Using MSD DIS-2 to run coil on plugs?

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ciper
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Using MSD DIS-2 to run coil on plugs?

Post by ciper »

The DIS-2 seems to be able to work with just about any coil attached to it so I am wondering if I could tie two coil on plugs together and connect them to each channel on the DIS-2? Forget for a moment the physical fitting of said coil on plugs.
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Post by vrg3 »

I suppose it would probably work... I don't know if the slight differences between coils would matter or not.

Why not just use a DIS-4 though?
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ciper
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Post by ciper »

Because I already own the DIS-2 and I made it plug and play for our cars silly :)
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Post by vrg3 »

It's not gonna be plug and play for the new setup, though...

But if you try this I'd love to hear if it works. And if not, you can always sell the DIS-2 and buy the DIS-4 at that point.
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ciper
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Post by ciper »

I've looked around on the web and have seen some pretty random coil packs ran from the DIS-2.

My electronics knowledge is above average but not enough to know exactly how the DIS-2 works. A few questions

Does the DIS-2 completely isolate the coil pack from the factory igniter? For example could I use the DIS-2 to convert the car over to running any aftermarket set of two coils?

Should I wire up the new coil on packs in series or parallel? I have no insight and cannot think of why one would be better than the other.
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Post by vrg3 »

Quick check - You're using the old-style coil-on-plug coils, right? No built-in ignitor?

What do you mean by completely isolating the coil from the ignitor? There is no direct connection; it uses the signal from the ignitor simply as a logic input and uses the coil as a transformer to generate the sparks. But the two outputs are not independent; they share one pole.

I would expect the DIS-2 to work with almost any reasonably appropriate coil.

You'd need to wire the coils in parallel. But make sure you have the polarity right. One of the terminals of the harness connector of each coil will have non-negligible conductivity to the spring that contacts the spark plug; that's the one that needs to connect to the "common" wire of the DIS-2's output.

I won't lie; all this talk makes me a little nervous though. I might be overlooking something.
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ciper
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Post by ciper »

I planned to find the coil on plugs with no igniter inside, or find a way to bypass the igniter like some have done with later coil packs (using a dremel and solder iron no less)

The way you describe function answers my question. Unless I do something really bad there is little risk of damage to my igniter.

I am assuming there are piles of these old coils laying around from engines shipped here out of older Japanese cars and the recipient didnt need them.
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Post by vrg3 »

Well, ignitors are cheap enough anyway.

Just keep a fire extinguisher handy the first time you fire it up.

There probably are a lot of old COP coils lying around, but you should be aware that they are a fairly common failure point; a lot of EJ20G owners end up replacing them with four traditional coils and four plug wires.
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555BCTurbo
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Post by 555BCTurbo »

vrg3 wrote:Well, ignitors are cheap enough anyway.

Just keep a fire extinguisher handy the first time you fire it up.

There probably are a lot of old COP coils lying around, but you should be aware that they are a fairly common failure point; a lot of EJ20G owners end up replacing them with four traditional coils and four plug wires.

I have 3 EJ20G coils if you would like them for teh cheap
Nick

1987 Audi 4000CS quattro...soon to be 20VT
1994 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 CTD, #11 plate, 30 psi, Scotty II intake, 4" exhaust
ciper
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Post by ciper »

If anyone else wants to "donate" to my experiment let me know!

555bcturbo : I will try to find a 4th matching unit and if so I will ask over pm for your price :)
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Post by ciper »

The MSD forums are ridiculous. It has been 24 hours since I registered and confirmed my account and I am still waiting for the moderator to approve my user. Why do they need to manually enable accounts? Who is going to spam such a tiny board? grrr.

Anyone know of a good electronics forum I could ask about running two coils in this method?



Edit: Got my answer! Second paragraph of post #2 in this thread http://www.msdignition.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10616 says

If you wish to use the blaster SS coils, you will have to wire them parallel, using only two channels of the DIS 4 ignition. One channel would fire cylinder 1 and the corresponding coil that is at the exhaust stroke at the same time that cylinder 1 is at the compression stroke. This is USUALLY matched up as 1-4,2-3 . As I said this is usually how they are are matched up, make sure you know before wiring that in. The brown/color wires will wire to both coils controlling when they fire, but wired in a parallel configuration. One output wire wired to both coil negatives and one coil positive output wired to both coil positive.

The "blaster SS" coil is simply a large single channel coil that MSD makes (details here http://www.msdignition.com/coil_blaster_6_8207.htm )

Basically a DIS-2 can be used to convert our cars to coil on plugs with the right coils :)
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