Winter Upgrade - Megasquirt

[bobcowan]

Update:

I finally got the wiring harness completed. The ECU uses a DB37 connector for the main harness, and a DB15 for the ignition and a couple of extra features. If you're not familier with them, it's very similar to the serial connector in the back of your computer. It's a very small connector, designed for 20-22g wires.

I started out with a solder connection. But, apparently, my soldering skills were not good enough for that (which is why I didn't build the ECU). So 4 of the injectors (bank 1) were wide open all the time. That was a bad thing.

I bought a new connector and a crimping tool, and replaced the DB37 with a crimp type connector. That worked out really well. But those connectors are really tiny! I had to wear magnifying glasses to get that job done. But that worked out a lot better.

Spent the last month struggling with a sync problem. The computer had trouble reading the crank trigger wheel. Since it can't tell engine position, it wouldn't run well. I tried everything I could think of. I bench tested every component, and it all tested out fine. The darned thing still wouldn't run. I was so frustrated I was ready to pul the whole thing out and go back to my Haltech.

Out of desperation, I replaced the hall sensor - $57. That was the (main) problem! A brand new Hall sensor was not working right, and feeding a bad signal to the ECU. Unusual to have a bad component right out of the box, but it happens.

That cut my sync problem down significantly. But it was still there. After another week or two of messing around, I opened up the ECU and made a couple of potentiometer adjustments on the main board. Sync problem seems to be completely resolved.

Last couple of evenings have been spent doing some fuel map tuning. Still on the rack, hasn't left the garage yet. It really is pretty much self tuning, and that feature seems to be working well. Tonight I plan on driving up and down the street a few times to see what happens.

Currently, it's fuel only. I have not installed the ignition yet. If tuning goes well today, I'll add ignition this week end.

Once I get those maps pretty well done, then I'll start on the E85 map.

It's been a bit of a struggle, and has taken a lot longer than I expected. I'll let you know how the tuning and ignition install goes.