Darren Groves

Hi Roger, I'm not adverse to moving away from EDIS & Coil Pack, but I do have a spare of each so they will be staying for this summer at least even if they are the cause of the problem (I hope they are!), they do date back to my Megajolt days so have done around 12-15k miles with no trouble. I really need to get the dash off the car so I can sort out the spaghetti behind, so removing the EDIS would simplify just a little, job for the winter. Darren

Slightly frustrating day today in that the car was running this morning, albeit not that great, to not starting this afternoon. So I know it's not the Fuel Pressure Regulator or pump, both swapped out an made no difference. The barbs on the plenum for FPR & MAP Sensor were both a little loose, so added some threadlock/sealer and tightened, but still no difference, fuel return working fine. Reloaded the firmware several times, even went back to the original version, then back to the latest with the same results. Just for the experimental purposes I highlighted all the cells on the VE table and brought them down, idle & AFR improved but looked a little erratic. No point in try tune out what appears to be a mechanical problem. I am now working on the basis it could be a weak spark due to a failing EDIS, Coil Pack or Crank Sensor, the weak spark leaving un-burnt fuel and giving the rich AFR Reading. Thought I'd check voltage at the Coil Pack & EDIS first and I had nothing, after some head scratching as I then realised I'd pulled the spade connector of the live feed . So with that reconnected I tried to start her up and nothing and now there was no spark..... . I maybe clutching st straws but I'm hoping the failing item has now failed completely, unfortunately my spare EDIS, Coil Pack & Sensor were at home and the car was at the workshop....job for tomorrow. I am supposed to be heading up to Sherborne this weekend in the Herald, but looking like the SLK will be called into action. Darren

IAT & Coolant both looked normal and no reason to think the fuel return is an issue though I will check. MAP reading was around 40kpa at idle IIRC which I think is where it's always been and TPS %'s look fine. The new regulator should land tomorrow and it's a fixed 3 bar, so here's hoping it's the problem. Darren

The new regulator is on the way, but before that arrives I was off to Powderham Historic Gathering today so a round trip of around 120 miles. Car was running very poorly when cold, got better when warm but lacking power, but done the round trip OK. On our return the exhaust tailpipe was sooty as were all the plugs, so have quickly plugged in the laptop to see that it's definitely way too rich now, the AFR at idle was between 10~11:1. I have loaded various recent tunes and imported the backed up AFR & VE tables from just after RR that were giving good AFR readings before, but still the same. Even though the Regulator gauge was reading 3bar I lowered the pressure to <2bar and no real change, disconnected air filter just in case it was clogged and just the same. Checked Air & Coolant temps and they seemed fine, WUE @ 100% over 60°C. Is there anything I missing here, any reason why it would just go way too rich when nothing has changed? Darren

I rechecked the pressure this morning and it's now up at 3.5bar, so have tweaked down again to 3bar, so seems it's struggling to keep a steady pressure. I have decided to buy the Webcon 3bar fixed pressure regulator just for peace of mind. Darren

There's a strainer/gauze on the pump pick-up and I have a inline filter also, so any crud should get caught. It was just odd that tapping the regulator body got the pressure back up in small increments, will just have to keep an eye on it. If it happens again I'll try the Webcon fixed pressure unit I think. Did you fit an inline pressure gauge to test the pressure of yours or just take it that is was accurate? Darren

Since my EFI conversion I have been using a Sytec Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator (this one). Went off in the car today and it felt a little reluctant when cold, then better when warm but not right. Got to where I was going, checked the gauge on the regulator and it was way down under 0.5bar. Slackened off the lock nut, wound the pressure up as far as it would go and it just about managed 3bar, which is where it was first set. I start tapping the regulator and the pressure started creeping up, wind it back down to 3bar and repeat the process until the adjuster is roughly back to where it was and the pressure doesn't increase with the tapping. Locked the adjuster and kept testing, all fine, drove home and still at 3bar. Seems to have been a bit of a hiccup with the regulator, but doesn't really instill me with confidence. In my experience if something goes wrong then fixes itself, it's just waiting to go wrong again, or am I worrying unnecessarily? I avoided the cheap eBay specials and thought Sytec was OK for quality? If it does it again I'll get something different, but any suggestions? It'd need to be one with the 2 barbs so it's a straight swap, Weber do both fixed pressure & adjustable, they OK or something else out there you'd recommend? Darren

Thanks for the reply. I think I've had a minor blonde moment as it is working, however in my defence the Warm-Up LED doesn't work any more and I had run the WU Auto Tune a few times in the last week and it had made corrections, but would appear that the enrichment curve was just too shallow. I have bumped it up across the temps a bit and I can see the AFR readings during WU are much happier now and the car drives better when cold. Lesson of the day - think things through before asking questions Darren

Recently I upgraded the firmware on my Microsquirt to MSExtra 3.4.2 to overcome an issue with the tacho. Since then the car has been fine but not a smooth during warm-up, so thought I'd investigate. I believe that the WUE isn't working as it's running lean during Warm-Up and the WLED isn't illuminating. I have just tried reinstalling the firmware, but that hasn't resolved it. Any thoughts? Darren

That was me.... As I discovered the outer layer of R9 fuel line is not designed to be submerged in fuel, so bought a length of this: https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/rubber-in-tank-fuel-hose-by-cohline-per-metre-2190-0615 which says it is. It's only been on a few weeks, so time will tell if it's up for the job. Darren

Hi, The OD on the top flange/plate is 56mm. I have a spare 'in stock' if you need any other dimensions, just let me know. Darren

Hi Roger, First thing I done after my RR session was to export all the tables and save the tune, at least you can go back to them if you start messing around and screw something up . Your numbers are close to what I got from a newly rebuilt 1300, but I'm not getting anywhere near the economy you seem to achieve. Not that I have been monitoring closely, but on a run back from Surrey a few weeks ago which included a bit of town driving, a bit of sitting in heavy traffic and a lot of 60-70mph cruising I got around 36mph. Did it fix the dip in revs as it drops back to idle? Mine idles around 850rpm but drops to 650/700rpm as you come to a stop, soon recovers but would be good to fix. Anyway, good result for you today . Darren

Hello Darren Is there a reason it has to rubber? Can you not just use some copper or steal tube either soldered or compression fittings? Roger The VW pump I use has some sort of semi-rigid plastic pipes, nylon?? who knows. But the pump I replaced was about 20 years old (bought 3 years ago). It seems much of the oe fuel pipes etc are now plastic, the ford ones are heat-shruck onto fittings, and hidden under a rubber outer. If you want r10, I think marine suppliers are a good source? unless they are still trying to flog their old stuff like many of the car accessory places. (been told by most of the local shops that the old r6 is fine...) Rubber is just easier I guess and that is how the pump comes. I have ordered from Merlin Motorsport (Nick's link) and this is described as 'In-Tank' so should be good for the job. I just didn't consider that the outer of the hose would be different to the inner....you live & learn! Darren

Thanks Nick. R10 it is.... Darren

Yes, there's a flange on the pipe, that's why I'm a bit concerned the softening has allowed it to slide off. The rubber hose also seemed a little short, like it had shrunk, but maybe I just cut it a little on the short side. Darren

So on my way home last Thursday the car stops 1/2 mile from home, fortunately that 1/2 mile is a quiet country lane and has a gentle slope down so I managed to get the car home easy enough. I could see what the problem was pretty quickly as there was no fuel pressure, I had left the gauge on the regulator and it was barely moving when the pump was turned on. The problem turned out to be the rubber hose between the pump motor and the outlet pipe had become detached. I had to extend this rubber hose so the pick-up would sit in the bottom of the tank, it was replaced with R9 fuel hose but does seem to have gone a bit soft, should it?. I'll swap out with a new bit and make it a bit longer so it's a little more 'on', but worried the softening of the hose was the reason it popped off. Since modifying the tank I've had a small leak from pump/tank seal, this is what the seal looked like when I took it off this morning, seams to have disintegrated a fair a bit. This is what is should look like. Will use a cork one going forward. Darren

Not my car btw.....it's on a NPT thread. I will try the the PTFE tape, I have some of that somewhere.... Darren

Can anyone recommend an effective fuel resistant thread sealer? Darren

Hi Roger, If I set the speed to normal the rev counter reads exactly double, hence the half speed setting, I put this down to it being wasted spark. On the old firmware I was using 'IGN (JS10)' as the output as that's what it defaulted to, but with new firmware there was a conflict if I used that so I used 'TACHOUT' instead, which seems more logical but wasn't an option before. The new firmware has changed the behaviour of the IAC a little bit, so I'll have to play with that, or try in closed loop as you have done. Darren

Not as long as I thought it would! Probably 15-20 minutes, though I had taken screenshots of all the settings and printed them off so I had everything in front of me. Good job done . Darren

So I'm now running Firmware MSExtra v3.4.2, got there as Nick suggested by just starting a new project from scratch and importing tables from the tune on the old firmware. I had to change the tacho output setting from this: To this: But the good news is that this has fixed the tacho dropping out whilst the over run fuel cut is operating. The car is not as smooth during warm-up as before, but I think this is due to the PWM Idle Duty settings, as the way you set the valve frequency is a little different between the two firmware versions. Darren

Just fitted a pair Rimmer's SS downpipes to a Triumph Stag, gearbox mounting brackets were completely p*ssed, had to cut them off and re-weld, sounds like the have a few issues with quality. I have fitted a few Bell manifolds from the TSSC Club shop and all fitted perfectly, though the last 6 Cylinder one I done the welds on the tube to flange had to be ground back to get them to clamp on. Darren

Yes, that's what I've got also and in PWM Warm-Up mode it has worked pretty good. They are slightly open even at fully closed, but this has never caused an issue as I just use the TB to set the idle speed. I had a selection of them at one point, they can get a bit sticky but a squirt of WD40 freed mine up no problem.

Makes sense, I am jumping a fair few firmware versions so I guess it was likely. I guess I could use an archive firmware that is closer to what I have currently, which would increase the chances of my msq file working, but I'd rather just use the latest version. Job for another day when I've got some time. Darren

So tried again this evening, ended up with the same result even with manually selecting the appropriate ini file. Here's the error I get once I have loaded the saved tune: Then if I load anyway I get the errors below. It's probably me doing something dumb..... Darren 46 Warnings: Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for amap_table1! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for amap_table2! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units.Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for cud in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:can_poll equal to the proposed Disabled Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:knkport equal to the proposed MS2 AD7/JS4 Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for knk_trtd! s found in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for knk_tadv! s found in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:spk_config_spka equal to the proposed JS10 Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:rtbaroport equal to the proposed MS2 AD6/JS5 Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:ego2port equal to the proposed MS2 AD6/JS5 Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:flexport equal to the proposed PE0/JS7 Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for pwmidle_close_delay! s found in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for pwmidle_pid_wait_timer! s found in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for pwmidle_targ_ramptime! s found in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for smap_injadv3! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: baroCorrVals array size does not match the currently loaded configuration, rescaled .msq values to match configuration. Warning: baroCorrDelta array size does not match the currently loaded configuration, rescaled .msq values to match configuration. Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:tacho_opt3f equal to the proposed IGN (JS10) Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fc_ego_delay! s found in current configuration, seconds found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for pwmidle_shift_open_time! s found in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for smap_table1! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:launch_opt_pins equal to the proposed PE0/JS7 Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:N2Oopt_pins equal to the proposed PE0/JS7 Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:N2Oopt_pins2 equal to the proposed IAC1+2 Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for RotarySplitLoad! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:testop_coil equal to the proposed CoilA Warning: Parameter in .msq, but not valid for current firmware: No options found for Bit EcuParameter:testop_inj equal to the proposed Neither Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for smap_table3! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for idleadvance_delay! s found in current configuration, sec found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: idleadvance_curve array size does not match the currently loaded configuration, rescaled .msq values to match configuration. Warning: idleadvance_loads array size does not match the currently loaded configuration, rescaled .msq values to match configuration. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for smap_injadv1! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for smap_injadv2! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim1! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim1doz! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_table1! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_table3! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_table1doz! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_table3doz! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim2! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim3! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim4! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim2doz! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim3doz! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units. Warning: MSQ Units Mismatch for fmap_trim4doz! kPa found in current configuration, % found in MSQ, values were not converted to new units.