MSD DIS 4 ...........burned out? symptoms?

[97Pcam6]

I have been having the same exact problem for like 4 months. My car is now running on bypass mode with the ciu's still on with the msd box in my garage. When I did first hook it up, i checked and double checked the wiring, coils, 12v source, basically everything, but still with the msd on the car it sounded like it was misfiring. In bypass the car would run great. I still have not figured out the problem.

My latest guess is that I need all new plugs, I believe the stock plugs on our cars are platinum and I talked to a msd rep and he said do not use platinum plugs with msd. BUT i talked to another board member here and he said he used platinum plugs with msd and he never had any misfiring so I am a little skeptical.

This **** is really starting to frustrate me. I still havent gotten the time to change all the plugs to copper but I do hope thats the problem. By the way I do have everything else stock relating to ignition.

Oh yeah one more thing, I did buy another brand new msd box and tried that but it did the same thing so i know my box isnt fried.

[ August 01, 2002: Message edited by: 97Pcam6 ]</p>

[Tiago]

your problem isn't from the plat plugs, I ran them for a while just fine.

it can still be wiring even if it runs bypassed.

[97Pcam6]

but i dont understand, the wiring is perfect, i checked 500 times, i dont know what else to do? do you have a way you could tell me which wire goes where from each ciu? Thanks.

[southern94]

mine is too i don't know what the deal is with yours is it just not turning over is there even a spark? there is no spark with mine which means 1 of two things i got the wires wrong where its not sending the power to the coils or my box is fried which i will be pissed cause i bought it new off a guy on the board :mad:

[v6maro]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by southern94:

v6maro you said that the diagram off this board did not work for you that you changed something could you please tell me what it was that you did this is the diagram i went by

http://tiago.phxchevy.com/MSD.html
<hr></blockquote>

Well after re-wiring it like the diagram, it still didnt work. So i cut every single wire.
I read the intructions 200 times, literally. I got an Ohm meter to actually check which prong was the +12v on each coil. I then drew it out with the diagram that they have in the instruction booklet. I believe on coil 1 (far left, closest to TB) the wiring provided was different than what worked for me. I used the meter, found out the 12v source was on the other side, and re- wired that ciu, *VROOOOM*
Honestly, get an Ohm meter on it, the way to do it is put the cars ign to the on position w/o starting it, and touch the black to a common ground, and the red prong to a coil prong (coils must be off the harness) when it spikes to 12v, write it down.
good luck.
-Steve

[97Pcam6]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>
mine is too i don't know what the deal is with yours is it just not turning over is there even a spark? there is no spark with mine which means 1 of two things i got the wires wrong where its not sending the power to the coils or my box is fried which i will be pissed cause i bought it new off a guy on the board <hr></blockquote>

When I start my car in bypass mode it runs perfect. Then if I turn the msd on I can start it but it sounds like its running off 5 cylinders or something. The ses light also starts flashing but the car remains to run. The engine itself starts to shake bad, alot more than normal. The thing is I got an Ohm meter a while back and did check all the 12v sources and they were all correctly placed as was in the diagram on this site.

I am gonna try to solve this problem once and for all today. In the msd directions, to make sure you have spark to all wires, they tell you to do this trick of taking off all the plugs and wires that run into the engine itself but keep them plugged in at the ign coils. Making sure you have the plugs still in the wires, you start the car and see if every plug is giving out a spark. Then work it from there.

So I will prolly do that today and see what happens. I dont know if everyone here solved their msd problems so post if you did or didnt so I know whats going on.

[Seppo Kaitainen]

The MSD box will maginfy any weakness in your ignition.

That being said, I'd advise throwing out the diagram and wiring according to the MSD directions. I wasted a whole afternoon trying to wire mine via a diagram. But once I followed the MSD directions I got it right. That was my experience with the MSD dis-4 on a 3.8.

[rt1]

I just read this, when I did a search. I just got my MSD DIS-4 and was wondering if there is going to be a problem when I put this bad boy in the car? Also will I need that tach adapter that is mentioned in the instructions. Will the stock coils be enough for this new ignition, or will the MSD fry them? If it will fry them, which aftermarket coils are going to be the best?

Thank you for any information that you could throw my way.

Rob

[Coriya71]

Whew! I thought I was the only one with a problem. Ran mine for months and it worked fine. About a month ago it would miss really bad. It seem to idle fine but as you went up inRPMs it would let a BIG miss and continue to do so. Thought it was plug wires, switched still the same. Checked the coils ok. Completely took off the MSD, car ran fine at all rpms. Double checked the wiring, looked good and plus it ran fine for months. Don't know whats going on. I didn't think I'd miss it but I do. :(