Orange Box

[toms69rr]

My Orange box died today less than 1000 miles on it
Order a new chrome one I hear it's a lot better,if that doesn't do it MSD here I come.
At first I thought I lost the ignition switch.It would start but as soon as I let off the switch it would die
Finally got it running and made it home.
I had been driving all day long,not a problem. I put 300- 400 miles on her today, 4 blocks from the house she give it up.Walk home grab an old orange box put it on started right up drove home.
Let the car cool down switch the box back did the same thing It would die,tells me it was the box.
Anyone else have there orange box do the same thing?

Tom

 

[Basketcase]

I'd double check the ballast resistor. when mine died, it had a chrome box on it. it would die, then start and run. The one time i had a ballast go, it would run untill I let go of the key.

 

[ACME A12]

I've had pretty good luck with those...knock on wood... Currently have them on three cars: the one on the Swinger is 8 years old, the one on the '74 Duster is 4 years old, and the one on the RR of unknown vintage - on there when I bought it almost two years ago. Looks damned old though...

I ran the chrome box on my E5 '70 Duster 340 for years. The gold box was touted as race only so I went with the chrome one. It finally melted and spilled its guts from the intense heat of the Florida sun, but only long after I had parked the car due to the ring lands being broken down from extreme predetonation...it's a long story...

Ray

 

[toms69rr]

First thing I checked and changed Basket,didn't do a thing until I change the orange box

 

[Hoosier Bird]

MSD is going on mine today..........tired of screwing around with this......... :brickwall:

 

[69hemibeep]

My points a condenser seam to be ok today again

 

[droptop]

Where did you mount the box. They are heat senitive.

 

[Jim S.]

My points a condenser seam to be ok today again

I switched mine back to points after I got it. Sold everything including the orange box on e-bay. I hope it didn't burn up during shipping...

 

[george68hemirr]

MSD :cool:

 

[mcmopar]

I don't know how many times I've posted about this but I'll say it one more time - the Orange Box is a piece of junk. Get one from another supplier (NAPA, PEP BOYS, JEGS, etc) but whatever you do don't depend on the MP Orange Box.

 

[moparstuart]

I don't know how many times I've posted about this but I'll say it one more time - the Orange Box is a piece of junk. Get one from another supplier (NAPA, PEP BOYS, JEGS, etc) but whatever you do don't depend on the MP Orange Box.

everyone i talk to says go chrome

 

[toms69rr]

Will try the Chrome box this week
Mounted the box away from heat.On inner fender by horn

 

[Hoosier Bird]

Didn't have time to put the MSD on. Momma kept me busy most of the day......Car runs great for about 1 day.....then when idling I can tell a difference in the way it runs......the next day it won't start at all.......take the box off, sandpaper bottom, reinstall and the cycle starts over again........what the heck is going on?.........ORANGE BOX.........tell me what you think.......

 

[ACME A12]

I don't know how many times I've posted about this but I'll say it one more time - the Orange Box is a piece of junk. Get one from another supplier (NAPA, PEP BOYS, JEGS, etc) but whatever you do don't depend on the MP Orange Box.

This all just comes down to personal experience. It's kinda funny to me as I harken back to a thread probably about a year and a half ago about camshafts. I got one of those crappy, improperly ground MP bumpshafts and it just about ruined what was an otherwise fantastic stroker engine build for Mrs. ACME's Swinger. I finally pitched the MP cam, went with a Comp XE268H, and suddenly this beast came to life. I'll never use another MP cam EVER again as a result - and as stated previously - even though one of my all-time favorite cams was the .572"/296 solid (Racer Brown Grind) that I ran for years in one of my Dusters. You felt compelled to defend the honor of the MP camshafts. So I get that as it relates to the MP ignition control boxes, and will respond in kind. I've never had one, orange or otherwise, leave me high and dry and I've used them since 1980. But I find it doubtful that going to another commercial outlet buys you any leeway; they're all undoubtedly made by the same outfit (Mallory for MP and Summit I know for certain) now anyway. The days of four or five companies making the same component are LONG gone. Just the harsh reality of today's manufacturing world - and I know this - I live it every day in my professional life. :cents:

ACME

 

[Basketcase]

My points a condenser seam to be ok today again [/quote


so is mine............

 

[Basketcase]

ORANGE BOX.........tell me what you think.......

paint it GREEN.......

 

[Big John]

This is really funny. I've heard it all different ways... Not to trust the chrome box... the orange box is junk and never buy anything but a Mopar box. Then there's the "MSD doesn't work" crowd too. :stooges:

Here's my take on it.

Number one, these are built by the lowest bidder. I've been in the places that make stuff like this and haven't seen any rocket science anywhere. They can be as reliable as an anvil or you're lucky to get six months out of one. I haven't run one in years, but only because I prefer the MSD as my ignition of choice.

Its my opinion that most problems are caused by things like bad grounds or wiring. A good ground strap, metal to metal contact, to the engine block is first thing I always see missing. No crimped wires, always soldered and good clean connections are a must.

Get all that out of the way first and everything will work a lot better and last longer.

That said, the ECU can have its share of problems. They can be heat sensitive, failing after getting a bit warm. (That's a heat sink on the front where the transistor is mounted) or they can just plain fail without warning. I think you just need to carry an extra one in the tool box next to the spare ballast resistor.

 

[zupanj]

John,

My first experience with MSD boxes was negative. I sent two back only to find out that my ground was no good, it looked like it should work very well but didn't. When I set up a solid ground the box worked great. I've since seen multiple threads on bad MSD boxes and most of the time it turns out to be the ground.

Jack

 

[toms69rr]

That said, the ECU can have its share of problems. They can be heat sensitive, failing after getting a bit warm. (That's a heat sink on the front where the transistor is mounted) or they can just plain fail without warning. I think you just need to carry an extra one in the tool box next to the spare ballast resistor.

I order two

 

[ACME A12]

Had a revelation at 3:36 AM this morning...couldn't sleep and for whatever reason I got to thinking about this thread. Yeah, I know; I need to get a life... Anyway, it dawned on me that I had suffered an ECU failure and it was just about a year ago. The orange box on Bambi took a dump and I replaced it with one off of the shelf. I think I had initially forgotten about it because I wasn't stranded anywhere when it happened; just went out to the toy box to fire the old girl up and simply had no spark. So let me rescind my comment about never having one leave me high and dry...

:jester: