I thought I'd create a new thread instead of fouling the CanAm Mosport thread...
My 914 6 conversion died just as I got to Mosport. I could feel it stumble slightly on the last few km to the track. It's about an hour and 40 minutes of highway driving to get to the track. Temp gauge got up to about 212 and stayed.
Car stalled at the gate to the track and wouldn't start again.
Car would turn over but not catch and start. I could smell fuel from the exhaust and there was fuel in the clear fuel filter. Car would turn over, although it started getting slower and slower with the amount of cranking I was doing.
I figured I wasn't getting spark but it was tough to test in the parking lot, far from home.
Someone suggested a coil so Mark kindly brought one with him to the track, but swapping it out did nothing.
It also has a MSD6AL ignition and someone also said they go bad frequently.
Anyway, I towed it back home, pushed it into the garage, put the charger on the battery and left it for the next day.
Next day, with the charger still on it, the thing fired up right away. Turned it off, took the charger off, and it still fired up right away.
Checked the age of the battery (Optima red top) and it's older than the hills. Decided to swap the battery for a new one. The battery was old... terminal lugs were weak, and I could hear the battery bubbling internally.
So... the question is... is it just the battery?
At the side of the road, I figured if it could still crank the engine over, that the battery still should be able to provide spark, so I didn't consider just getting a new battery from CAA.
I'm thinking that maybe the MSD6AL requires more voltage to produce a spark, than the starter needs to turn over the engine, and this is why it would turn over but not start.
Can anyone with more experience with the MSD chime in and confirm this?
Should I get rid of the MSD? I like having it as it provides a soft rev limit for the engine.
Thanks for you attention,
Walter