Please post your dwell settings here!
 

For those of you running Adaptronic, could you please post your dwell settings using my entry as a template:

Car: 1999 (NBA)
Coils: original
Dwell: 2100us
Time on this setup: 3 months / 3,000 miles
Coil problems: none

I know some of you are running up to 5000us dwell. It will be good to have a bit of a database happening to see if the higher dwell time contributes to early failures.

Thanks!

Running 5000....Don't even know why. Came with the map. I'll have to change it.

As stupid as this sounds, I still have no idea WTF dwell settings do.

dwell = charge time for the coil pack before it sparks... Too little = weak spark. Too much = hot coil.

Less voltage requires greater dwell time and vice versa.

2500 for me right now. Seems to be running well. I think somewhere around 3000 is optimal for stock coil packs at around 14.5 volts, I was running that last week before my last coil pack croaked. I turned it down a bit so I could drive it a little bit if I had too, not sure how much difference it made 'cause the pack would still crap out when it got warm.

It's more complicated when you have to play with a spinning distributor, electronic ignition is quite a bit easier, just plug in the number you want.

I'm no pro, but have to tune my wife's '69 beetle from time to time. Good learning experience for sure...

Interesting. Thanx for the info. I'm going to lower my dwell setting to the 2-3k area now

Let us know if the car seems any different after the change. :)

Car: 2001 (NBB)
Coils: original
Dwell: 3500us
Time on this setup: ~6 months / ~5k miles
Coil problems: none

Ok are you guys still back on the old wari? I just upgraded to 2.0 and everything is so different. LOL
I know I sound retarded but just wondering.

Double post

select custom engine type from the triggering settings

so going to Wari 2.0. should you leave it at default MX-5 (I believe sub category is sequential injection) ? but then what is the dwell setting then ?

how you should always pick "custom engine type" ?

thanks.

Awesome, just been looking for details like this! Heres mine:

Car: 2002 (NBB)
Coils: original
Dwell: 2500us
Time on this setup: 12 months / 5,000 miles
Coil problems: none

Dwell times for each engine type as setup by WARI:

BP NB Wasted Spark - 2100us
BP NA Coil Packs - 3000us
B6 NA Wasted Spark - 5000us
B5 DOHC Wasted Spark - 3000us

I've got NB, but the default map downloaded has 5000us. I guess I will try 2100us.

:scratches head:
Why would you intentionally run dwell substantially less than factory?

Mazda, who spent (tens? hundreds?) millions of dollars designing the factory management system runs 5-5.5 ms dwell from the first NA6 all the way through the NB1. If you were constantly beating the snot out of the car (read high rpm all the time, 6k+), then maybe I'd lower it down to 4-4.5ms, just to give some recovery period. But running 2-3 ms is plain silly. Hot spark = good.

I don't know what dwell the NB2 runs.

Where did you find the stock dwell settings? I've been looking for them for the NBB and assumed it was 2100us as that is what it was set to in WARI, so 2500us would be an increase over that but dont want to go too high as the coil packs are meant to be weak and easily blown.

Ok so very late update but I've been insantely busy lately so haven't had time to fool with the miater.


So last night I lowered my dwell from 5000 to 2500 and the amps from 1.9 to .9 and the car RAN LIKE ABSOLUTE SHIT.

I mean the idle was ridiculously rough, lean as shit, and completely horrible.

Richening up the map at idle or doing ANYTHING was completely useless.

So I turned it back to 5000 and 1.9amps and it runs great again. A bit rich at idle now, but I'll dial that out.

So yeah..I guess my car doesn't like me to touch the dwell settings

What if you change just the dwell?

if I change just dwell it gets a bit worse but not as drastic. I guess I could bump it down to 4000 or so without any major worsening in idle, but that's about it.

Plain and simple. Do not lower your dwell.
5ms should be fine for a 99/00 with stock coils on your typical street car.

5ms running dwell?

I'm running the PnP map from DIYAutotune on my 98 UK NB (Megasquirt but doesn't matter). It's on stock coils and they specify 3.5ms running, 8.0ms cranking, and 1.0ms discharge period.

Im interested in bumping up my running dwell if Mazdas ECU runs at 5ms! Have you any proof or datasheets on this?

Cheers,
Craig

This is where I got my info from supporting lower dwell times:
'99/'00 coilpack measurements / dwell - MX-5 Miata Forum

I tested both 2,500 and 5,000 today, couldn't tell any difference.

Several have scoped it. Mazda runs them at 5 ms. I understand Jason's findings. With the stock wiring and 5ms running dwell, the coils are not showing signs of going into current limiting on a scope.

However at 5 ms, after a certain RPM, the coil spark cycles will be on top of each other. Around 5k or so IIRC, I've watched it on a scope. If you spend a lot of time at higher rpm, then 4 or 4.5 *might* allow a bit longer coil life span. You'd possibly be giving up a minimal amount of energy at lower rpms. It might be a perfectly acceptable trade off.

You guys should be replacing your stock coils anyway. :noob:

Bumping thread. It's two years later and I want to see what dwell time everyone is running now. How is your cranking now with it and have you needed to change your coilpack.

I'm still running it at 2100, cranking takes about 3-4 cycles before starting and I haven't had to change my coil pack.

NB1 runs at 5, nb2 is at 2.1 I dont remember who it was but i remember asking one of the tuners why.. he said thats what the stock coils are and that the nba nbb are different.

Bull. NB2 is 5ms as well, I've scoped mine.

NAs where 8-16ms.

Would you really recommend that much dwell on stock NA coils?

I would definitely not recommend it, in fact you can't go higher than 8ms with the MS2.

Reviving this thread from the dead. I'm having spark issues on my 2001 that's all stock other than a wideband and GM IAT sensor. After a coil died, I replaced both with "Spectra" brand coils off rockauto. Now it starts and idles, but I have what I believe to be a high RPM, high load misfire. Spark plugs recently checked and gap confirmed to still be 0.044, even if they are a little worn.

Above, Reverant says 5ms for dwell which he scoped out on an NB2. I have an MSLabs MS3 and got a base tune direct from him. The base dwell settings are 8ms for starting, 3ms nominal.

So which is it? 2.1? 3? 5? What are VVT guys having luck with?

I use 3ms on my 400whp turbo build with the stock VVT coils. NGK BKR8E-IX plugs. Just because the stock ECU uses 5ms doesn't mean that you have to do it as well - stock coils die often on our cars and I believe the 5ms dwell time may have something to do with it.

Thanks for the fast feedback!

Not sure what changed in my car, but I'm pretty sure killing coils now. Moved the dwell in table mode first to 3.5, then 4, then 5 ms and the car ran better after each increase before they degraded further. Coils were <140*F, they shouldn't be burning up. They were the second cheapest on RockAuto though... That's for another thread I guess.