foodie Posted April 17, 2012 Posted April 17, 2012 This is more a rant than a request for help, as I am beyond help! For 2 years my 260z rb20det (redtop) MT8 Microtech sat in the garage with a bunch of electrical problems. 1 by 1 I solved them over the last couple of weeks, headlights, rebuilt combo switch, re-soldered or removed 10's of joins in the ignition/dash harness, clean up relays under the bonnet etc All the time, doing these little jobs, building up to the big one, start the blasted car!! Still unsure why, but the ecu was not getting juice from the ignition feed and I cannot work out where the hell this wire was going once it went into the engine bay harness (this weekends job). So what I did was hotwire it on a fuse directly with a new wire to the ignition wire behind the key. Great, juice for the relays and ecu. Click, fuel pump primes, ecu powers up, sensors are sensing. Crank, crank, crank - nothing, no spark(tested). Hmmm, at this point, my engine bay is all undone, wires everywhere, no covers on anything, inter-cooling piping off so I can get the coil cover off etc etc etc. TPS adjusted etc Hmm, ecu not seeing RPM when cranking, bad CAS - ok, replaced with a silvertop, new plug/shielded cable straight to ECU - fingers crossed! BAM! Still no RPM while cranking and no injectors firing/spark while turning it with ignition on. hmmmmmmm *ding*, maybe that ignitor needs an earth...ok, earth strap temporarily attached. Crank the engine...BWAARRP we have take off!!! yippeeeeeeeeeee Ok, time to put it all back together as I have solved this problem....30 mins later. lets start here again and get her upto temp. crank crank crank, nothing!! f&*king nothing!!!!!! Pull it all apart again, recheck all the relays are getting 12v, yep, CAS getting 12v,8v,5v,5v etc. Injectors have power. Scratch head again.... Re-flash eprom on hand controller to ecu. Power off, power on, start ya bastard!!!! BAM it does, wow, lets run this thing up to temp and see how the fans work - they don't (another problem). Engine off. Put everything back together, you guessed it - won't start again yet everything has power. Maybe it's some dodgy wiring that I have not found yet, but I am thinking a have a busted ECU that has been made to piss me off and some nerd at Microtech is laughing his ass off because his little program has kicked in to shit me with random working!!!! My next task, rewire the 3 relays which control the ignitor/fuelpump/thermofans. If this doesn't do it I will then pay some sparky to have a squizz before I purchase a new ECU Anyone got an mt8 they want to rent me Anyone know a mobile sparky around south brisbane? Sorry for my rant, driving me nuts!!! Quote
nizm0zed Posted April 17, 2012 Posted April 17, 2012 dont worry, the rant is totally acceptable. I cant even start mine... I finally got it to the point where i could crank it and set the base timing. Got that down pat, reference trigger angle all set in the ECu and static on 10 degrees. Packed up for the night. Next morning, no spark. the Optical dizzy decided it was over the whole thing. I got another one sent to me, got that all set up again, started playing and had a nice healthy spark. Still wont fire though, seems to be no fuel. In the 20 minutes of playing with some of the fuel maps, 2 of my 3 ignitors decided that it was time to melt down. I organised a couple more (from the states, they were cheap) When they got here finally, i pulled them off thier heatsink to mount on mine, busting one in the process. back to the shops, another ordered and finally on the car. it now sparks properly again. Still a fuel problem though. so enter a can of aerostart. it'll kick a little bit, but backfires out the inlet. initial thoughts are cam or dizzy timing, but they are where they are supposed to be... That carbie V8 rover motor in the classifieds is looking mighty tempting. Anyone wanna buy a EFI turbo motor? When its all said and done and i have pulled out all my hair, it'll still be a sweet car, so its worth persevering. as to yours, My suggestion. make a list of everything that is wired into the ECU. check it off 1 by 1 as you physically check the item for power and ground, correct operation ect. assume nothing. Check and confirm your power circuit to the ECU and sensors for power during Ig ON and Cranking. Check your grounds, remove the ground, check the continuity from the ground point back to the sensor/ECU, then clean where it bolts on. Use a clean bolt. Make sure you have a suitably sized ground strap from the motor to the chassis and from the ECU to the chassis. Make sure your sensor wires arent exposed to excessive electrical noise, eg, from spark amplifiers, coilpacks, HT leads ect ect. Cam/crank pickup sensor wires should be paired off and twisted together for as far as possible, ideally right up to the ECU. this will help if you are having RF noise issues (thats why telephone wires are twisted pairs) Otherwise, ensure the cable shielding is in good condition and grounded at the ECU end only. Good luck with it. Quote
luvemfast Posted April 17, 2012 Posted April 17, 2012 I love my webbers.... Bah ha ha ha ha +1....... But Mikuni's I'm too stoopid for all that fancy pants electronics stuff Quote
Gordo Posted April 17, 2012 Posted April 17, 2012 Some times it gets to a point when your over it, you get so pissed off you leave it in the shed for weeks, and sometimes months. But time heals everything and eventually you start talking again, and say OK then I will have another go at it. Sigh ,it will be alright, that day will come , but no one Knows when. Good Luck with it. Quote
luvemfast Posted April 17, 2012 Posted April 17, 2012 Some times it gets to a point when your over it, you get so pissed off you leave it in the shed for weeks, and sometimes months. But time heals everything and eventually you start talking again, and say OK then I will have another go at it. Sigh ,it will be alright, that day will come , but no one Knows when. Good Luck with it. I'm with Gordo on this one. There have been times when I've thought of selling.............. But clearly changed my mind Quote
bullzed Posted April 17, 2012 Posted April 17, 2012 Bah ha ha ha ha +1....... But Mikuni's I'm too stoopid for all that fancy pants electronics stuff +2... but dellortos! Gotta love the induction sound Quote
foodie Posted April 20, 2012 Author Posted April 20, 2012 Moving house next weekend. Take a bit to settle in. Then I am thinking I might make a Mega-squirt and make a new harness / relay setup. Quote
nizm0zed Posted April 20, 2012 Posted April 20, 2012 tbh, the microtech is a lot better than the megasquirt. Of course, most other ECU's are better than a microtech... Quote
Six_Shooter Posted April 20, 2012 Posted April 20, 2012 +2... but dellortos! Gotta love the induction sound -1 Love my EFI. Quote
be-zed Posted April 22, 2012 Posted April 22, 2012 After reading this thread ,I went down to the shed and looked at the L24 turbo on its stand with its L28 bottom end on the floor beside it. Stood there for some time just looking at it. Then went over to the Z and started it first turn of the key in a month. Three 45mm dellortoes raw to life. After 32 years that sound still has not got old. So the turbo can wait a little longer. Quote
nizm0zed Posted April 22, 2012 Posted April 22, 2012 well, my motor has taken offence to all this EFI hatin bidness... Started it up today, got it running well enough for a small drive to to the end of the street and back. FUCK YEA!!!!! Quote
foodie Posted June 9, 2012 Author Posted June 9, 2012 So I sent my ecu away to get tested, as the only item left in the chain which I cannot test. Just got an email back today and an invoice! "It had a damaged ignition adapter which is the processor that receives the signal from the cam sensor. Cost of the repair was $125 plus $15 for the return freight. Double check over all the wiring before you reconnect the ECU as the damage will most likely have been caused by something not right with the cam sensor wiring" Nice!! Burnouts are imminent!!!!! Quote
nizm0zed Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 make a list of everything that is wired into the ECU. check it off 1 by 1 as you physically check the item for power and ground, correct operation ect. assume nothing. ~ ~ Cam/crank pickup sensor wires should be paired off and twisted together for as far as possible, ideally right up to the ECU. this will help if you are having RF noise issues (thats why telephone wires are twisted pairs) Otherwise, ensure the cable shielding is in good condition and grounded at the ECU end only. Good to hear its sorted out Quote
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