you cannot change the timing by rotating the distributor, it is controlled by the pcm.

i've heard of a few msd and a lot of accel coils being bad right out of the box or lasting less than 6 months.

a friend of mine just bought two accel coil packs today and they had a 90 day return policy, so i bet it is the same for accel coils. i don't know about msd though.

the air box being loose wouldn't make it stall.

no o2 sensors (the upstream one anyway) will make the pcm put the truck in open loop mode and you will burn a lot of gas and possibly stall because of it.

did you replace the spark plug wires? the coil wire that was connected to that msd box could be worn out depending on how long it was on the truck.

throw a can of seafoam in the gas tank and fill it up, but don't mix it with any other fuel treatments.

 

Seafoam in the gas...really? I thought you spray it in the intake, hmm. The only part of the ignition that I kept from the original engine is the wires, because they are big red MSD wires, and they look to be in good shape, and look pretty cool too. I think I have another ignition wire (from the coil to the distributor cap) from the engine I bought used. If I can get the truck to act up again I'll make sure I have the wire on my seat to switch out quickly and see if it fixes the issue. As for the MSD coil already going bad...well maybe I'll just hit up autozone tonight and see if they'll exchange it. Thanks.

 

Well I am currently driving a 1997 Dakota 3.9L. I know this isn't the dakota forum but I just thought I would try and help since I am having the same problem. I have been doing a lot of reading around online and a lot of people are saying that they are having issues with the wiring from the ECM to the ignition coil. Some are saying that there must be an issue with the two wires coming off of your coil to wherever they go. Be the PCM or the ECM. I haven't checked mine yet to see if that is the issue but I hope this helps you.