to see what was tapped for the MSD so that I can get him back to stock.

--
Are there only 2 wires to an 88 coil? hmmm

Well here's the hook up for my 89 which might be the same as an 1988.

There are 5 wires - total - going to the coil ---- 2 to the NEG and 3 to the POS

There are 2 wire that come out of the wiring harness - which comes out of the inner fender
---Small white wire to NEG terminal on coil
---Large Black & white wire to POS terminal on coil

3 wires that come out of the distributor connect to the coil. You should probably take the dist. cap off and make sure where they connect.
---from the "B" post on the module in the distributor -- wire is black & white - goes to POS terminal on the coil
---from the "C" post on the module in the distributor -- wire is blue - goes to NEG terminal on the coil
---from the outside lower base of the distributor body -- is a small little square black component ( that may be a resistor ) that screws to a slot position - and the small black wire from that component goes to POS on the coil

Another wire of a blue shade is on the "A" post - on the other end of the module by it's self - inside the distributor. That's for an altitude input and doesn't go to the coil

If you need them, small crimped connector wires are fairly easy to put together and just "snug" the terminal wires on to the coil ------- with small split ring lock washers a good idea.

Make sure of these connections -- then trouble shoot from there.

Hope this helps -

[Advancedynamix]

What part of southern California do you live in? There are several forum members in So.Cal with carbureted Festivas.

[wighty]

i am in sherman oaks.

[wighty]

Can you elaborate on what you mean by snugging the terminal wires onto the coil.....and i have never used split ring lock washers before......can you elaborate on that as well.....please?

[FestYboy]

Split ring washers can spread if torqued too much.

I should have elaborated about the wires to the coil: only 2 wires actually operate the coil, the other wires tap the positive and negative terminals for their operation. All a coil needs is a constant power, and a controlled ground for spark propagation. When the ground is lifted, the field that is built up on the primary winding collapses onto the secondary winding which has more coils, upping the voltage. That power is then sent through the coil tower to the center distributor post.