Ok I'm posting this for a good friend of mine who isn't a member of the board. Well his 99 EK street car(built B18c boosted 500whp) started giving him ignition problems 2 weeks ago at test-n-tune. So he went out and purchased the MSD distributor and ignitor. He installs it and his hatch will rev to 6krpm and then just fall flat on it's face and the tach will jump around.

So he takes the MSD distributor and ignitor off of his race car(99 SI) and the same exact thing. So he thinks maybe the Hondata S200 messed up so he gets a new chip and uploads his old map. Same thing. He calls MSD and they say he needs to ground the MSD straight to the battery. So he grounds it-Same problem.

So now he puts back the stock distributor and the car revs fine and all now. We're kind of lost so any input would be appreciated. Do you need to give your Ignition box direct power from the alternator or battery once you go w/ the MSD distributor?? What are we doing wrong, it should be a straight plug in procedure, right??

 

what ignition box are you using?

 

i had the same problem.i sent it back to msd and they kept it for a long time.they supposedly found something with the communication between the dist and the ignitor and fixed it.i installed an m&w ignition box while it was gone and it worked fine with the stock distributor,so i sold the msd distributor when it came back

 

I'm using the 6AL!!!

 

pull the cap and check the rotor screws. they loosen up all the time. also, check the pin that holds on the gear it likes to push out.

 

you should have the msd box wired to the b+ and b-

 

basicly those things are pieces of crap

we have 3 dead ignitors
we have 2 distributors that had the pin come out
3 or 4 had the screws that hold the rotor on come out
2 have a failure in the cam/crank sensors so they wouldnt rev

they work really good when they work, but most of em dont work. i think i may have sold 2 in the last 5 months that havent had to be exchanged/warrentied.

 

Damn probably just going to return it to Summit. We disconnected the 6AL and still the same thing.

We pulled one apart and the screws were loose but the other one was fine. Still both of them acting the same way?? That's the weird thing.

 

i could be totally off...... but...... for some reason, i recall something about some wiring being backward on the msd unit ? pull it apart and follow the wires to see what sensor is which. then make sure they are in the correct location on the plug.

 

I'll look into that tonight.

 

when i had mine,i was using a 7al2.i tried it with and without the ignition box and it did the same thing.it would shut completely off and back on.sometimes for a second and sometimes for several seconds.it had a mind of it's own

 

My Spark Disappeared...

 

Thanks for the great technical insight Tony!!!hahahaha

 

Are you using the ing driver?

 

no injector driver if that's what you're asking.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BLK JDM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no injector driver if that's what you're asking.</TD></TR></TABLE>

im sorry lol i meant the associated coil driver for the distributer

 

I think you should listen to Tony's advive, just stick with the stock dis. just get some nology wires they work really good

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtekthis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

im sorry lol i meant the associated coil driver for the distributer</TD></TR></TABLE>

der der der der

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b16wacko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think you should listen to Tony's advive, just stick with the stock dis. just get some OEM/NGK wires they work really good</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtekthis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

im sorry lol i meant the associated coil driver for the distributer</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah he's using the coil. Last night one of the bolts came apart in one of them so 1 down and 1 to return. Well actually he's gonna try to return both but it's sad how you buy something to alleviate a common problem and it leads you down a worse path. He's more than likely gonna get the M&W from Tony1 x2 one for the street car and one for the race car!!

Thanks for everyone's advice!!

 

the problem cant be the distributer, you do realize the fastest FWD cars are running MSD distributers ! (Marty Ladwig, Jason hunt, Gary Gardella, Brian Ballard) the GM cars seem to have no problem using msd equipment.

 

Well it's just like AC Delco and AutoLite spark plugs-they work great in your domestic but they do the shittiest job in your import. It's soo hard for me to buy those parts when I'm working on my Tahoe b/c I've been driving imports all my life and I've been programmed to think AC Delco/Autolite=****!!!

I just don't think they spent enough time on R&D for the Honda distributor, but that doesn't mean all their parts are junk.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dturbocivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the problem cant be the distributer, you do realize the fastest FWD cars are running MSD distributers ! (Marty Ladwig, Jason hunt, Gary Gardella, Brian Ballard) the GM cars seem to have no problem using msd equipment.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i cant tell if thats sarcasm or not... but from what i saw they use the msd to distribute spark, but not to get the cam/crank pickups, etc...

and im sure the race car parts are inspected much better than the garbage that gets sold to us.

and have you ever looked at nascar.. they have 2 6al boxes with a selector switch so that when one goes out they hit the switch and the other comes on. so they dont even expect one msd box to last 500 miles

 

be careful sharing your experiences with MSD distributors around here, I did so last week and got my head cut off. I mean there are 700whp cars on here that use it so it must be great right!?

 

i dont doubt that there are tons of 700hp cars with the msd dizzy.. the first 10 i sold never had any problems and we have made tons and tons of power with em

like i said, they work great when they work