Defective MSD Plug Wires???

[housegsx]

I bought a set of the MSD superconductor plug wires and I just noticed my car has developed a strong misfire under load so I decided to check my plugs. Both plugs and wires only have about 3,000 miles on them since I installed them. The first wire I pulled I immediately noticed a split down the boot and a spot where the spark was arching through. I attached some pics to show the bad wire. Is this a common issue with these plug wires? $90 is a lot to spend on them when they only last 3,000 miles. Let me know what you think. The plugs I'm using are one step colder but they look nice and tan.

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[Splitpi]

I'm blind... I don't see the split that you are talking about.

 

[housegsx]

Here...

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[crimsondragon]

There are a lot more expensive wires. MSD from what I've heard are a bi*** at their warranty cover. Was it running like this when you first put it on? With that said, I'd rather run MSD and nothing else. I just ordered a set of them.

 

[housegsx]

No, it was running fine before. I started tuning it and when i up the boost past 13-14psi the misfire is very bad under full load.

 

[crimsondragon]

If you have any old working wires, substitute one of them in for the faulty MSD one and see if it improves. My guess is that it's not creating enough of a spark.

 

[Splitpi]

Check your plug gap aswell.

Are you positive that is a split... i.e. you can pass something through it? You can rap a few layers of electrical tape for an interim fix. But if it really is split, I would replace it. I have MSD's aswell and have not noticed anything wrong with them. Maybe the QA and rubber maker had a extra long liquid lunch the day yours were made

 

[housegsx]

Yeah I think I have some old NGK wires laying around, I just haven't had the chance to put one on. This is definitely the problem though. And yes it is absolutely a split. About an inch long. And that is where the arc is coming through now. I've tried patching wires temporarily before but that never seems to last long. Plug gap is set to .028.

 

[crimsondragon]

For the record, over the weekend, I was with my friend who owns a beater 240sx. He had universal wires but no bracket to hold the wires up so one of them leading to the #3 cylinder was laying on top of the exhaust manifold. Needless to say, it cracked and split open, revealing the wires underneath. That was the reason for his dead cylinder.

 

[turboglenn]

MSD and ACCEL wires seem to be hit and miss, i went through 3 sets of ACCEL's in one week. All the plug wire companies try and not warranty the wires period. Even so much as some oil on them (hard to avoid on our cars) will cause them to say that it's your fault the oil got on the wires, and it weakened the insulator material enough to fail. At least that's what Magnecore told us on a set we had on a honda that just had bad resistance to it and didn't fire good under load. But other than that one, i've never been let down by magnecores (around 85-90 bucks also) So they aren't as bad as some 110+ dollar wires, but they have held up to everything i've thrown at them over the years.

 

[housegsx]

What about the regular old NGK wires? I used to have them and they never gave me a problem for about 60,000 miles.

 

[rich3389]

I've had Magnecores that worked well for 2k miles, then they started arching and would cause random misfires, now I'm back to NGK once again.
My advice would just to stick with NGK.

 

[daren_p]

I wouldn't think it would cause a split that high up on the boot but are your plug wells clean & free from moisture/oil? I had the Accel wires for 3 or 4 years & they worked great & then last summer was having a problem with miss fire under boost. I replaced them with Magnecores last summer & everything was great & now this year I'm having a miss fire issue again under full boost. The wires only have a few months use & my wells are spotless, so hopefully there not the issue. I had though about swapping to MSD as they have 90 deg boots at the coil end which would work better with my evoIII IM/coil bracket, as the Magnecores are abit too short.

 

[housegsx]

There is no oil or moisture anywhere on the motor. The plug wells look brand new. I think it's a defective wire. That split is right along a seam. And I think that split gave the spark an easy path to arc to the head. That's my guess. I contacted the vendor about this a couple days ago, but I purchased them exactly 1 year ago so I doubt there is anything they can do and I doubt the manufacturer would help me out.

I just ordered a set of NGKs. They've worked well for me in the past and their fitment is perfect.

 

[crimsondragon]

I just installed my MSD's as well. The driver side cylinder wire was really really hard to get to seat well over the spark plug well for some reason. I tried to take it out to test it and the bloody thing wouldn't come out until I started turning them and pulling. Fires great though.

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

Wow...old thread I know but I just replaced my MSD's because of this EXACT problem. I guess their wires are POS's.

 

[silverbullett]

I bought my MSD wires in May of 07. Still working perfectly. My only complaint is they do get stuck on the driver's side plug hole.

 

[housegsx]

Wow...old thread I know but I just replaced my MSD's because of this EXACT problem. I guess their wires are POS's.

Yeah, they seem to be crap. I filled the hole with some RTV and wrapped that part in electrical tape. The miss is gone for now, but we'll see what happens when I turn up the boost some more. I have a new set of NGK wires set aside for when I need them.

 

[99gst_racer]

I just installed my MSD's as well. The driver side cylinder wire was really really hard to get to seat well over the spark plug well for some reason. I tried to take it out to test it and the bloody thing wouldn't come out until I started turning them and pulling. Fires great though.

My only complaint is they do get stuck on the driver's side plug hole.

This thread is like DejaVu. My most current MSD wire set that I purchased had this same problem. It's PITA to get the #1 cylinder wire off one it's on there.

Also, I replaced my MSD wires with a new MSD set last year, because my brand new set had a small tear and was arcing through causing a cylinder #3 misfire.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

Sorry to bring htis up, but I want to leave my feedback. Ok I am getting random misfire I barely put any miles on this car I'm going get some NGKs and if it fixes that, these MSD wires are booboo.

Anyone else with bad luck with MSD wires?

 

[housegsx]

I'm still running mine with the rtv and tape on the one boot. I have some new NGK wires set aside for whenever they've finally had it.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Had these problems with multiple msd 8.5mm plug wires and given the same answer from msd, that it was the fault of our engine design. The lines began missing relatively quickly into the life of the wires and the missing would stop with new wires. I would ind arc holes in the failed wires. I don't have the problems with ngk or accel wires.

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

I've had the same set of MSD wires since 2005, and never ever had any problems with them. I must have removed them 100 times at least. Just recently when pulling them off in a rush I broke off one of the connectors on the coil pack side, but they never gave me any problems. I had OHM'ed them recently too and they were still very good, almost exactly what MSD advertised they were when new (can't remember the figure off the top of my head).

I did notice the cyl 1 wire was always a little difficult to get off, but at least it was a solid fit. FWIW, I've ran 32ish psi on these wires with 7ES plugs and a gap of .025 with no misfire, so that's pretty impressive.

 

[squeak104]

I've had the same set of MSDs on my GSX since 2005 as well. I've had them off numerous times and the only complaint I have of them is every time I take them off (about once every couple months) there's some green corrosion. I scrape them as best I can with a pocket screwdriver and re-apply some dielectric grease. No misfires or any other problems from them.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

I swapped my MSDs with some old NGK blue wires I had laying around, and the misfire was gone.

My spark plugs were gapped fine. It was definitely the wires.

These wires are def, hit or miss. The wires prob did not even have anymore than 1000miles on them as the car just sat.