A quirky running issue that came from nowhere....

alackofspeed · Post by **alackofspeed** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:50 pm

Dear all,

I have a problem with my K20A2 running on K-pro, so first things first:

- serial number : 2003 (if the box supplied with the K-pro is correct)
- the calibration : Hondata supplied PRA - K20A2 dyno tuned (310cc)
- a datalog : I can't provide this, and I will explain why below.
- what sort of vehicle : mid engined self built car
- what sort of ECU : 2004 UK Civic Type-R PRA
- The engine is totally standard, but the exhaust is different to cater for the geometry of the car.

The story of the problem, is as follows:

This morning I starting driving to my local track. I met my friend on my way, and pulled alongside his car.... at this point my car cut out. Naturally I assumed this was a totally freak occurance so tried to restart the car, and nothing happened. Given the car cut out all of a sudden, I thought the first thing to check was fuses / relays. Sadly all the fuses and relays were fine.

I then lifted the engine cover, and started checking sensor plugs for moisture, or damage, and that they were fine. I checked for power at sensors, coils, and found there to be no problem at all.

Fortunately I had my laptop with me, so I plugged that into to the ecu to check the sensor values (with the engine not running) were sensible, and they were.

So again I tried to crank the engine, and it did eventually fire, but ran exceptionally rough and there was clearly an excessive amount of fuel being injected, going on the vapourised fuel being pumped out of the exhaust.

I concluded I wasn't going to solve the issue at the side of the road, and with attendance at the track being my priority, I got the car recovered to my home, and I went to the track.

On returning from the track, I thought for interest's sake that I would try and fire the engine.... it fired up first time and ran like the sewing machine it normally is. So I left the engine running, and it warmed up fine, and appeared very happy. Then all of a sudden, like when I was meeting my friend earlier in the day, the engine died.

Again I tried to crank the engine but nothing happened other than lots of fuel vapour came from the exhaust pipes, and engine refused to start.

When I got the engine started this evening it was my intention to get my laptop and log the ECU activity, but sadly I couldn't as the engine died at the very time I was about to collect a laptop.

What I have been able to establish from K-pro, is that the tps signal seems fine (progressive response with throttle opening), and all the sensors are giving sensible figures to ECU.

For the moment I'm a little short on ideas, so would welcome any comments on logical diagnostic processes.

Thanks,
John

Post by **Spunkster** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:41 am

You will need to check for error codes, and have your laptop ready when you are trouble shooting so that you can daalog and see what is going on.

alackofspeed · Post by **alackofspeed** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:44 am

Datalog attached. I would really value your comments.

Thanks.

Post by **Spunkster** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:43 pm

IS this a datalog of the normal operation or showing a problem?

alackofspeed · Post by **alackofspeed** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:12 pm

The datalog was taking when the engine was not running correctly.

I have since found the problem, but do not know what was causing it. The reason I say was, rather than is, is that the fault has now gone, and hasn't yet come back. :?

What I established was that injector 1 was seeing 12v as soon as the ecu was switched on, so even during the pump prime, injector 1 was at 100% duty.

Following discovery of the injector being at 100% constantly, I checked the ecu for any stray wires touching pins, and could see no evidence of this. I did in the process of checking the plugs, mildly disturb the ecu - a couple of gentle knocks with my hands (the ecu is bolted to the chassic).

Having concluded something was not quite right, and I was powerless (it seemed) to do anything about it, just out of pure curiousity I started the engine before heading indoors. Much to my surprise the engine ran perfectly :shock: , and continued to do so for 15 minutes, by which time I'd had enough of watching the engine run, so turned it off.

Very curious. Is there a way of explaining the ECUs behavior, or is it just a perculiar event?

Hopefully if I try the car tomorrow, it will run like normal. We will see......