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Have I ever mentioned that I hate "electrical stuff"?
Prelude:
Well, the options connector for the MS3 came in and I thought, "Piece of cake! I'll just plug in the wires and it'll all be good!" So I started pluggin in wires and the first few were kinda weird - they didn't fit very well, but then they started going in easier and fit better and I thought, "Okay, that was weird". Then I go to the second bundle of wires (why would there be TWO bundles of wires?) and...these DIDN'T fit! WTF DIYautotune! Did you screw up my order?
I was pissed until I realized that there were two bundles of wires for a reason...the connector has two different sizes of pins and two different sizes of female receivers! 6 big ones on one side, 4 big ones on the other side and 16 small ones in between! I had started with the small wires and put six of those into the big slots. Then, when I ran through the small wires and got to the 10 big ones, of course they didn't fit! I'm the on that screwed up, not DIYautotune.
So, my next things was...just un-pin the six small wires in the big slots and everything will be fine! Well (for me at least) pinning is a breeze, UN-pinning is a bitch!! I pulled the wire out of one pin and butchered another one. Needless to say, that wasn't going to work, so I decided to order ANOTHER connector kit from DIYautotune.
In the meantime I was doing research on a connector that I could use in-car so that I could swap either ECU in without having to re-wire anything. The idea being that I could wire the male end permanently into the car harness and then have two different female ends; one with a D-sub pigtail for the MS2 and another with a "straight" pigtail for the MS3. I landed on a 24-pin Deutsch connector (bought two) that looked rather robust and (relatively, or so I thought) easy to work with. I figured that there were at least two pins that I could do without - time will tell on that.
While waiting on the second option connector and the two Deutsch connectors to show up, I mapped out a plan for what pins go where and which ones were common between the MS 2 and MS3. Then I proceeded to wait for it all to come together.
I also uploaded the existing tune from the MS3 and went through EVER SINGLE table and extracted relevant data from the MS2, into the MS3. Of course there are differences, but my expectation was that what I have already gives me a head-start with the new ECU.
Chapter 1:
It all started to come together after the 4th ('Murica!) The new options connector arrived and the Deutsch connectors arrived and I started wiring up the ECU "pigtails". First, the option connector - drawing on my previous fiasco, I got the right wires into the right ports (small victories) and then proceeded to get all of the female plugs crimped onto the 26 wires. Then, with my meticulous planning in-hand, I proceeded to put the plugs into the Deutsch connector. It didn't take too long before I managed to put a plug into the wrong hole of the connector! No worries! Deutsch included a handy (plastic) de-pinning tool with the connector in the event that a ham-fisted person (me) screwed things up.
Did I mention that the de-pinning tool was plastic?
Well, after trying too hard, I managed to destroy the de-pinning tool. But no matter, two connectors - two de-pinning tools!
Did I mention that the de-pinning tool was plastic?
Well, you know what happened next..Yes, I broke that one too. So I went to Amazon and found a metal Deutsch connector de-pinning tool and proceeded to wait for that to come. When it arrived, I proceeded to insert it into the connector, push it home and hear the tiny, satisfying "click" that indicates that the pin has been released and can be pulled from the connector. I pushed it in, but there was no "click". I pushed harder and still no "click". So I used some "encouragement" and finally the pin came out with a bit of resistance. "Cool" I said and proceeded to rinse and repeat for the other six pins that I had managed to do wrong. When I went to correctly re-insert the pins I had just extracted, I discovered that they would not stay in place. My earlier "encouragement" had managed to destroy the retaining clips in the connector and those positions were no longer useable.
SMDH
I spent the next 20 minutes (carefully) learning how to properly use my super-whoopie new metal pin-extracting tool...
Chapter 2:
I decided to use the butchered Deutsch connector as the "pigtail" for the MS2 since I was only using 7 out of the 24 ports. So, I re-worked my meticulous pinout to account for the unusable positions and gave it another try. That worked out splendidly! And so - with renewed confidence, I pinned Deutsch connector #2 with the 24 wires from the MS3 option connector (leaving the two "orphan" wires hanging free (I chose M & N, Digital In 1 & 2) as the "sacrificial lambs". Having successfully done that, I waited for this past weekend to break into the car harness and get the male end of the Deutsch connector wired in.
I also decided to fabricate a bracket for that male end (since the Deutsch connector is rather substantial and my normal method for securing wires - zip ties - would not suffice). So I used some advanced CAD (cardboard-assisted design) templates and precision GHD (grinder, hammer, Dremel) fabrication techniques to create an aluminum bracket for the male end of the in-car connector. I'd show a picture, but I'm afraid that my fabrication skills MUST remain in the private-domain.
Chapter 3:
This past Saturday was the "Big Day" - complete the in-car portion of the connector, plug in the MS3 and go on to GLORY!!
Of course Mr Murphy stepped in and said, "Not so fast buckaroo";
Problem #1; Two of the pins in the in-car connector were in the wrong ports. So those had to be re-pinned in the Deutsch connector. (Reply the horror of de-pinning that connector with the metal de-pin tool).
Problem #2; After getting that all done and attempting to start the car with the MS3 I got the dreaded no-start. Looking at the real-time data, it looked like NOTHING was being received. No spark trigger, no RPM's, no nothing... Checking the tune file, there was nothing that said it wouldn't work and re-plugging in the MS2, it all worked like a champ, EXCEPT...
Problem #3; Driving home (I was doing all of this electrical work in a rented garage space), I got a horrible off-idle stumble condition. 50% throttle seemed to clear it up, but that was concerning. Was my CMP and/or CAS going bad? The plugs are relatively new and the coils are the EFIAMI "super-coils", so I don't suspect them. WTAF?!!
Chapter 4;
So, Saturday night I downloaded the MS3Pro base tune, made some marginal changes (Req Fuel, start params, injector dead times for the ID1050's) and loaded that into the ECU. Then yesterday - Sunday - I plugged in the MS3 without the option connector and attempted a start. It fired up with the base tune! Partial success.
Then I plugged in the option connector to see if I was getting reading from the O2 sender (a Ballenger AFR500 - the older model which is non-CANBUS). I changed the base tune settings to be able to see the signal from the AFR500 on "Analog Input 1" on the option connector. After plugging in the option connector and re-starting the car - it ran like ****. It felt like it was running on 2 or 3 cylinders and shook like a paint shaker. I shut it off and wondered, "What the hell is it NOW!"
After stopping to think for a minute (over a glass of red wine WITHOUT fava beans), I took a look at the option connector wiring and (almost) immediately realized that I had it wired bass-ackwards!! I was reading the pinout from the perspective of the plug and NOT from the perspective of the connector at the back of the MS3. Then I knew I had to pull EVERYTHING out of the Deutsch connector (and wrestle with the de-pinning tool AGAIN) and re-pin the whole damned thing again - the RIGHT way this time.
I didn't have the heart to give the re-pinned option connector another try yesterday - for fear that I would find something else wrong. So I have given up for now
Chapter 4 Update:
I went out yesterday after work to try my luck with the re-pinned option connector and - remarkably - it actually worked! The car started and ran with the AFR signal coming through strong. Of course, it wouldn't idle without at least some throttle. Which was to be expected because all of the tables are from the base map. So I shut it down spent the evening transposing the VE, AFR and Spark maps from the MS2, as well as some other major settings.
Next Steps (basic stuff):
Get the idle stable
Make sure the fueling still "works" in cruise (not worried about boost at the moment)
That would be the logical thing to do BUT (there's always a "BUT") I have two rock-solid reasons for not doing so;
All of my fueling settings work wonderfully on the MS2 in batch mode, so I want to get to a known state before venturing off into the unknown.
I'm terrified of venturing into that space. I've read countless threads that range from "It was so easy, I don't know why I didn't do it before!" to "OMG! this was a horrible experience! My car won't start. I lost my job. My wife ran away with neighbor. And my kids all hate me now!" Knowing me, once I cut into the harness (again) I'll be entering a world of hurt. I have a track day coming up on the 23rd and I don't want to be diagnosing wiring problems before then. PS - Did I mention that I hate electrical stuff?
#1 - check; Idle is stable and responds well to throttle blips. I'm using closed-loop PID controls and the MS3 performs better than the MS2 (duh!). I only have MAP/TPS-based AE turned on at the moment, but I'll transpose in the EAE settings in tomorrow and go on a little trip on my "standard loop" tomorrow to see ho things respond during a tame street drive.
Make sure the fueling still "works" in cruise (not worried about boost at the moment)
Had to make some significant changes to the VE table. Not sure why, because the Req Fuel stayed the same so I would have expected the VE values to be more or less the same. But...whatever.
Get EGO control in and operational
No big surprises here
Get ASE & WUE settings in and operational
Like buttah!
Transfer in the EAE settings and verify
Nothing to see here folks. Move along
Working on EBC now. That Bias Duty Table had me a little confused (all that was available on the MS2 was the closed-loop PID values and an Initial Values table for the PID loop. A bit of reading cleared that up - more or less. I also ventured into the knock detection tables. Again, some reading helped to guide me along (hopefully in the right direction).
As far as the "Next Steps" are concerned, I contacted DIYautotune regarding a custom sequential harness that they supplied with their MAXSpark kit (which I purchased 2 years ago). I didn't use that harness and THOUGHT I had stored it away for safe-keeping. Evidently, that "safe" location has been lost to my (bad) memory so I begged them to see if I could re-purchase it. If not, I'll have to bodge something together and "go for it". More on that later.
I also purchased a oil pressure/temp sending unit from Bosch, with the intent of using that to send oil temps and pressures to the MS3. I already have a VDO pressure sensor on the oil cooler "pancake" and a temp sensor integrated into the oil pan plug. I had originally thought I could just "T" those signals into the MS3, but some reading indicated that this was not good practice ("electrical stuff" that I barely understand). So I've opted for independent sources with the Bosch sensor which I'll plumb into the lines for the oil cooler. My only issue with this location is that the Bosch sending unit uses a m10x1.0 thread, and every coupler with a port for an "aux line" that I can find uses 1/8NPT threads. So that means that I have to use an adapter - which makes the sensor sit high off the coupler. That - to me - seems to be a recipe for a stress failure, no matter where I mount it. So...I'm going to fabricate a little "support cage" around the sending unit to relieve some of the potential vibrations. I'll post up some picture when I get to that point.
My other problem with the oil pressure and temp has to do with the number of available analog inputs on the MS3Pro. I always thought that there were eleventy-zillion analog input channels available, but I'm only seeing two on the options port and I'm already consuming one of those with the input from the Ballenger AFR500 (the old version). I could re-use the O2 signal wire in the stock harness (since the stock NB sensors are long-gone). But still...only two analog inputs?! What's up with that? Yes, I know...CANBUS is the answer - but I'm a caveman! It's taken me all of these years to move up to a MS3-based ECU. You can't expect me to move THAT quickly into the 21st century!!
I think if your WB02 can do CAN, you can use the WB02 input as an AI, too.
I'm dealing with this issue too. A lot of the solutions available when everyone was using these in 2015 or whatever are nla. Considering moving to Link for more flexibility.
Depending on which MS3 you have, you can sneak a 3rd analog in.
I think if your WB02 can do CAN, you can use the WB02 input as an AI, too.
I'm dealing with this issue too. A lot of the solutions available when everyone was using these in 2015 or whatever are nla. Considering moving to Link for more flexibility.
THANKS!!
I'm using the same MS3Pro PNP and I didn't know about this 3rd analog input (and I watch Greg's channel "religiously", I guess I skipped by this one episode). Anyway, if he can solder on the board then so can I!
Beyond that, no my trusty old AFR500 is analog-only so it will continue to eat up one of the analog inputs unless and until I decide to hack into the stock harness and route that signal into the stock ECU connector.
I went on a track day at Road Atlanta this past Sunday - partly to try out the new MS3 in a track environment and partly to overcome my fear of RA. The first part was successful insofar as the MS3 performed flawlessly. The second part was a fail on two counts;
I put a wheel in the grass coming out of turn 1 and spun it. No damage to the car, but my ego was severely bruised.
At the start of the third session I was going good and feeling better about RA...UNTIL I lost power in 10b and chugged my way into the pits. I thought this was either going to be real simple (timing belt jumped a tooth or two) and I would be back in business shortly), OR I might have done some real damage to the engine.
It turned out to be the latter. It seems that I broke off a portion of the ring-land on cyl #4. Lucky me! I get to tear down the engine once again.
On the upside, these were stock pistons trying to survive 200kpa - and they have done so bravely for almost 2 years now, so I'm not mad at this. Also, this will give me a chance to track down and (finally) solve a persistent oil leak that has plagued me since the last rebuild. And it also gives me a chance to install the oil pressure/temp sensor that has been sitting on a shelf for about a month now.
So this will be a forced "fix-up, clean-up" operation.
(summoning up the final scene from Monty Python's "The Life Of Brian")
Well, the motor is out
One immediate revelation; I found out where my persistent leak was coming from. The oil pressure sender on the oil filter sandwich plate was loose (as in just barely finger-tight). I had been looking for that leak for several months and it never occurred to me that this was the source.
Anyway, the "fun" begins now...
I've got a couple of mods to do "while I'm in there"; I've got a flat-top manifold that's been collecting dust. Now is as good time as any to slap that bad-boy on. Also, I'm going to cut a chunk out of the center section in front of the radiator. I've already cut out a small portion between the frame rail "horns". That was accessible while everything was intact, but the upper portion where the hood latch resided was too near the radiator to attempt before. But now..."Have Sawzall, will hack"! I don't use the hood latch anyway (using Aerolatches), so it'll be no loss of functionality.
What I SHOULD do is clean up the wiring and hoses and **** like that while the motor is out. I know that I'll have to clean up all of the schmoo that has accumulated because of the oil leak. The question is whether I will be inspired enough to make my engine bay look pretty.
Okay, I pulled the head last night and what I saw in #4 confused and astounded me. Have a look;
The piston looked like it had been shot-peened. Where the ring land is broken (in two places) looks melted. And the cylinder and head had what seemed to be pulverized aluminum in there. What makes this so confusing (to me) is that the other 3 pistons and cylinders look pristine!
I'll have the pistons out tonight and will take a look for other clues.
Oh BOY! It gets even better!! Observe the carnage;
Anyone care to share a diagnosis? Whatever the problem was, it's isolated to cylinder #4. There was no advanced warning, no indications of something going wrong. Just one minute, all was good and the next moment, no power and running on 3 cylinders.
I'd get those injectors cleaned, especially the one on No4. I have just killed an engine, No4 again the worst. But I had no coolant reroute, which I think you have? Pistons fine, rods not so much ...
I'd also check that the crank trigger wheel is not moving, ditto the sensor. Wiring is a 'where do I start?' issue, not having checked above for what you may have done, which might be a good starting point (I fried an ECU on the racecar, and the only way I could be confident that the short was fixed was to build a new engine harness. Not suggesting that, but I'd think about a new injector harness, maybe look at the ignition harness too if it has been fiddled.
I'd get those injectors cleaned, especially the one on No4. I have just killed an engine, No4 again the worst. But I had no coolant reroute, which I think you have?
I'd also check that the crank trigger wheel is not moving, ditto the sensor. Wiring is a 'where do I start?' issue, not having checked above for what you may have done, which might be a good starting point (I fried an ECU on the racecar, and the only way I could be confident that the short was fixed was to build a new engine harness. Not suggesting that, but I'd think about a new injector harness, maybe look at the ignition harness too if it has been fiddled.
I was having a problem with the crank trigger sensor backing away from the trigger wheel, but I got that fixed before going to the track (I think). The trigger wheel itself seemed to be stable. I soldered the pigtails for the ID's (which I've heard is NOT the best method - crimps are better, or so I've heard).
My engine harness itself is - shall we say - "sub-optimal" so I intend on building whole new injector and ignition harnesses and use new Deutsch connectors instead of re-using 25 year-old OEM connectors that have been butchered or otherwise abused in one way or another over the years.
My plan is;
Resurrect an old block that has been collecting dust for a couple of years. I called it my "cursed block" because something was ALWAYS going wrong with that engine, so I got a stock block in 2019 and have been using that ever since. The old block (painted blue) was bored to 83.5mm but the new block )painted red) had stock 83mm bores. I'll get the blue block checked and refreshed - it going to the machin shop today.
Get some new 83.5mm, 8.6:1 Wiseco pistons. I had ST pistons before but one of them cracked around the valve relief in the "cursed block" so I'm heading in a different direction.
Get the ID's cleaned, checked (as suggested)and anything found bad replaced.
Rebuild the engine harnesses to clean up the current wiring abominations.
Add a new Bosch oil pressure/temp sensor so that I can datalog that with the MS3.
Clean up the engine bay and chassis from all of the accumulated dirt/oil mix that resulted from my long-term oil leak (from that loose oil pressure sender).
Re-paint the engine block - anything BUT cursed-blue
Contemplate life and the rationality of an almost 70 year-old man is doing all of this **** when he could be vacationing in Cancun or chasing girls in Thailand.
07-10-2023, 01:54 PM
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