PitBull

I got some time with the car yesterday and installed firmware one release back from the current and the problems seem to have gone away. Thank you for your assistance with this issue.

I haven't yet got my car out of storage to try this, but I was wondering -- do I need to roll back to 5.5.7 (two releases back)? Or do you think rolling back to 5.6.4 would be sufficient (one release back)?

Ok, thanks for the info. Apparently winter isn't over yet here in the Northeast US, so the car is parked again for a while and I haven't had a chance to try your suggestion yet. Once I do I'll let you know the result.

You've got mail

I recently upgraded the firmware in my Link Storm (old style) and I am experiencing two issues since then that I think are fuel-related. I didn't take note of the version it was at before but I think it was from mid-2016. So the first problem is with starting. Prior to the update, the car started fine under any condition hot or cold engine, hot or cold weather. After the update, the car starts ok when the weather is cold and engine is cold. But if the weather is warm or if the weather is cold but the engine is warm, it will stall about 1-2 seconds after firing. If I turn the key off and try again, the same thing will happen. If I keep turning the key off and then trying to start, the result is the same. However, if after the first try and stall, I leave the key ON and then crank it again to start, it usually starts and runs. The second issue has to do with the Dual fuel table. I have the Dual Fuel table mode set to "Overlay". This table is active when DI1 is ON. However, when I turn on DI1, the engine stalls almost immediately and from what I can tell I think it's because the fuel is cut way down. This table worked fine before the firmware update. As an experiment, I put all zeros in Table 2, which should effectively do nothing since it's an overlay table. However, even with zeros, the engine still stalls. As a final test, I disabled Table 2, and with it disabled, the engine does not stall when DI1 is ON. I'm not sure what steps to take next to try and troubleshoot. Can the firmware be downgraded or is that a bad idea?

Ok, I understand better now about the difference between using GP output and injection. I'm pretty certain of the answer already (no), but can an Aux output be utilized in group/staged injection?

Thank you for clearing that up for me

With CTC turned off, is there some form of temperature compensation going on in the fuel equation and the IAT trim and Warmup enrichment are tweaking that? Or do those tables represent the only compensation when CTC is off? So if they are zero, there is essentially no compensation for charge temperature going on?

Okay that's good information to have. My Storm only has 4 injector drivers so I have to use a GP output. If I upgrade someday I'd definitely switch it over to use an injector driver...

Yes, I have an Aquamist HSF4 system which varies the methanol flow using a "fast acting" solenoid valve and constant pump pressure. But it gets fed a PWM signal from an Aux output on Link ECU, rather than tapping into one of the fuel injectors. This allows me to control methanol flow independent of the fuel flow. I have the Link set up so if it hits MAP limit, it turns off the PWM signal to the Aquamist, which causes it to quit injecting pretty quickly. Much faster than if it was just relying on variable pump pressure to control flow.

Okay, I understand that. Can you clarify for me -- is CTC a better way for the Link to have a Charge Temperature value for it's fueling equation? As in, if it's turned off, it uses another less-accurate method (i.e. the IAT value)? Or if CTC is turned off, is there no charge temp correction going on except for what's in the Warmup Enrichment and IAT Trim tables?

The nozzles are Aquamist water/meth nozzles, but it has a fast-acting valve just before the nozzles that cuts the flow off very quickly (though not as quickly as a fuel injector of course). So it would mainly be the wetting of the intake pipe that would be providing the methanol once the cut hit.

I was doing some initial experimentation with the Charge Temp Correction (CTC) feature on my (Blue) Storm. First, when I turned CTC "on", I noticed there were values in the Charge Temp Approximation Table which looked like a sensible starting point. Then, on a graph, I logged the ECT, IAT, and Charge Temp. However, what I noticed is that the logged Charge Temp with CTC "on" was the same as with it "off". Turning it on or off made no difference in how the Charge Temp value responded to RPM and MGP. I thought maybe with CTC turned off, it used some kind of default response. So with CTC turned on, I modified some values in the Approximation table. As expected, changing these values caused the Charge Temp to change as well. However, when I turned CTC "off" the Charge Temp response stayed the same as if it were on. So what I am experiencing is that it seems like CTC is always active, whether it's turned on or off. But when it's on, I can edit the approximation table. when it's off, the table is blank. Am I misinterpreting what I'm seeing, or is there something wrong?

Hello, sorry I didn't get back to this until now... Adam: What I meant is that if I use fuel cut, the fuel injectors will shut off and the gasoline will be cut nearly instantaneously. However, since the methanol nozzles are probably about 2 feet before the throttle body, even shutting off the nozzles upon hitting MAP limit will leave a certain amount of methanol in the intake tract. I don't know if that amount would be enough to cause a lean condition and possibly detonation or preignition. I do realize that if it is an extremely lean mixture, it would just misfire, rather than cause detonation. At maximum injection, the methanol is accounting for approximately 30% of the total fuel, so if the gas were shut off but that amount of methanol remained, perhaps that would not be enough to cause any issues? The more I think about it, maybe it would still be better for me to use fuel cut, rather than ignition cut. I definitely won't try the Rotary setting after your warning, Scott.

I'm running methanol injection on my engine so I currently have the MAP limit mode set to "Ignition" since I figure if I use fuel cut, with the methanol keeps flowing the engine may experience a dangerously lean condition. However, I have on occasion hit the MAP limit in 1st or 2nd gear and in one instance it resulted in a very loud bang out the exhaust, presumably because the unburned fuel ignited somewhere in the exhaust. It was loud enough that it worries me that it could damage something so I'd like to prevent it from happening again. I notice the MAP limit mode "Rotary" says that it limits fuel and ignition. Is there any reason this mode shouldn't be used with a piston engine? It seems that cutting ignition AND fuel would be best for my situation. I am using sequential fuel injection mode.