Darren Groves

Any ideas is the Bosch Lambda Sensors 0258017217 & 0258017025 are interchangeable? '17217' is the part number on then sensor that came with my wideband controller (which has gone bad), but have been supplied a '17025' as a replacement. Visually they look identical, the only difference being the length of the cables. Thanks...

I guess they're cheap for a reason so I'm sure you're right, but as the ECU is all set-up the 02 sensor isn't doing too much, so was trying to save a few pennies. Not sure I can do that with the Spartan2 Controller, but as my other Bosch sensor provides expected readings I think the sensor is the culprit, plus I do remember giving it a fair old wack when I was removing the gearbox, don't suppose their designed to be that resilient to big impact.....

I haven't connected up the laptop to the Microsquirt ECU on the Herald for absolutely ages, so thought I'd have a look. The AFR gauge was off the scale lean, but it was obvious the car was running fine and not what was being shown. I have an LD Performance controller that is going into my Spitfire project when done, so with a spare sensor and controller it was easy to diagnose that the Bosch LSU 4.9 sensor was faulty.....inspecting the sensor showed some damage, I then remembered that I forgot to remove it when doing a gearbox swap back in December and caught it, hence the damage in the pic....it looks worse in the flesh. For now I have removed it, blanked it off and changed the 02 Sensor Authority to 0%... Genuine Bosch sensors seem to be selling for around £55, but wondered if anyone has tried any of the unbranded alternatives similar to these: https://ebay.us/AaznUr ....are they a waste of time and just cheap rubbish? Darren

JoSo I have welded in the bung for the 02 sensors, so for a carbureted car what is a target AFR at tickover. I went for the LD Performance kit in the end. Roger, I think you use this one IIRC... We're you happy with it? Darren

Hi Roger, Think you could be right, depending on what instructions you read, 24" is the minimum distance which would probably push it past the first collector and then exhaust gases are being mixed from the 2 carbs. Oh well, single sensor it is... Darren

Mid restoration of a MKIV Spitfire, this is going to be fairly standard set-up but do fancy fitting an 02 sensor so I can take the guess work about setting up the mixture. On my EFI Herald (Fitted with a Bell SS Manifold) it is positioned at the 2-1 collector beneath the gearbox, but as the Spitfire will have the standard twin SU's would it be an advantage to have sensor points to cover each carb independently or just stick to the one? My thinking is that with two sensors the carbs can be more finely set-up to get identical mixture settings rather than a combined 02 reading, which in theory could have one carb a little rich and one a little weak, but the combined reading OK. Pic is possible positions for the sensor(s), if going with dual sensor is will probably be easier to fit them by using a 90° elbow (other pic)....may seem like a dumb question, but elbow/extension takes the sensor out of the main flow of exhaust gases, would with impact on the readings? Darren

Mine has just started doing something similar, but I get to around 60mph and then starts to drop back even though road speed is increasing, lift off the gas a bit and it increases, all a bit odd. This is on a Speedo that was fully refurbed and calibrated 18 months ago, so will likely be going back.... Darren

Hi Roger, It was supplied by Trigger Wheels, can’t recall who the manufacturer was, it was the one from my original Megasquirt installation, so probably done 15k miles or so. The original one supplied by TW was dead on arrival. Will get another spare. Darren

New crank position sensor fitted and all is good with the world again....

I’d come to that conclusion, so good to have it confirmed. Thanks Darren

So over the winter period the Herald was completely rewired from scratch and the old Ford EDIS & Coil Pack were replaced with a VW Coil Pack. No major issues and the car has been driving absolutely fine except for a random splutter every now & then. Doesn't do it every journey, but it will do it on most, just for a few seconds and then rights itself and it will be fine for ages after. I've been kind of ignoring it a bit as it wasn't causing any major dramas, but thought I'd do some investigation. As the only real change to the EFI setup was to the ignition side I swapped out everything that was new, HT Leads, Coil Pack & Plugs, but the problem was still there, so decided to buy the full license for MegaLogViewer to see if anything would show on there. The screen shot below @ 268 seconds shows the RPM & Spark Table with some odd spiky readings, tbh I don't really understand what I looking at totally, but certainly doesn't look right to me.....any ideas what this is telling me and what would cause this? Thanks Darren

Everything works fine now, all electrical circuits, the change to VW Coil Pack and car is running nicely again......that was only after I had the car running like a dog for ages, wondering why it was running very, very rich to the point it was struggling to run at all. Then I wondered why the MAP sensor reading was around 1 bar........oh, that would be because I hadn't connected the tube from the plenum back into the sensor.......what a numpty.

Dashboard all connected up and everything behaving normally now, so earthing was the issue. Thanks all for you input and encouraging me to recheck the earths! Next job is to see if the move from Ford Coil Pack & EDIS to VW coil pack is working OK. Darren

Initially I though the rivnut was a good idea, newly drilled hole with fresh clean metal and the rivnut crimped in against it, but completely take the point it has the potential to work loose. I have now run a 30amp earth cable from the rivnut back to where the earth strap from the battery bolts to the body. From this point there is also an additional earth strap down to where the starter, backplate & bell housing bolt together and this is where all the EFI earths come to, so I'm now pretty confident that earthing is well covered....time will tell when I connect up the dash again to do some testing. Many thanks. Darren

I added an additional earth strap from battery to engine a couple of years ago when the starter was intermittently lazy, this connected to one of the starter motor mounting bolts. The EFI earth's are a few bolts round on the bellhousing, so are nearby, but think it will be wise to use the same location for both. All the earth's for everything else are at one point behind the dash, bolted in to a rivnut. A chunky cable back to where the earth strap connects to the body can't do any harm either, so will do that also. Thanks for the replies. Darren

I did probe the 2 relays whilst the flashers were on, the one that feeds the ECU, Injectors & IAC Valve was a constant 12.xx volt, the one that operates the Fuel Pump & 02 sensor which earths through the ECU was pulsing in time with the flashers. I could remove this relay though and the IAC Valve & Injectors would click in time. I didn’t try with just the ignition on again after I started the car this morning, when I got home this evening I tried again and it’s now not doing it all, how does that work?..... I think I’ll double check the EFI earthing, this has always been on a bolt through the bellhousing/engine backplate. I did disconnect it, shorten and connecting to a bolt further round that bolts through the bellhousing straight into the engine block, I guess there could be oiled in between the surfaces prevent a clean contact. Will have another play on Sunday. Darren

So my main winter project was to rewire the Herald, 20 years of adding various electrical items had left it like a birds nest behind the dash. I have run all the cables, connected fuse boxes and relays etc so now it was time to do some testing. The good news was that everything seems to work. Lights, Flashers, Heater etc etc. all good until I added fuses to power up the Microsquirt ECU. Turn on the ignition and you hear the Fuel pump kick in and then stop as it should, but if you turn on the indicators or hazards the the Fuel Pump powers up, Injectors Click and the IAC Valve open & closes in sync with the on/off of the flashers. You also get a similar thing when pulling out the main light switch to the on position, but with that it's just the once. 12v supplies and earths for EFI & everything else are separate, the only common areas are the fuse boxes below. The one on the left supplies everything ignition fed the one on the right perm lives.The fuse boxes are the type that are powered at a single point and then feed 10 fused connections to relays & electrical items. The Ignition fed fuse box is supplied by a 40amp relay. This is the Fusebox for everything EFI related I thought it may be low battery or bad earth, but have ensured both are fine, and I have retraced the wiring for flashers/lights and they are seem to be right. The only change on the EFI wiring has been relocation of the relays to a base in the centre of the car and I have swapped from EDIS/Ford Coil Pack to VW Coil Pack (No EDIS), the car starts but sounds like a bag of nails, but that maybe just to set-up of the new ignition, but I run out of time and had to leave for work. I will go back and recheck everything, but thought I'd ask the question here just in case there is something obvious it might be that I am just missing. Darren

I know plenty have used the Accuspark units and found them ok, however my experience with anything Accuspark is that it's cheap rubbish and best avoided, I was told that some of the early 4 cylinder units were tested and the pick-up weren't at 90°. I used an Aldon Ignitor for over 10 years and that done a good job, have fitted Lumenition kits to friends cars and these have worked well too. These guys are also worth a try: http://www.h-h-ignitionsolutions.co.uk/ Darren

You know you do.....

I was contacted by a very sweet old lady from down in Plymstock, Devon who has recently had to give up driving and wanted help selling her 1979 Dolomite 1850, which she has owned from new. Anyone looking for a bit of a project? So here are the good and bad points... 2 Owners from new, but same family at same address Genuine 54000 miles Tahiti Blue I collected it as a non-runner, but just needed a fuel pump and it now starts on the key. Everything on the car seems to work, except the wipers which don't park. MoT expired July 2016 It does have some issues, which are: Bodywork 3 of the doors will need replacing, the other needs some repair work. Will need a new NS Sill and repair to rear arch Hole in boot floor where it meets the inner arches NS front wing has had a parking bump, but would pull out easy. Boot Lid corners need a repair Front valance needs a repair Inside A-Pillars also need welding Chrome is pretty good, but some trim will need replacing. Interior Drivers Seat is well worn Passenger Seat has a split as does the rear seat back Loads of pictures attached and a short video of her running. I have driven her for a couple of miles and she starts, drives and stops very well. This car is very savable and would make an excellent project. Customer is looking for around £950, but I'm sure she will take a sensible offer. If I can't sell it for her, then I may restore myself! Please message me if you're interested Video & Images below.

Mine is wired up with the Fuel Pump relay which switches off after a couple of seconds if you don't crank the engine, but I must confess to bypassing this and powering up and leaving on for a bit when I was getting things set-up in the early days, but only a handful of times, but maybe that caused some damage. We'll see how it goes. Darren

Just a standard length bung and the sensor is at around 1 O'clock. Darren

Good news is that the new o2 sensor has done the trick and everything is working again. Not so good news is that I did have to pay some import charges which meant it was only a small saving on buying from a UK supplier, but no big deal. A bit curious as to why it only lasted a few thousand miles, will be more curious if this one does the same.... Darren

Pretty confident the wiring is OK, has been working fine since conversion. I have used silicone spray in my garage, but not anywhere around the engine bay. I do use an additive: http://www.millersoils.co.uk/products/vspe-power-plus-multishot/624 but I did contact Millers to ask if it was safe with Injectors & o2 sensors, which they confirmed it was. New o2 sensor is due for delivery today, so should know by early next week it it was the problem. Darren

No dilema Phil, just it's not working and I want to get it resolved within the warranty period of the controller. I appreciate the o2 sensor isn't critical as the car has been set-up on a RR, but it's a useful diagnostic tool if nothing else. I have a new Bosch sensor coming from across the pond for $63 delivered (hoping it sneaks through customs without any import charges ), so hopefully that will sort it. Thanks to all Darren