motomanmike

Really thinking about this one. We've had a huge swing in weather here the past 2 weeks. It was 70 last sunday and tonight its about 38 degrees. Really driving me nuts trying to tune this car right but I did drive it some tonight. Good information.

What distributor and coil set up are you using?

If this is a new issue and you've narrowed it down to a starter why wouldn't you just replace the starter? Also many solenoid issues stem from weak batteries arcing the contacts which can cause electrical noise especially during the release of it. Get the battery tested, sounds basic but I see $$$ thrown away daily from people trying to get cars running on weak batteries. If at fully charged it can't hold 10v with a 300 amp load I'd replace it. Weak batteries eat starters and also cause very odd issues especially with relays. Makes them stick, or hang longer than they should mostly. Using a relay board and a relay on the LC-1 you've got relays between every signal the ECU is looking for. Just a thought.

Just a thought looking back on this post I had a thought. On my 1 Z I had a similar radiator and I got a sandwich plate and used that bottom portion of the radiator as the oil cooler and it worked pretty good. Had to get creative routing the line to clear the alternator pulley but just a thought.

Are you running the stock L28ET distributor?

Pretty cool set up. Have you driven it at all?

I've got it so she will fire up immediately and idles pretty well. It would get them started but its no where near driveable. Once I get it to where I can cruise around a little bit i'll be more than happy to upload. Yes this is the most stock set up one could have for an L28ET. Stock injectors, stock J pipe, no frills at the moment. I'm not using any kind of idle valve yet. I might try to configure the stock air idle valve but really it idles pretty well. I found I had my base timing WAY off but using the trigger wizard, a timing light, some nail polish to mark the pulley better and 2 sets of plugs later its about as close as it will get. I've attached my base map, its VERY ROUGH so you have been warned. This set up consists of a stock 82 distributor, GM IAT sensor in the Jpipe, Utilizing the stock head temp sensor for my CLT temp (saves from drilling the stock thermostat housing). Stock low Z injectors and a walbro pump. LC-1 wideband, MSA downpipe, Stock turbo and wastegate. Also i'm using the direct coil control mod using the old stock coil. Once I get it driving i'll be more than happy to upload another map. This map has just a basic Idle tune, nothing more. base L28 tune.zip

There are some old you tube vidoes i believe of Phil tuning that map on a pc. I'm not sure how big your monitor is but you might be able to zoom in enough to read the values of the VE table he was tuning. They were leaning it out because the tune was so rich for what they were running on but i'm pretty sure he said it was the pinks map. I stumbled across it a few days ago searching for L28ET tuning. It was a blue Z they were working on, part of the vid shows them adjusting the valves and fooling around in the shop.

LOL you are oh so right. I got it to idle halfway right this afternoon. I'm not sure whether or not i've got the thermistor settings right for my sensor. i'm using the stock head temp sensor for my clt temp. its very close but not quite right and I need to borrow a friends laser thermometer or whatever it is called to verify. I've now got my wideband calibrated correctly. I didn't even attempt driving it anymore than getting out of the garage so I didn't choke to death from exhaust. Its still a long road ahead but its officially better than walking I'm sooooo excited.

Its alive guys. I got it started up today playing with the cranking pulses. Required fuel value also was way too low. It starts right up now, way better than my carbed car could ever dream off. I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to get it to idle right and its pretty close sounding to the ear a little putter here and there. I still have something crazy going on with my LC1 or my air fuel ratios are just so far out its not reading right or at all. It will rev right up but i'm too scared to even think about driving it until I get this wideband squared away. Either way i'm a happy guy. It has been a very long road with this Megasquirt setup but I can't say I wouldn't do it again. If it wasn't for the dedication Matt Cramer and DIY have for customers I might say I wouldn't. Now to clean everything up and tune. Matt thanks again for your help! You are the man! Thanks everyone for looking at my posts and input. I hope to roast a set of tires very soon.

Ok what I've found. The injectors just aren't spraying any fuel. I have good solid 40lbs at the rail. Injector banks do not fire in output test mode. No matter what kind of values I plug in the ecu will not fire any injector on any bank in output test mode. Spark output test mode works fine. Fuel pump kicks on in test mode. So I installed brand new plugs. Cranked a bit, checked plugs and they are dry still. If I crank the car with the injector leads unhooked from the rail and an old fuel injector in my hand hooked up i feel it clicking while engine is cranking. With the injector leads hooked up to the car I can hear the injectors on the rail click when i turn the key on, and as soon as I stop cranking i hear them click but its hard to hear while cranking. I've played with the values of the PWM. I've played with the cranking pulse settings, also the time threshold and % and dead times. I've attached the tune I'm trying to get started with and the cranking log from this morning. From what I see its not that much different than what many others have gotten cars started on before, or at least even coughing. Am I right in thinking that if I have spark, and the ecu will fire a noid light, or make an injector in my hand click while cranking that my issue is in my settings, not the ecu? current.zip

I sent a data log to Matt and he replied to check the cranking pulse. So I'm guessing my other values are ok i don't want to fool with them too much but I've tried with it about an hour tonight with no better results. I'll be up late tonight trying to get it going so I'll report back what I've got at the end of it. I have tried those values with no change. She just cranks. I'm not quite sure what % cranking pulse I should set the sliders on the graph in regards to the cranking pulse vs temperature. Wondering if that's part of it. We shall see how it goes

Engine will run when misting fuel into the itake. Sounds very smooth when you do so its all in the injector pulses. They were brand new factory turbo fuel injectors low impendence. The fuel system is all new. I've verified all the leads are firing correctly with a noid light, just not happy on the injectors I guess. I thought i'd have time tonight to look at it but from what my boss is telling me that isn't going to be the case. I had the engine running before on the stock ECU and harness so I know the engine is good and runs well. I'm reluctant to go too far with the PWM because of the low impendence injectors. I'm not sure how far you can really push but its either a timing/injector pulse issue but i'm pretty confident the ignition timing is ok due to how it runs misting fuel.

The goods, 82 L28ET bone stock Stock low impendence injectors MSA downpipe LC-1 wideband with gauge Stock turbo EGR removed and all vacuum ports not needed are plugged Stock 82 distributor using a standard coil with bip373 installed I have good cranking pulse, shows rpm and "cranking" in megasquirt. Car has good spark and will fire up on starting fluid so I know that silly things such as firing order are correct and that my ignition portion of megasquirt is finally working right THANK GOODNESS. I went through alot originally to get to this point and I wouldn't be at this point if it wasn't for Matt Cramer being so helpful. I have attached the msq file. Please give some pointers. I've verified that my injector banks are firing with a noid light. They are new fuel injectors low impendence for the turbo engine, in addition the fuel system is all new. 280z tank conversion. New walbro pump, new lines. Fuel pressure is solid at 40lbs. My fuel pump kicks on and primes when i turn the key on, I also hear it kicking on while cranking. All items in MS show right in tuner studio, my air temp, coolant temp, tps signal, wideband o2 signal all show correctly and are stable no noise on the system, i'm using the relay board. I can't even get a sputter or pop backfire at the moment so something is way off with the injector pulse. This file is a rough tune I found trollig online someone had gotten their car started on. I may have overlooked quite a few things obviously. I'll have some time tonight to try a few more changes and see how it works out. I'm getting closer. current l28et tune.zip

Matt has been very very very helpful and I applaud him for his customer service. After getting my MSII back today and from the questions he asked I think I had 2 problems. I had m negative coil wire to S1 on the relay board so it shot 12volts through somewhere it shouldn't. Anyhow all is hooked up and happy but i don't have the settings right to get it to fire up. I have spark YEAH!!! I have injector pulse. Fuel pump primes and shuts off and then comes on while cranking. We shall see. I sent a data log to Matt hopefully he can give some insight but i'm reading as much as I have time for at the moment. I've been working 65 hours a week so time is not my most abundant thing at the moment. I'll get it sooner or later. Lots of people look at posts when you fry stuff I see, up to 200 LOL.

Do you have much experience with a TIG? I've thought about buying one to make some custom piping myself. Looks like you are off to a decent start. Keep at it brotha

AND MATT COMES THROUGH Had me wondering if i'd have to wait until Monday to hear back. I'm just going to send it back and have them repair the unit. Hopefully this will be its last trip to Georgia. THANKS AGAIN MATT!!!! I was worried i'd have to wait until Monday to hear from you. Thought maybe that death machine had taken its first victim or something LOL NewZed. If you EVER in MD i'm buying you a cold one. Word to the wise. If you ever get distracted while working on your MS board. Take an hour and quadruple check everything or you may let the smoke out too.

Doesn't look promising, they are open 9-4 m-f and still no response.

Well I figured i'd share my overwhelmingly silly mistake last night. I got my bip373 in the mail. I had already jumpered the JS10 on my MSII 3.57, and proceeded to solder in the bip373. I tinned up the resistor and had it ready. In the mean time I had a phone call. After the phone call my girlfriend came home and let the dogs out, they came in the shop, got distracted for awhile. When I came back in the shop I thought I had finished what I started and plugged the board into the ecu harness, turned the key on and POOF, fried the bigger chip on the daughter card. Instantly. I immedietly turned the key off, and have not done anything with it since. Needless to say i've very frustrated with myself. I've spent damn near a grand on this set up and my car still sits. I'm not one to hide things or try to make it out like i'm more knowledgeable than I am but I wanted to share my misfortune so maybe someone else won't fry their board. I've emailed Matt so hopefully I can send this back to him and pay them at DIY to repair it. Has anyone done this? Is it easily repaired or does it fry more than the daughter card? I'm thinking maybe new daughter card and install resistor and i'm good? The red LED inside the board near the DB37 stayed lit so i'm hoping the main board is ok. I'm afraid to even hook it to the stim at the moment. I'm hoping i'll hear something back from them today... we shall see.

I let the smoke out. Matt check your email I fried this daughter board for sure. Yeah guys I should have known I shouldn't be messing with circuit boards.

I would never use autoparts warehouse. I ordered a clutch from them about 3 years ago. The box showed up and was really heavy, didn't think anything of it, 3 days later I opened it to install and it was a box of catalogs, from another company and the clutch alignment tool. I never did get my money back, filed complaints and called etc etc. Then this past year someone in our company ordered some items through them for a job at the shop, we got burned here by that one too. Buyer beware of them is all i'm saying. I think he may also mean the actual mounts from the block, not the rubber insulated mounts. Which ones do you need?

oh Christopher Columbus, you got me this year. One more day

I've got an old bell housing I use. I'd have to be quite intoxicated to attempt "kick starting" an old L series, but that is pretty cool none the less.

The tricky part is getting a starter mounted up, you either have to have the transmission attached so you have something to bolt the starter to, or make a custom mount to bolt the starter too.

I hate waiting for parts, 2 more days. Thankfully they are east coast, so shipping is pretty quick to me.