Any ignition guru's out there

sg1838 · 06-10-2007, 11:25 AM

Rev.,

I'm not trying to imply you haven't already checked, but make sure you're not on a wild goose chase here. What you think MAY be an electrical problem, may not be an electrical problem after all, as I'm speaking from experience. In Englishtown 2 years ago I developed a top end miss. The car still ran pretty well otherwise other than this top end miss. The main symptom was that my tach was fluttering like crazy, and I had seen that before when I had a coil that had gone bad, and took the MSD out with it. And I knew the RPM of the motor wasn't fluctuating +/- 3000 rpm when I was in high gear going down the track. So, I naturally assumed it was the coil / MSD problem again.

Well, to make a VERY long story (almost 2 years long) as short as possible, I believe I finally found the problem...two broken valve spring. I was CERTAIN this was an electrical problem, and changed basically everything electrical on the car: MSD, coil, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, crank trigger pickup, battery, fuel pumps, ignition switch, two-step, rev-limiter, I checked, cleaned, and ran new grounds, and I'm now even in the process of re-wiring the car because of it. But, earlier this spring I took the motor to be freshed, and my engine builder found the broken springs. I run through the valves at least every 10 runs on my car, and didn't find these, but I'm now 99.9% positive this is what the problem was, not an electrical problem like I had thought.

Anyway, take this as a word of caution. When this first happened at Englishtown I took my box to MSD, and they gave me the same RF noise story. That's when I started replacing parts to no avail. A LOT of money later, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I probably could have avoided all of this simply by checking my valve springs more thoroughly.

Hope you find the problem soon! Good luck!

Jason Oldfield
S/G & S/ST 1838

06-10-2007, 11:25 AM	#20
sg1838 Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 80 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Rev., I'm not trying to imply you haven't already checked, but make sure you're not on a wild goose chase here. What you think MAY be an electrical problem, may not be an electrical problem after all, as I'm speaking from experience. In Englishtown 2 years ago I developed a top end miss. The car still ran pretty well otherwise other than this top end miss. The main symptom was that my tach was fluttering like crazy, and I had seen that before when I had a coil that had gone bad, and took the MSD out with it. And I knew the RPM of the motor wasn't fluctuating +/- 3000 rpm when I was in high gear going down the track. So, I naturally assumed it was the coil / MSD problem again. Well, to make a VERY long story (almost 2 years long) as short as possible, I believe I finally found the problem...two broken valve spring. I was CERTAIN this was an electrical problem, and changed basically everything electrical on the car: MSD, coil, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, crank trigger pickup, battery, fuel pumps, ignition switch, two-step, rev-limiter, I checked, cleaned, and ran new grounds, and I'm now even in the process of re-wiring the car because of it. But, earlier this spring I took the motor to be freshed, and my engine builder found the broken springs. I run through the valves at least every 10 runs on my car, and didn't find these, but I'm now 99.9% positive this is what the problem was, not an electrical problem like I had thought. Anyway, take this as a word of caution. When this first happened at Englishtown I took my box to MSD, and they gave me the same RF noise story. That's when I started replacing parts to no avail. A LOT of money later, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I probably could have avoided all of this simply by checking my valve springs more thoroughly. Hope you find the problem soon! Good luck! Jason Oldfield S/G & S/ST 1838