so while fighting a MSD wiring harness issue, i plugged in a chip to the box to see if it solved some issues i was having.

i also disconnected the battery yesterday while installing a vent crossover to the heads.

i noticed it was running like crap at idle, and the idle would hang high, then drop low. the engine temp wouldnt drop below 245 either, so i threw in a spart 160 thermo that i had laying around. same problem. it just didnt seem healthy so i plugged up the laptop.

my custom tune was not in the MSD box. my question is, did it revert back to a base tune because i plugged a chip into it, or because i disconnected the battery?

i was only getting 7* of timing at idle. i bumped it up to 40* timing at idle and my temps instantly dropped into the green zone. i took it from 22* timing at wot back to 31* timing at WOT and woohoo! feels like a new truck. after seeing how well the engine responded to more timing at idle, i plan to learn this MAP sensor. throttle response off of a red light is much better. cranking is easier too.

now i have to figure out why my transmission shifts 1st to 3rd at WOT. 2nd works fine when cruising. now i'm curious if i've ever been hitting 2nd on the track. or if it's just the spinning on the street that makes the truck think 2nd isnt important.

 

Chips always override any custom curve. Once you take out the chip, it should revert to your tune. Unplugging the batt shouldn't drop a tune...

 

the chip was installed, then removed. later i unplugged the battery. when i plugged in the laptop yesterday i had map values and extremely low idle/wot timing. weird.

 

What he said. Pulled my 6012 for a engine swap, reinstalled it and the engine back in car a few weeks later. Tune is still there. I have never used a timing pill on it. I would guess either the timing pill or you have some sort of short somewhere.

 

When you install a chip and remove it, the tune from the chip is still on the box and has to be retuned.

 

then that's another annoying thing about this box lol. no biggy though. i trashed all of the pills after that little trouble shoot. i just wanted to make sure i didnt have other issues.

how is the customer support from MSD? the wiring harness is giving me fits and i really dont think it should be my responsibility to pull their harness apart and find whatever is loose/shorted. i have it running good right now, but the main harness loop is pulled off and i have all of the wires zip tied up to the firewall. looks like **** but runs good. it seems like as soon as i stuff the wires into the loom it starts losing ignition signal. i dont see anything wrong with the wires visually. i got the box 2nd hand...