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Troubleshooting my setup


softopz

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Hi before I go into my issue I would like to thank everyone in this forum I think its got allot of tremendous knowledge. I would also like to state I have searched before posting this topic. ( I also want to say I just wrote a much better post before this, but lost it to a stupid crash)

 

I have a l28et motor that I dropped into a s30 and has been a headache since day one. I love the car but its a one way street in this relationship. I truly believe its cursed or something.

 

I recently got ms2 pre assembled and wired it all up with new fuses/relays/sensors. Made the jumpers on the board for Hall/Optical pick up. Using high current driver also wired the distributor according to DIYautotune write up. Loaded the firmware on the board then made an msq mostly pertaining from knowledge on this site. All the gauges work except the o2 is red, however I don't believe this could be a culprit. I got a timing light and verified my timing and it flashes right at 17 btdc next to the pulley mark. My battery was strong at 13.5 volts and now does not take a charge. I am getting a tach signal, spark at coil/wires/plugs and my injectors are firing. The car doesn't seem to want to catch and idle. Not even a bit!

 

This is what I have done so far.

-check firing order 153624 counter clockwise

-checked cam lobes pointing outwards on compression stroke, also checked rotor at TDC is pointing to one.

- put a gauge before injectors and I get 28 psi I believe in switched power

- tested the distributor off the car with a drill get signal in megatune also while cranking its 250 rpm or close to

- plugs are wet I re dry between attempts

- my msq is good was derived from a stock turbo zx using same everything.

- calibrated tps, then checked

- moved trigger offset retard and advance.

- I have no egr aac none of those stuff and all vacuum hoses are tight and no leaks

- lowered and raised the pulsewidth at -40 its 9 and at 160 its 3 ( although I cant seem to change the priming pulse its greyed out in the warmup wizard )

- went back to manual and says to remove r57 resistor because it interferes with timing while using the high current driver, however still nothing

 

I'm really out of ideas. I was hoping some of you guys could help me pin point the problem and get the car running.

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From reading the manual it says to put 80% of your req fuel for cranking pulsewidth so thats where I derived the 9 and 3.

 

Matt Thanks for the reply I attached a rar with my msq inside. I will get a fresh batterey and try again. So under general setting-prime WUE/ASU Baro tables I changed from two point to table and now under other tables in megatune I can see the tables which you speak of. Ill try that and I hope thats it. However I have a feeling there is more behind this.

megasquirt2008.rar

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The plugs were not wet when I started at 2.5 around 5-6 they started getting wet. Could it possibly be spark issue? Whats wierd is I get a real hot spark at the coil. But the plugs w/ the light its intermintent Maybe Its cause I have to giggle the timing light sensor so I dunno! its driving me insane!

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Have 2 different set of plug wires and distributors. There is usually spark shows with a timing light thats how when I checked my timing. Then later set in Megatune for my trigger.Also at coil it seems to spark in a well timed pattern. Matt just the person that would know this answer! I just remembered when I got ms2 pre assembled it was set up for VR type and whats funny is the car did run and I didnt know about the type of ignition the PCB was jumpered for!? mind you it was really rich, didnt have an idle and had to open the throttle a bit. However after trying to trouble shoot reading the manual and write up I re jumpered the board for a Hall/Optical which is what type of distributor I got. I believe I changed the tach out put option and xg1 to xg2 and something else lol Basically jumpered per manual. Which leads to me where I am .

Could I have damaged the board or ignition ouput?

Would the stimulator test every component in pcb? I think I may need to check one more thing and thats the PCB. In megatune however everything checks out. I dont know what I got myself into :S

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PewmUqUoFEI I took this video not too long ago the wierd thing its setup for vR type ignition now its correct and nothing. Its really whining I think its a belt or water pump bearing.

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Let me see if I'm reading this correctly:

 

1. You are getting a consistent spark from the coil.

2. The timing of the spark is correct at the coil.

3. But the spark doesn't make it to the plug wires.

 

This sounds like a problem with the distributor phasing, or possibly the distributor or plug wires. It doesn't sound like a problem with the Megasquirt.

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Im gettin a consistent nice spark from coil sometimes i check it to see if i got spark at that point. Then at plugs i did timing test on #1 it shows 18 degrees btdc -+ 2 degrees. I have tested 2 sets of wires and distributors and sometimes I do get spark and sometimes its intermitant.

Matt I posted a video of when the car did run and the ignition option that was jumpered was VR type and it ran! I then jumpered to the proper tach and all that for Hall/Optical type and it doesnt even catch. So I was wondering if I had comprised something on the board that takes control of timing or ignition capture. I was also asking if anything was comprised would it tell me in megatune or some type of error code. Or if the only way to test it is through a stim ?

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Im gettin a consistent nice spark from coil sometimes i check it to see if i got spark at that point. Then at plugs i did timing test on #1 it shows 18 degrees btdc -+ 2 degrees. I have tested 2 sets of wires and distributors and sometimes I do get spark and sometimes its intermitant.

 

This sounds like a problem with your external ignition hardware. Have you checked your rotor phasing? How old are the plug wires?

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A couple of thoughts: Can you get the car to run with the old ignition system? If so does it run well? When it does run, what is the spark advance at? If it does not run well then you may have other issues as well. Have you checked the compression? Has the cam timing cover ever been removed from the engine? The gear that drives the distributor is run thru the cam timing cover. It is possible that the gear off by one tooth and that can create issues. If you can, go back to as much of the stock setup as possible and get it running and then start making your changes. Change only one thing at a time and verify that it works before moving on. I know nothing about turbo ignition timing but 18 degress advance seems a bit much. What happens if you set your timing down to about 10 degrees?

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A couple of thoughts: Can you get the car to run with the old ignition system? If so does it run well? When it does run, what is the spark advance at? If it does not run well then you may have other issues as well. Have you checked the compression? Has the cam timing cover ever been removed from the engine? The gear that drives the distributor is run thru the cam timing cover. It is possible that the gear off by one tooth and that can create issues. If you can, go back to as much of the stock setup as possible and get it running and then start making your changes. Change only one thing at a time and verify that it works before moving on. I know nothing about turbo ignition timing but 18 degress advance seems a bit much. What happens if you set your timing down to about 10 degrees?

 

The old ecu system did run but it was really bad in the donor car. However I ended up swapping it over anyway and it ran it would be really rich and foul the plugs. I then rebuilt the motor and it ran well for a couple of days than reverted back to crap. Like fall on its face and pop sometimes.

I cant go back im too deep besides i sold all the old zxt parts thats why i went with ms2.

the engine was recently rebuild before doing the ms2 so it ran bad before the engine was rebuilt and after with the same ecu and ms2. I swapped so many parts and interchanged just to see if it was anything I had. From 2 distributors, injectors, AFM(with the old setup) fuel rail, FPR and so much more Im close to giving up. really close

 

My timing is right and the oil pump gear and all that is installed correctly. I also checked my compression its about 140 across the board its a bit high for a turbo motor but it could be the gauge difference.

I also tried to change timing from at least -10 to + 20 .

Well its winter now the garage is freezing cold I probally wont touch the car too much unless I switch over to EDIS. I have all the parts needed im waiting for Derek to finish the rest of his custom parts. If it does run properly than I know it was something with distributor, wheel or shaft. If not IM BURNING THIS CAR its been 4 years of hell YES 4 YEARS I got sidetracked with diff swap and all the other jazz when I should of put all my efforts on the engine and ecu. I replaced soo many things and it still not running !. I completely re did/upgraded the whole car the bushings, struts , springs, mastercylinder, big calipers, rear discs, r200 conversion,cvs, 5sp, rebuilt motor, ms2 and the complete interior I am close to giving up.

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With the engine set to TDC, the center of the distributor rotor should be just past the center of the #1 distributor tower contact.

ya i checked that too its good Matt can I send my ms2 to get tested and you can ensure all the jumpers are on right. Since it was on VR and I tried to start the car which it did run than I found out I had the jumpers wrong. For EDIS is it jumpered for HALL OPTICAL ?

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unfortunatly i did not purchase it from you I wish I had of. I purchased it off ebay not knowing too much about ms at the time from the looks of it, It was assembled and never used the person I had bought it from got it from SparkandFuel.com. I was still hoping to either get it tested by you.

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