Are all MSD's really dead?

parrdaddy

parrdaddy

No he will not!
Location
always be a TEXAN!
I recently had a run-in with some MSD enhancers, the usual firing when you let off the green button thing. OK fine, I put the stock CDI back in and it ran. I went through 3 MSDs in a short time so I was a little pissed, until my ski died with the stock CDI. I ended up pulling the stator to find the real problem, a broken wire to the trigger pickup. I tried a new stator, and what do you know, my enhancers started working again. I think the stock CDI is more resilliant to higher resistances than the MSD units are, which is why it kept running on the stocker until the wire finally broke completely.

So anyway, I thought I probably had a rare situation at my hands so I didn't think much of it, until Daytona. I helped Joe Eckert on Saturday diagnose his no-fire problems..........same exact problem. Then Donald Smith's ski wasn't running on the MSD but it did when they switched to the stocker, they pulled off the stator.......same exact problem.

I'm not saying this is the problem everytime, but it seems to be more common than I would have guessed. So, if your MSD Enhancer is broken, it may be worth your while to ohm out your trigger pickup (red/white wire to ground) in the box. It should be 12.6 to 15.4 ohms for a RN SJ according to Yamaha. The wire seems to break right after it comes through the grommet on the stator, before it enters the protective sleeve under the pickup itself.

Just an FYI
 
Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
parrdaddy said:
I recently had a run-in with some MSD enhancers, the usual firing when you let off the green button thing. OK fine, I put the stock CDI back in and it ran. I went through 3 MSDs in a short time so I was a little pissed, until my ski died with the stock CDI. I ended up pulling the stator to find the real problem, a broken wire to the trigger pickup. I tried a new stator, and what do you know, my enhancers started working again. I think the stock CDI is more resilliant to higher resistances than the MSD units are, which is why it kept running on the stocker until the wire finally broke completely.

So anyway, I thought I probably had a rare situation at my hands so I didn't think much of it, until Daytona. I helped Joe Eckert on Saturday diagnose his no-fire problems..........same exact problem. Then Donald Smith's ski wasn't running on the MSD but it did when they switched to the stocker, they pulled off the stator.......same exact problem.

I'm not saying this is the problem everytime, but it seems to be more common than I would have guessed. So, if your MSD Enhancer is broken, it may be worth your while to ohm out your trigger pickup (red/white wire to ground) in the box. It should be 12.6 to 15.4 ohms for a RN SJ according to Yamaha. The wire seems to break right after it comes through the grommet on the stator, before it enters the protective sleeve under the pickup itself.

Just an FYI
Click to expand...

same problem here after the Texas ride, that was my problem, except it was broke at the electrical box gromet..........
 
yamaboy2000

yamaboy2000

X
Location
san jose ca
GREAT info Jeremy!!! I'm a super big fan of redundant grounding when using TL & wire brushing all connections and then re-wire brushing all connections and contact points with no-oxide inhibitor...If I'm building an engine to be used with an MSD enhancer the stator(unless brand new) gets sent out to JSS(jetskisolutions) for a complete testing and wire re-building, John does nice work over there and I have yet to have a single problem and I build at least 2 custom mills a year.
 
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Watty

Watty

Random Performance
Location
Australia
Yep, this is a great tip. I had an Enhancer sitting in the garage that I presumed was dead as it had the old spark when letting of the start switch issue.

I threw it on an dold square nose I have that is bog stock and rarely used, and hey presto, it fired right up! I was THAT close to throwing it out too!

Now I know why people are looking at buying your dead enhancers every now and then...they knew something we didn't.....great info JP
 
parrdaddy

parrdaddy

No he will not!
Location
always be a TEXAN!
Boris said:
Checked my stator wire (red/white to ground) and got 14.1ohm.
Any other tests to make sure the MSD is indeed toast ?
Click to expand...

I would still pull off the flywheel and check that wire. A little tug on it will let you know if it's good or not. The wire runs through a hard sleeve, so if the motor is not running it can still hold the wire in contact.
 
Boris

Boris

The Good Old Days
Location
The surf-less coast
Yeah, I yanked on that wire good and hard all over the place. Seamed fine but tomorrow I'll pull the flywheel cover and flywheel just to be sure.

Hate replacing electrical parts just because they seam dead. Always feel better when I know how to test the whole part and know what exactly failed.
 
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