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Intermittent Rich problem with LC1


Zmanco

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I'm running with an LC1 on my NA L28 fuel-only with MS1 v3.0 with MSnS.

 

Periodically I see the O2 gauge on Megatune go full rich (not exactly 10.00, usually something like 10.29). It stays like that for a few seconds and then goes back to a normal reading. When this happens there is no noticeable change in the way the engine runs, and I have confirmed via the logs that the injector pulse width doesn't change. This makes me think the problem is with the LC1, and that my actual mixture is unchanged.

 

Now and then I've also had to recalibrate the O2 sensor as it gets into a state where it's always reading either full rich or full lean. Recalibrating fixes that.

 

I spoke with Innovate Motorsports and they suggested I do another heater calibration just as I did when I first connected everything. That didn't make any difference with respect to going full rich.

 

Then a few days ago the sensor stayed full rich, even after doing a recalibrate. The LC1 blinked 8 tiimes indicating the sensor was bad. Once I stopped cursing I bought another sensor. The new one seemed to be good for a the fist hour or so, then began to go full rich too. Then yesterday it needed recalibration twice, once becoming "uncalibrated" while I was driving.

 

Matt from DIYAutoTune has said he thinks it's time to send the LC1 controller back to Innovate and when they're open tomorrow I'll set that up. But in the mean time I'm wondering if any others have had a similar problem and how you fixed it?

 

FWIW, I'm pretty sure my wiring is solid - I'm unable to get the sensor to change its value when I wiggle the wiring and connections while parked. My ground wires are handled properly and with large conductors. In fact the logs show that these "full rich" events sometimes occur with no change at all, not even a spike, on the battery voltage trace.

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Just one other thing you might check to completely rule out the wiring - try logging your AFR with LogWorks, hooked directly to the LC-1. This bypasses a lot of the circuitry and logs the digital output from the LC-1 controller directly, so if you still see the rich "blips," you'll know for sure they are coming from the LC-1.

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I also have run across something like that just these past couple days. A datalog of a 1st-2nd pull shows a rich spot of mid 10's right in the middle of a low 12 pull, but the ve bins and map pressure are steady. Nothing else in the datalog corosponds with it, either. Same thing with the first half of 1st gear on this log. I have another log that shows it happening from 1st all the way through 5th.

 

It's an 8.8:1 cr l24 running 7psi on a 280zx t3.

 

richspot.jpg

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I tried an experiment running the LC-1 datalogging software and found that when the reading goes low, it's giving an E9 error code which means the voltage was too low. I've since spoken to Innovative who says that the LC1 resets at 11.5V. Interestingly, the voltage trace in Megasquirt's logs shows that MS is still seeing voltages significantly above 12V when this occurs.

 

Just to be sure there wasn't some other issue, I temporarily connected the power to the LC1 to the same lugs as the MS (always on, bypassing the MS relay) and it made no difference. This was with a straight connection from alternator output and where the battery negative terminal connects to the chassis. Also, I had this issue with my original alt ('80 280zx) and then with my new upgraded Maxima alt (90 amps).

 

Today I have a business trip that takes me right by Innovative's office in Irvine CA so I'm going to drop the unit with them, but I'm not expecting very much. FWIW, their tech said in a few months they will have a new version that can tolerate operating down to around 9V.

 

X64V, your curve doesn't look like mine at all. Yours O2 readings are still moving. In my case, it plummets down to around 10 and stays flat line for several seconds while the heater "warms up" and then begins reading normally again. Not sure what to recommend in your case except to try what I did and run the LC1 datalogging software to gather some more data.

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Update: I stopped by Innovate today and spoke with Felipe. He's going to bench test the controller at low voltage but thinks it will probably check out ok. He says they have a beta release of firmware for the LC1 that reduces the chance it will generate an E9 error code. Here it is on their forum:

 

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6616

 

Assuming he doesn't find anything wrong with my unit he'll load that version. I'll check it out when I return this weekend.

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Latest update: Since I've reinstalled the LC1 with the beta firmware things have been better. At first I saw a few full rich events, but since then I haven't seen any. I think it makes things better, and if you're having unexpected resets with it, I'd recommend you try it.

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