Guys With Msd Problems

[Otto J]

Last night i put my top end back together,So i went to fire it tonight,Would you believe it ,It didnt freaking start.
So i bypassed the MSD and it fired right up,(a bit flooded) plug the MSD back in, no start.
THis thing ran perfect when i parked it mind you.
So i checked the voltage and it was down a bit,But the car cranked and ran when bypassed
SO i hooked up my Jumper pack with the MSD hooked up and it fired instantly.Took off the jumper pack and it would not start.
So i find this thing to be real critical with cranking voltage.
Maybe ive found something? maybe not?

 

[lazaris]

Otto,

Is the LED flashing a certain sequence after you try starting it?

 

[Otto J]

It was flashing, But i didnt pay much attention to the sequence.

 

[Russ Merritt]

Do you have the MSD wired right to the battery? The battery is in the trunk? Do you have an extra ground strap from the engine to the frame like the directions say? How slow does the car turn over Otto?

 

[Otto J]

Front mount battery (till this weekend) MSD wired right to a positve terminal block (thats wired to the battery direct)@ seperate ground cables at difffernt points to the frame from th motor.
The battery was worn down from sitting,But it still turned over long enough to build oil pressure and screw around with it not starting,then finally starting on its own after i disconnected it.
I only tried the jumper box after running it for a while without the MSD.

 

[Jim Crews]

MSD-4

Otto,
I have replaced my DIS4 once, now I have DIS-4 Plus the one with dials istead of dip switches. Set up only 7 months old
my first MSD-4 went bad after twenty passes, had to bypass and run until new DIS-4 came out. Lots of trouble with DIS-4 among people here in Florida. Last time I talked to Cal Hartline he had five or six bad units at his shop. Expensive pieces to go bad so quickly.



Jim http://community.webshots.com/user/natan208

9.79 / 140.77

 

[Russ Merritt]

I've had absolutely ZERO problems with both of mine. I've had one of the units since 2000. Both of them are the older units. Is your MSD grounded to the battery also Otto?

 

[Otto J]

Again to a grounding block that is direclty to the battery
I have had flawless operation all last season.

 

[Russ Merritt]

Both of my MSDs get their juice from the starter solenoid and are grounded to the neg on the battery. Just for ****s and giggles, run the pos MSD wire to the starter solenoid and see if it works.............. When your crankin, that's where all the juice is....

 

[Otto J]

It started fine after an overnight battery charge,Im sure it was low voltage,THe car hadnt been started in about 2 months and the battery was weak

 

[ijames]

Otto, look at http://www.batterytender.com/battery_basics.php for a good discussion of battery charging and storage basics. Letting it get weak over the winter takes a lot of life out of the battery. I bought their PowerTender Plus (6 A max) from www.batterymart.com for $70 and used it for about 1.5 months of the 3 months my car was parked since November, and the battery is fine, car started immediately last week. It sure would be nice to keep a charger like this on your racecar battery all the time so the battery is fully charged when you get to the track. There are other brands of smart chargers like this but I didn't spend too much time brand shopping - the Deltrans unit is really well constructed.

 

[Otto J]

Ijames,Thanks for hte info, Ill check it out, But i did buy a new top post battery to install in the trunk