** MegaSquirting a V8 - "Basics of How to" ... The A-Z Saga

[Aragorn]

Aye, direct drive would involve the dwell settings unless you happened to find an ignition driver module that could do it for you.

It is the "official" method for ignition, so i really cant see it being all that bad. I'm certainly tempted to go that route, i have two amplified coil packs already from 16v vauxhall engines that i could use for it too.

[stuck]

Hi all,

Having a bit of a problem with my set up.

My truck is running terribly rich, so much so that your eyes water with the fumes.

Now I havent done any tuning yet so is this normal?!

If not what could I have got wrong that would make it run like this?

Only thing I can think of is Lamba sensor, its a three wire one, I have red connected to the 12v that feeds the fuel pump, black connected to 0v and the white going to the ECU.

Is this correct? White core has 12v on it with the engine running?!?

Thanks for any help,

Mick.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Ok

1st things 1st

Where diod the ECU MSQ come from ?

Are you running MS1 V3 029v firmaware?

If so then I will PM you my e-mail, send me a copy of the MSQ for starters.

Re Lamda, you should have a 4 wire heated one, they do not wire up as

you may think, can't rememebr the excact colours for evrything but black is NOT earth, its transmit, and

no it doesn't make sese

A grown up will be along shortly, re the wiring above but you can run MS without a lamda in it

so I think the fuelling ricjhness is prob your MSQ VE Table

hence why I asked the opening Qs, you'll have my e-mail in a mo

Nige

[stuck]

Thanks Nige,

The file in the CPU is as supplied when I bought the kit of Fridge.

Will knock up a serial cable on Monday.

Mick.

[stuck]

Can anybody show me a picture of which ccolant temperature probe I should utilise for megasquirt?

I'm hoping there is one on a V8's (3.5) block that I can use without loosing the temperature gauge on the dash.

Piccies please?

Cheers,

Mick.

[steve_d]

Can anybody show me a picture of which ccolant temperature probe I should utilise for megasquirt?

I'm hoping there is one on a V8's (3.5) block that I can use without loosing the temperature gauge on the dash.

Piccies please?

Cheers,

Mick.

If it is a 3.5efi then it is alongside the thermotime switch on the front right of the inlet manifold as you look at the engine.

If not efi then I don't know if there will be one. I have a carb manifold and it has a tapped hole at that point but there is nothing fitted in mine.

Steve

[stuck]

Thanks very much Steve, that's one problem sorted.

Next problem Gents:

I've got a long way since yestrday, have now got all inputs working, a fuel and spark map programed but it's still running very rich.

The Lambda gauge is showing 0.32 andI have black soot coming from the exhaust.

I think I'm having problems with the "Required Fuel Calculator"

I'm using the following settings:

Engine displacement = 3500 CC

No. of cylinders = 8

Injector flow = 1.2 lb/hr

Air-fuel ratio = 14.7

When I try to burn that to the ECU I get the following error message:

"Error: Reqfuel1 must be <=25.5, entry is 116.5 (set to 25.5)

Any ideas gents?

Thanks,

Mick.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

What MS and Firmware are you using ?

Sounds ODD

Here basic MS1 Base Settings :

Whty are you changing and playing with the base settings if Fridge has given you

a "Known" MSQ ?

Nige

[stuck]

Thanks Nige,

I'm "playing" with them because all the fields were blank for some reason, I think I may have corrupted the data by trying to connect using a MS2 project file

[steve_d]

What injectors are you using and where did you get the flow rate from?

3.9 injectors flow at 216cc/min or 20.6lb/hr

If you have been given a msq for a 3.5 then you need to also get the required fuel number that the map was tuned for otherwise it is meaningless.

I think the one FF gave me was based on a required fuel of 11.5. If I run the wizard I get 15.1.

Steve

[FridgeFreezer]

If it ain't broke...

First off, you've probably bu&&ered the settings now, easiest is to start from a known good one so click here, save the file and load it & burn to ECU.

That should be in the ballpark, if it's still running badly then the order of play is:

- Check the readings for all the sensors, are they near enough correct?

- If it's running really rich, Steve could be correct (although most RV8 injectors are near as makes no difference, flow-wise) in which case the easiest thing is to bump the REQ_FUEL value down a bit (down to lean, up to richen) in steps of about 2. At this stage, you just want to get it "close enough".

I'd point out that the REQ_FUEL value in the MSQ is not the "correct" one calibrated to the injectors, so the calculator program thingy will always come out with a different number. At the end of the day, it's just a constant the ECU uses as the baseline fuel amount. Changing it is just like shifting the whole map up & down. There is a function to re-scale the fuel map after a change of REQ_FUEL so all the numbers are the "right" ones, but I've not bothered so far.

If you are getting a reading from the lambda sensor of between ~0.1 and ~0.9v then it's probably wired up correctly. If you have a -ve voltage of -0.1 to -0.9v, you've swapped the signal & ground wires. Flat zero or more than 1v and you've wired it really wrong but you can at least twiddle the REQ_FUEL value until it runs about right.

[tarmacshredder]

Evening Gents,

I am still fighting my land rover and megasquirt and to be honest not succeding! lol

Allthough I have posted a few times before I will refresh with the details.

110 with 4.6 V8 running 3.9 V8 inlet/injectors and modded 3.9 V8 loom, bosch pwm valve, ms1 v3, transit trigger wheel 36-1 setup as edis timing.

Originally I was going direct coil drive but have been struggling to get it to run remotely properly,so I then plugged the distributor back in and have been trying to get it to run just squirt.

Yes it does start and does run but coughs, splutters and is running really rich. There is also missing and occasional popping in the exhaust. I have set the distributor to 6 degrees before tdc as a start point.

I have 2 data logs but am not allowed to post them so anyone interested then please message with an email address and i will send.

Thanks

Glenn

[FridgeFreezer]

Glenn,

Never mind the datalog for now, if it's that bad then a quick sanity check of the gauges is in order:

- With the ignition ON but engine OFF, are you getting sensible-looking values for coolant temp (CLT), air temp (IAT), Vacuum (MAP - will be ~98kPa when not running).

- With the engine running, are you getting sane values for the above? IAT will rise a little, CLT should come up with engine temp to roughly the temp of the stat (88c), MAP should drop to between 30 and 50kPa at idle and hit 90+ on blipping the throttle. The RPM should read correctly with no jumping about, and the lambda sensor (EGO Volts) should start at 0, and rise as the sensor warms up (30 sec or so) to flick about between 0.1 and 0.9v (above 0.5v is rich, so if it's running really rich it should be reading 0.7v or more).

[tarmacshredder]

Hi Fridge,

thanks for the response, the guages do look ok when you start and they seam to go in the right direction when started,I will check the lambda values this morning. The air:fuel ratio guage is at 28 which is right round to the right which looks wrong. In the data log the accel and deaccelerate icons are swithcing from red to green all the time the tp on the graph is very spikey but it is also running very rough so could well be caused by the rough running rather than the tp sensor miss reading. the clt rises but also scopes slightly as it goes up and the values look about right at the moment I have f not centegrade so not within my comfort zone but we started from cold at about 75deg f yesterday and were upto 215 yesterday when I switched off.

I am guessing a setting or value is wrong, but I am starting to pull my hair out with it.

Glenn

[Boothy]

Gents,

Just do a few checks as I didn't to save a lot of time and frustration and changes to my settings which could have amplified problems,

I trapped the air vacuum pipe refitting the seat one time, MAP on the screen showed it up straight away, it was miles out and caused it to flood like mad,.

I also had a rich running problem whan the air inlet temp sensor went duff, cold engine coolant temp was something like 18*C but air temp was -12*C

or something similar, result it thinks it winter and chucks some fuel in, but it was on the screen if I'd had looked properly,

Check every injector plug for dirty OR spead crimps causing intermittant or no contact which I've just had probably due to the fact that I've spent 2 years charging around in deep water contaminating all these plugs and connections, and then had a problem and then kept pulling the plugs on and off which in turn will probably not help the crimp spread and could easily introduce new faults,

Exactly the same problem with the plug leads, ex scrapyard ones (these will do to try it and we will get some better one's soon) keep pulling them on and off to check if plugs are firing and to see how sooty the plugs are and hey ho, ones gone duff on you, now we have got another problem,

Take this tip from Boothy, put kettle on, plug in laptop and connect, drink tea without engine running, look at screen do the temps look about right for the ambient temprature around you ?, check all these connections aforementioned , it will take about 10 minutes, does the manifold vacuum look about right when it starts ?, hopefully and possibly you will kick yourself for dropping that silly b*****k that we have all dropped in our enthusiasm to start start datalogging.

Get kettle on now and don't rush it !!!!

Good luck

[Bowie69]

Check your lambda connections, sounds like you may have it wired up backwards, also, why run in F rather than C, there's a setting in MT to change this quite easily....

[FridgeFreezer]

Glenn,

The air:fuel ratio gauge means almost nothing with a narrowband lambda sensor fitted, all you can say is if it's on the right hand side it's rich, if it's on the left it's lean. So, as long as the EGO Volts are between 0.1 & 0.9, I would say the sensor is OK. You can see EGO volts in the "Tuning -> Realtime display" menu, it's the top left "O2" bar. Or right-click on the AFR gauge in the main screen and change it to "EGOGauge".

The Accel/decel shouldn't be jumping around unless you're moving the pedal. Check the settings in these two screens look the same as pictured:

If they are correct, then try unplugging the throttle position sensor - if it's jumping around then it's probably triggering acceleration enrichment (like a throttle pump on a carb) and chucking loads of extra fuel down.

You did earth all the sensors back to the MS, not just to the block, didn't you?

[tarmacshredder]

been out to landy this morning plugged in laptop and switched on ign to my horror clt and air temp both showing -40 then notice fuel pump also running continuously, closed and reopened megatune, pulled fuse for ecu ign feed and put back in then back to normal.

clt 60deg f, eng map 99kpa, man air temp 22 deg f (lower than yesterday was 70 so need to investigate that), air fuel ratio 28, spark advance 1.38btdc. My handheld thermometer tells me it is just over 64deg f air temp so I have a large discrepancy, dont understand why yesterday it was matching my hand held one?

Couldn't find lambda or ego volts where do I need to look for this?

would love to change to cent but dont know how!

after a struggle got to run at 1200rough idle showing 41kpa at approx 72clt.

Switched off and ticking back on ign off, pull ign fuse for ecu and it stops.

Glenn

[FridgeFreezer]

Glenn, sounds like you've got some wiring issues.

Make sure all the grounds for sensors (coolant, air, lambda, throttle) run back to the ECU plug, not just to a bolt on the engine or chassis. If there is ticking (I'm guessing from the main/fuel pump relays) then check how you've got them wired up as you could have the fairly popular problem of running on due to the alternator back-feeding and keeping the relays live.

Couldn't find lambda or ego volts where do I need to look for this?

I just posted a load of pictures above

[tarmacshredder]

Thanks John,

have just been comparing the menus and there are lots of differences to mine so just off to landy to change them.

Have now changed the guage to show ego volts so will read that in a min.

Sensors are wiring back to ecu and to seperate earth from memory but will check again in a min.

Thanks

Glenn

[tarmacshredder]

I have now changed the settings and it starts much better and is easyer to get to idle than before and to be fair sounds alot smoother now no clouds of blue smoke! lambda volts came up and then showed on the guage in the centre section on the right hand side. after a minute or 2 however it disappeared and went to 0 engine has a rythmical hunt of 250-300 rpm.

Unfortunately I have run out of time with it this morning so will have to wait till later for another go.

Glenn

[FridgeFreezer]

lambda volts came up and then showed on the guage in the centre section on the right hand side. after a minute or 2 however it disappeared and went to 0 engine has a rythmical hunt of 250-300 rpm.

Glenn,

I think we're getting somewhere then. Sounds like MAPDot Acceleration enrichment was switched on (vacuum based rather than throttle pot based) and set incorrectly.

Don't sweat the lambda & hunting thing, chances are once it's come out of warmup enrichment it's a bit lean hence the lambda dropping back down to 0v. You can bump REQ_FUEL up in the engine constants page by 1 or 2 at a time until it comes back onto the scale, ideally it wants to be a little rich at idle (EGO >0.5v), but as long as it's somewhere on the scale you can then start tuning.

[tarmacshredder]

yep was vaccum based rather than tp and the settings were wildly different, the fuel table was adjusted a while ago whilst I was chatting on the phone to nige so those cells could well need to go up a bit but not sure now, how many I knocked them down by, it was months ago!

I think I need to recalibrate the air temp sensor so that it has a more realistic value as well and need to check the diode on the alternator. It's not the relays that are clicking it sounds more like an injector as it is on the inlet manifold area and there is also a tock noise every 10 seconds or so like the pwm valve opening or closing after switch off. It didn't always do it but now it is doing it everytime on switch off.

How do you I change to centegrade instead of fahrenheit?

Glenn

[waxen]

Hi all,

First post. First off compliments to you HFH on a first class thread, have read and reread it and I still haven't absorbed it all. After a couple of years procrastinating about Megasquirt, finally I bit the bullet and have bought it , the decision was helped along by my engines death and this thread.

The project begins with a 3.9 Serpentine, EDIS8 system from the US and MS1, the idea is to go with the recommendations found here. So first question (I've searched with no success)is there a wiring schematic for grafting the Hotwire loom onto Megasquirt? Or am I better off adapting a Flapper loom? Bear in mind that this is going into a 1976 2 door.

Second question, Has anybody got an idea of spark maps for LPG as this project is dual fueled?

So far the project has been about procurement and modifying some engine ancillaries to fit on the serpentine motor. Then it will be fuel tank and lines from a Disco (gives me a great reason for a body lift, they are a swine to remove and refit) and when the goodies arrive set to a bit of electronic assembly. Any tips?

Hopefully this is in the right area and I will update as progress is made.

Cheers

Wayne

[bobtail84]

Hi all,

The project begins with a 3.9 Serpentine, EDIS8 system from the US and MS1, the idea is to go with the recommendations found here. So first question (I've searched with no success)is there a wiring schematic for grafting the Hotwire loom onto Megasquirt? Or am I better off adapting a Flapper loom? Bear in mind that this is going into a 1976 2 door.

Wayne,

I have a MegaSquirt to hotwire diagram for you that I will dig out.

Second question, Has anybody got an idea of spark maps for LPG as this project is dual fueled?

Cheers

Wayne

I also have LPG maps but I think you are a long way of before you need those. I'm always playing with my MS so when the time comes I will ping you what you need.

jeff