MSD TL Digital, Problems again, Any ideas?

[Aircraftsalz]

My Orange Ski has MSD Digital TL (New Digital box).

When I bought the Ski the MSD box went bad before Daytona. Bought a new box 1-12-09, rode Daytona & then pulled that motor out.

Complete Ski went to Teamscream to set up my new motor. Chuckie set the Ski up for Salt water use, New Kawi coils, New pick ups, etc. Install was clean & simple. I got 50 -60 gallons of run time with no problems.

Went riding today, Ski drop 1 cylinder, so I started going in 20-30 seconds later I lost the other cylinder. Back to shore got no Spark, also no red light on the MSD box. Checked power to the box, okay.

Could it be another bad box? Its only 5 months old, with maybe 12-15 hrs of use.

Any idea's?

 

[McDog]

That sux.

 

[Aircraftsalz]

Going to send the box off to MSD on Monday. Found a new unit from Summit Racing $419!

 

[junkyardj]

dude that blow's

 

[GIL]

My Orange Ski has MSD Digital TL (New Digital box).

When I bought the Ski the MSD box went bad before Daytona. Bought a new box 1-12-09, rode Daytona & then pulled that motor out.

Complete Ski went to Teamscream to set up my new motor. Chuckie set the Ski up for Salt water use, New Kawi coils, New pick ups, etc. Install was clean & simple. I got 50 -60 gallons of run time with no problems.

Went riding today, Ski drop 1 cylinder, so I started going in 20-30 seconds later I lost the other cylinder. Back to shore got no Spark, also no red light on the MSD box. Checked power to the box, okay.

Could it be another bad box? Its only 5 months old, with maybe 12-15 hrs of use.

Any idea's?

This is the internet and this probaly sounds like a smart azz comment-but it is NOT. Crammit442 did my digital T/L and if I had issues I would call him first. If I were in your shoes I would call Chuckie, I have talked to him in the past and he seems like a super nice guy that would spend countless hours helping one of his customers. Hell, he has spent a good bit of time on the phone and in pm's w/me and I haven't bought chit from him.

If u get bored in the meantime, disconnect the stop side of your stop/start harness(black and white wires) and see what that does. No go-then make DAM sure you have 12 volts going into and out of your purple wire at T/L on off switch. The reason I say this, I have seen brand spanking new stop start switches take a dump on the stop circuit 6 months after install(ask sjetrider) and seen brand new t/l switches take a dump after 1 week(ask me).

 

[Aircraftsalz]

This is the internet and this probaly sounds like a smart azz comment-but it is NOT. Crammit442 did my digital T/L and if I had issues I would call him first. If I were in your shoes I would call Chuckie, I have talked to him in the past and he seems like a super nice guy that would spend countless hours helping one of his customers. Hell, he has spent a good bit of time on the phone and in pm's w/me and I haven't bought chit from him.

If u get bored in the meantime, disconnect the stop side of your stop/start harness(black and white wires) and see what that does. No go-then make DAM sure you have 12 volts going into and out of your purple wire at T/L on off switch. The reason I say this, I have seen brand spanking new stop start switches take a dump on the stop circuit 6 months after install(ask sjetrider) and seen brand new t/l switches take a dump after 1 week(ask me).

Going to call Chuckie on Monday, Already did the start/Stop wire (Crammit told me about that), I have power going into the box & I bypassed my switch (Purple wire) & put 12V's to it. No light on the MSD box, no spark!

Going back to the shop now to double check everything for the 3rd time.

 

[D-Roc]

check the fuse? or better yet it sounds like a bad ground. first on one coil then the other coil and now the brain is lacking a good ground. check all the grounds and then check them again.

 

[GIL]

check the fuse? or better yet it sounds like a bad ground. first on one coil then the other coil and now the brain is lacking a good ground. check all the grounds and then check them again.

Solid advice. ground, or lack thereof is what always use to kick my butt. With the help of Crammitt I have all items grounded to pole on plate and a 6ga ground cable from plate to starter and another 6ga from starter to battery. Knock on wood-no grounding issues since getting schooled by Crammitt.

The only odd thing is-if a 'brain/controller' makes it thru 4-5 tanks of gas, it 'seems' they are usually good for life. Thats what makes me think something else is going on.

 

[Matt_E]

I had a TL brain let go after 3 years of service. FYI.

 

[Cliff]

tl has made a trailer queen out of my ski. runs on the trailer and like in the water

 

[D-Roc]

sounds like a leaking o-ring or head gasket to me.

 

[Cliff]

it ran fine until i switched to the tl. thinking i may have some dip switches that are incorrect or something simple. acts extremely lean

 

[D-Roc]

extreme lean on trailer or in water or both?
so it runs crappy under load and fine on the trailer. have you tryed running it against the dock or on the trailer in the water to load the motor and see if it acts up vs. if it is when you ride it and get things all wet that it acts up?

i had mine go out beginning of last season and i ended up heating the brain on my heater for 24+ hours and it got out the moisture and started working again. my buddy had one go over night once and it would blow the fuse when you plug it in. we check all wiring and then just put in bigger fuses until smoke came out of the brain where the wires go in. That brain was fried.

 

[Cliff]

i just put it on yesterday and carried it to the water. acted up as soon as i put it in the water. no carb adjustments seemed to change anything. carried back home and went through the carbs looking for anything that might be worn or dirty. if it quits raining long enough, im gonna carry it back to the water for more diagnostics. sounds as good as any other ski with tl on the trailer. the brain has not been wet.

 

[Aircraftsalz]

Went back to the hangar & checked everything.

Purple wire 12V. Okay
Replaced Fuse. Old fuse tested okay
Checked ground on MSD box & Hot wire for MSD box. Okay
Changed battery
Unpluged Kill switch
Compression check
Changed plugs (Again)
Checked all connections & wires
Both Coils are ground

I got the Ski to Pop once or twice, after turning over a lot. Same thing it did yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm going to pull the flywheel cover & checkout the pick ups. I still think its the box. Last box did the same thing, sent it to MSD. MSD said not repairable.

At least this one is under Warranty!

 

[GIL]

Went back to the hangar & checked everything.

Purple wire 12V. Okay
Replaced Fuse. Old fuse tested okay
Checked ground on MSD box & Hot wire for MSD box. Okay
Changed battery
Unpluged Kill switch
Compression check
Changed plugs (Again)
Checked all connections & wires
Both Coils are ground

I got the Ski to Pop once or twice, after turning over a lot. Same thing it did yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm going to pull the flywheel cover & checkout the pick ups. I still think its the box. Last box did the same thing, sent it to MSD. MSD said not repairable.

At least this one is under Warranty!

Sounds like u covered everything I know to check. Hopefully you will find a bad trigger. I know-that would be waaaaay too easy. lol Wish we could have been more help.

 

[Aircraftsalz]

If things worked perfect all the time I would never get to use my metric tools! LOL

 

[D-Roc]

if the brain is not turning on it won't be your pickups. if the brain turns on you can jump the trigger wire and look for spark on the plugs. how are your coils grounded.

 

[Aircraftsalz]

if the brain is not turning on it won't be your pickups. if the brain turns on you can jump the trigger wire and look for spark on the plugs. how are your coils grounded.

I was just going to pull the flywheel cover for hell of it, done everything else! I'm very anal about keeping my stuff clean, always spray everything with Silcone spray before & after I ride. Maybe I wash it to good!

Coils are mounted on a plate on top of the battery & each coil has its own ground wire running to a bolt on the intake. (I'll take some PICs in the morning).

I can't get the red light on period. I switch the diff switch to light up for timing & still couldn't get it to light up.

My last Box did the same thing, stopped firing one cylinder & then took a dump all together. Don't know the history on the first box, could have had a hard life.

 

[GIL]

I had a TL brain let go after 3 years of service. FYI.

Someone always has to come in behind me and make some smartazz comment. LOL JK BTW, hope your son is good and your Jetworks pkg is RIPPIN!