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MSD 6AL & spark plug wire???


showoff07

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Hey 02faq I have a question, I have a 72 2002 with a 121 head, stock Bosch plug wires and distributor, new gaskets and everything. I just installed the 6AL a few days ago and everything was running fine till the other night, it just started to sputter then shut off and then cut back on. Towed it home, checked all the wires and everything seemed fine, started it up, the car idled for like 15 or 20 mins but then it started dying out then sound like it wanted to start again. I'm assuming the stock Bosch wires or distributor may not be able to handle the MSD 6al but I'm really not sure. I've done some research but I can't find anything pertaining to this issue so any ideas would be very appreciated, thanks.

Curtis.

P.S I have a petronox igniter but haven't installed it I don't know if that matters but just throwing that out there.

73' 2002 with goodies IN JERSEY!!

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first question,is it a new 6al if it is a used unit, it could be faulty.

my 6al just died, i had it on for 4-5 years. it needs to have a good coil such as the bosch units or the msd blaster series coils. also use a good quality plug wire such as a spiral wound, msd recommends not using and stranded wire. make sure condenser is disconnected from the system. use a plug suitalble for your driving and set at .045 to start. my ignition gave me end of trouble early on and i finally figured out the condenser was the culprit. Called msd to confirm, they said condenser was not needed when using their boxes.took condener out of line and it worked perfect until just recently. points are nothing more than an on/off switch when using msd so theyre likely not the culprit just make sure they are set at or near stock settings.

always good to carry a set of points and condenser, a wire to reconnect the coil to the system and go thru reassembly a couple of times just to make sure you have all the parts sorted and know how to install, try it in the dark with a flashlight. i went back to points and condenser with bosch blue coil, actually believe it runs better than with msd. probably because dwell is back to stock. you can get a dwell conpensating pertronix, dwell very important.

Gale H.

71 2002 daily driver

70 2002 malaga (pc)

83 320i (pc)

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Stock wires are not compatable with the MSD unit, it puts out too much voltage. You have probably blown a resister in one or more of the plug wires. I made the same mistake. You need to use plug wires like Bav Auto & IE supply. (and everything stated above by 71bmr02 ...)

Scott

1976 2002 Custom Dk Blue w/ Pearl

1975 2002A Sahara (sold Feb 2008)

www.NorEast02ers.com

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yeah i got it used but I'm hoping thats not the issue and I do have a msd blaster 2 coil installed. Maybe I hooked mine up wrong because I have the white wire from my msd box connected to the condenser, I'll remove the condenser tomorrow and see what happens, the wires are probably fried already though, I'm assuming.

73' 2002 with goodies IN JERSEY!!

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Stock wires are not compatable with the MSD unit, it puts out too much voltage. You have probably blown a resister in one or more of the plug wires. I made the same mistake. You need to use plug wires like Bav Auto & IE supply. (and everything stated above by 71bmr02 ...)

Scott

I just checked out the 8mm ignition wires on the Bavarian Auto website, I'm gonna order some and let you guys know what happens. Thanks for the help!

73' 2002 with goodies IN JERSEY!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay so I've done some research and found out the stock bosch rotor in my distributor has a 5k ohms resistor in it which will in most cases melt because of the MSD box, so I went ahead and ordered a couple bosch rotors with 1k ohmn resistors. Not sure if anyone else has heard of this site www.aircooled.net, the site is dedicated to early VW parts but some of the rotors work with the 02's or at least I'll find out since I ordered a couple with 1k ohms resisters. The Bosch part number for this is 1-234-332-350, short number 04-170.

Also I order the Ireland Engineering spark plug wires so they should be here tomorrow, new Bosch WR7DC spark plugs, and some Bav Auto decals lol. Hopefully everything goes according to plan tomorrow, I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for all the help guys!!

73' 2002 with goodies IN JERSEY!!

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I forgot about the rotor also - good point... I've been using the 04 038 rotor which is 1k as well, and was used for the '77 320i. (Bav Auto sells them.) Combined w/ the 03 010 cap. Not sure using these are healthy for points if someone is running them (?) but works fine w/ the pertronix and hot spark box.

Scott

1976 2002 Custom Dk Blue w/ Pearl

1975 2002A Sahara (sold Feb 2008)

www.NorEast02ers.com

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So I installed everything car starts up and idles fine, but soon as I was about to put in into gear I realized the clutch master cylinder had finally given out. It had a slow leak that got worse since I havent touched the car in a few weeks. I filled the brake fluid up to the top and hopefully after a few days or so it'll push the air out. Oh well time for a new master cylinder lol.

73' 2002 with goodies IN JERSEY!!

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is that hardmounted?and is thier a tcu anywhere?(the white wire is the tcu it goes to the points)msd did sell a tach addaptor(pn#8910) the white wire goes to it if you have it. Or if you have pertronix distrib its white to black wires. iam glad to see you have it running sorry about the other stuf.

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is that hardmounted?and is thier a tcu anywhere?(the white wire is the tcu it goes to the points)msd did sell a tach addaptor(pn#8910) the white wire goes to it if you have it. Or if you have pertronix distrib its white to black wires. iam glad to see you have it running sorry about the other stuf.

thanks man

The tcu wire is connected to the side of the distributor where the condenser used to be, you can see it in the picture.I haven't gotten a chance to mount the MSD box down yet, I'm gonna get that done on my next day off. I don't have a tach adapter so no tach working for now but what about those aftermarket tachs though? I think the tach stock size is 3-3/8 I'm not really sure. I don't have the petronix in yet, I have a Tii distributor with the petronix already installed in it but I don't wanna switch distributors because I'm not sure if that would mess with the timing.

73' 2002 with goodies IN JERSEY!!

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hey so I got all my stuff installed, new ireland engineering wires hooked up, popped in the new master cylinder, took it out for a run with a couple of buddies of mine, one has a 85 Porsche and the other with a new turbo gti, anyway we ripped up the highways but as soon as i got home and backed in to my driveway the car just shut off, i tried to turn it back on but it just turns over. I'm soo lost now and I swtiched back to regular setup with out the MSD box and still nothing. I even popped in the pertronix into a tii dizzy and put it in but no change at all. Anybody heard of these symptoms before???

73' 2002 with goodies IN JERSEY!!

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It could be the msd box, they dont live forever and because yours is a used unit, it could have gone around the corner. do you see what looks like the end of a pop rivet protruding from the face of the box in the area where the lettering is located. if so that may be telltale indicator of a major internal failure. i noticed that when mine failed. it wasn't long after that the msd blaster coil failed. as i indicated in an earlier post, i converted back to points and condenser and havnt looked back. the car certainly runs better than before. i would try pertronix, however but would get the one with dwell capability.

for your current situation, try installing points and condenser to see if that solves the problem. ie wires work just fine with stock points and condenser.

Good luck

Gale H

Gale H.

71 2002 daily driver

70 2002 malaga (pc)

83 320i (pc)

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