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Continental ethanol sensor


motomattx

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I have a Continental ethanol sensor wired to the DI6 on the expansion harness, for some reason my ethanol percentage shows 0 even though when I look at the frequency on DI6 its showing 169hz, any suggestions?  When I unplug the sensor the frequency drops to zero also, so I know that the sensor is outputting a signal at least.

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Would you really want the sensor to show 100% ethanol if you had a tank full of water though?  The fault value that is used when the sensor is in error condition is user configurable.  Most users choose to use 0% as the fault value so that the safest ignition and boost map is used when the sensor is in error condition, that also means the leanest fuel settings will be used so it is a bit of a compromise whatever you do.

Zw1XFTS.png

 

You can view the Ethanol sensor status in the general runtimes.

WEQEfBW.png

 

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This is true, I dont run anything but ethanol though, so I guess I can set the default to 50% or so.  Whats the chances of a brand new sensor being bad though? or a brand new tank of ethanol from a 6 month old gas station being full of water? the car runs the same as it always did with my other ecu plugged in.  So if I take the sensor out of the fuel line and clean it out and leave it plugged in with no fuel in it, then it should not be outputting any frequency at all then correct? or no? looking for a way to test the sensor to eliminate it being bad or water contamination.

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25 minutes ago, motomattx said:

So if I take the sensor out of the fuel line and clean it out and leave it plugged in with no fuel in it, then it should not be outputting any frequency at all then correct? or no? looking for a way to test the sensor to eliminate it being bad or water contamination.

Im pretty sure that would still be an error condition and it would output 170Hz.  Best plan would be to plug one side and fill it with petrol.  Should then show near 50Hz and 0%eth and sensor status should show "ok".

 

27 minutes ago, motomattx said:

Whats the chances of a brand new sensor being bad though?

If you know for sure it is a genuine Conti then I would say slim.  On the other hand if it was cheaper than about USD150 then it will be a Chinese clone and the chances are much higher.

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It was an Ebay sensor so im sure its junk now that I have researched it better, going to Summit racing to just get a real one, I didnt know that there were knock offs of this sensor.  Someone needs slapped up side the head for making junk like this, it looks identical too but when I look closer it doesnt have the pins labeled like the one that Summit sells.

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Just to update the thread in case someone else has the problem in the future, the sensors from the internet are likely to be 90% knock off junk that either dont work or wont read the proper level of ethanol, they look so close to the real thing that I could easily return the fake in the real GM/AC Delco package and I'm sure that they wouldnt know any different, they knocked off the look THAT good, the fake cost me almost as much as the real one so I had no reason to believe that it wouldnt work or be legit.  After testing the defective one on the floor outside of the car and finding that it still sends a signal that was the same as when it was in the car, I knew it wasnt right.  Traveled after work and picked up the real deal, came back and plugged it in and it works great.  Lesson learned and a warning to others to buy only from a trusted source that is willing to stand behind what they are selling and dont buy knockoffs, if its to cheap to believe then its junk.

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