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Ethanol Content Sensor shows Error


tbase

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ok, so car is running and ethanol sensor is a Continental.  I have pullup resistor on DI7 turned ON per instructions and it shows nothing.  For testing I turned the pullup sensor OFF and now I'm getting a reading.  I've attached a map.  Car is going in for tuning next week so there are some loose ends on it, but you can see what's going on and let me know if I made an error or not.

Thanks

E30 M3 Race 4.18.21.llg

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As far as I have seen all the contenintal ones and the small VDO one that we sell normally need the pull-up turned on.  The Siemens ones sometimes need a stronger external pull-up fitted.  I havent come across one where the pull-up needed to be off.  There are many no name brands and clones though so I can only speak from my experience.  If you are getting a frequency with the pull-up off then it suggests thats what it wants.  

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I have the ethanol sensor set up to an ecu ground in the A loom, lower right corner pin (not sure of number)

does it need to be on a sensor ground, would that matter?  I had it on unshielded cable and it was flashing a temperature error for my tuner so we couldn’t run on e85 today. Going to rewire it with shielded cable and change loom routing and see if I find an improvement. 

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Here is a diagram I just found online to show how mine is plumbed in, exactly like the link below I pasted.  So in theory wiring is alright, installed position is alright.  I'd prefer to test the sensor somehow to make sure it's the sensor before I start buying new parts.  What's next?

http://www.ecmtuning.com/wiki/_media/ethanolsensor:article_flex3.png

 

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If its got clean uncontaminated fuel in it then its output frequency should be between 50 and 150Hz.  If it is not outputing that then either the fuel is contaminated or the sensor is faulty.  The ecu cant influence the frequency it outputs.

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I do understand what you're saying.  What I'm asking is if there is a way to test the sensor with a multimeter or similar to see if it reads properly?  Or, will the fuel I'm running through it just cause an error cause it's leaded until I switch it to something unleaded or ethanol based?

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to update my post.  Something caught my eye and I quickly knew exactly that it was user error.  I switched the ground and signal wires on the harness connectors when installing and that's why it hasn't worked the whole time.  Keep it simple right?  Should have looked there first.  Car is running 112 fuel right now and showing 49.9Hz which makes sense as the fuel has no ethanol.  I'm going to dip it in some e85 while connected and test that for accuracy before I go back to the dyno.

 

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