MSD woes

[factman]

i tried to time my type4 2.5L the other day that has MSD ignition on it and i cant get the timing light to work, and no its not broken, i tried it on another car and it worked. the light will blip speratically every few seconds and thats it. doesn't matter what wire i hook it up too, even the center coil wire. i know the timing is off but with such a big motor i dont want to screw up and give it too much advance while guessing. has anyone had any problems with MSD like this before or do i need a special kind of timing light? the one i used was a digital one much like a Snap On light. thanks guys.

[samcat]

I had the same problem initially... My timing light just refused to work on the MSD. Due to the multi spark nature it was trying to flash for each individual spark that went down the wire, so it didnt charge the capacitor fully and would look like it wasnt working.

I eventually went and bough a more expensive timing light that said it could handle it, and it works flawlessly

Have an ask around your local club/friends/local garage see if theres a timing light you can borrow.

Hope thats of some help.

Cheers for now,
Sam C

[factman]

thanks samcat. i thought that might be the case. what brand timing light did you use when to get it to work so i can find somone with that brand.

SAM F

P.S. good name my brotha lol

[effvee]

Hi, the MSD 5, and 6 series have a special terminal within the module. Its a male blade type of terminal, surronded by black plastic. Do you have a print of your module? if not go to MSD site and download the wiring print. You don't need a special timing light, just identify that male terminal.