Just installed a used MSD 6AL last weekend and the car now hesitates badly at partial throttle, exactly the same way a very badly adjusted TPS will make the throttle feel like its more of an ON on OFF switch.

The TPS has been rechecked, wiriring for the MSD was done correctly, checked the Idle adjustment with the initial set.

Any ideas on what I can do to correct this? Could it be a bad MSD box too?

My next step in my book right now is to get another OEM coil off a parts car, put it in the car and chuck the MSD box as I didnt notice any difference in performance whatsoever... exept for the ****-me-off throttle sensitivity at partial throttle.

Any input is apreciated and sorry for the lenghty explanation.
Ben

 

you dont have to get another coil, you just have to remove the 2 msd wires and reconnect the stock coil back the way it was, then see if your problem goes away.

what gauge wiring did you use to power the msd and where did you get the power source from?

 

I hope you have the msd 8 or 8.5 mm wires to go with it it clearly states it on the 6al

 

Don't want to redo the wiring to find out it still does the same thing and have to re-redo the wiring, so a spare part to do a quick and painless diagnostic is worth it IMO.

Wiring is done properly with 10 guage for the power straight from the battery and 16 guage for the coil. Everything is soldered and shrink-tubed.

I don't see how this would matter... explain to me please.

 

Have you checked to see if your timing has changed now that the MSD is installed?

Did you connected it between the stock ignitor and the coil, or skip the ignitor?

 

Spliced between the ignitor and coil. This is the right way right?

I never thought it would change the spark timing. I do not own a timing light, so it will have to wait till I get my hands on one this week-end.

Thanks for all the help guy's... keep the suggestions coming as I have to wait for a timing light now anyways.

Ben

 

I'm having a simliar issue except I have a Crane Cams HI-6. Let me know if any of the stuff they suggested works out

 

the MSD requires that you "cut" a wire depending on whether you will be installing in a 4,6,8 cyl

 

Yes the blue and red wires under the screwed black cap on the side of the unit are cut.

I'll keep you posted dangerous...

 

Well... still baffled with this problem.

Timing is dead nuts on the marks.

Any other ideas?

 

Can you put a timing light on it while someone varies the RPM of the engine?

Between the coil and ignitor is correct. Don't know about the wire cutting as I don't use MSD stuff...

Which leads me to: is it possible that the box is bad? I have had several MSD parts right off the shelf that were bad or have failed in a few hours.

 

has he tried removing the box yet?

 

Enough is enough... I will be using this MSD box as an expensive paperweight.

 

there are plenty of people running MSD with no missing, dont give up on it.

When mine went bad it went out totally, you could barely move the car. I sent it back to MSD for repair ( even though it was BRAND NEW it was out of warranty ), I think it cost me like $65 including return shipping. Thier repair center is great to deal with.

 

It was running fine before... so IMO (wich is the only one that matters) it's simply not worth my money.

Famous quote: If it aint broke, don't fix it.
I have learned my lesson.

Thanks for all your help guy's.

Ben

 

well you can repair it, and then sell it for money.
When its repaired it comes with a warranty again.

 

Cool... thanks! I will look it up.

 

My car ran fine with an MSD 6al installed however when I went to blaster coils my car ran like ****. I then took them out and all was fine again. I now have two hi-6's and four lx92 coils and I've never seen a spark so strong in my life.

 

Can you enlighten me on how you set that up? I have an HI-6

 

Hopefully you didn't follow the install instructions from TeamFC3S because they are completely wrong! The MSD works great when installed correctly.

 

I will look at my 6al install later, we did not follow fc3s and mine obliviously works great

 

Enlighten me please, I has a HI-6 and it's f*n up

 

The TeamFC3s instructions are fine for the Crane HI-6.

How do you have yours connected?

 

My question is what car are you installing this MSD box on? If you’re looking for power improvement for an S4 NA, an MSD box is not going to give you any. General rule of thumb on this list is that the Mazda stock ignition system is the best you can get for most applications. Especially for non-turbo!

That being said, I have dyno runs showing an MSD 6A on the leading coils on a modified S4 NA engine… The MSD could not handle the RPM’s above 6000. On the leading coil, since it fires both plugs simultaneously and twice as often as the trailing coils, the MSD unit becomes overwhelmed as the RPMs climb and the leading ignition goes to crap. The end result was that I lost about 5HP on the dyno using the MSD 6A.

I tried the MSD with the stock coils and two MSD blaster coils. The stock coils worked better, but over time (about 3 months) the MSD fried the stock coils making them worthless. Switching back to the stock setup gave me the most consistent ignition setup on the dyno, with no signs of break up in the upper RPMs.

If you are going to use MSD stuff, use it on the trailing ignition. The trailing fires half as often as the leading, they should be able to handle the load at upper RPMs. (I’ve never tested it.) Of course you’ll need two units to fire the trailing.

I never got a chance to run the Crane ignition stuff on my cars. From my understanding, the Crane digital stuff is very hearty and runs circles around the MSD junk.

 

msd sells digital as well.
I found that with a modified engine the car starts up better with the msd.
I had no problems to 7950RPM on the dyno.
First time on the dyno I had no MSD, and a manual boost controller, second time I had MSD and a electronic boost controller- I gained almost 40hp in the midrange.