Timing Light Issues - Link G4X GTRLink BNR32

[magguza]

I'm going to try to be as detailed as possible, however I've never dealt with electrical components on this level before so please pardon my lack of knowledge. I'm having issues getting my timing light to flash on my car to setup the trigger offset. This is my current ignition setup on my BNR32.

 

Ignition Setup

• Hitachi R35 Coil Pack Conversion (5000~kms since purchased / installed)
• New BCPR7EIX NGK Iridium Plugs
• Wiring Specialties Harness
• Actron CP7527 Inductive Timing Light

Injectors and all coils except the first are currently disconnected. I've bought brand new NGK plugs as I thought the old ones might have been the cause previously. I'm currently on my second timing light, both were new and confirmed the first worked on my friend's stock BCNR33 using the induction loop behind the igniter. Since I'm using the Wiring Specialties R35 coils to RB26 harness, I do not have the induction loop in the rear and am putting the induction clamp over a spark tester that sits between the first coil and the first spark plug. As a recommendation to my car previously not sparking as often as it should and looking "weak", I have de-pinned the first coil connector and jumpered only the harness signal wire to the coil. The power and ground to the coil is directly from the battery. The wiring setup that I have can be seen here.

 

What Happens / Process

On PCLink both triggers and RPM were showing after receiving solutions to my previous post for help. I attempted to crank the car with the timing light attached but it has never flashed once on my vehicle.

• Cranking with plug visible (PRIOR to getting power and ground from battery, connector is not de-pinned here)
• Cranking with de-pinned connector / power and ground from battery
• Cranking with de-pinned first connector but another Hitachi R35 coil in it's place (trying to confirm it's the same with another coil)

The flashes on the spark tester are consistent after getting power to the coil from the battery, but the timing light has never worked. I recently powder coated the covers where the ground sat before and the wire isn't in exactly best shape. I thought it may have been the ground so today I ran a jumper from the ground wire pictured to another chassis ground and another attempt from the wire straight to the negative terminal of the battery. Both attempts didn't change anything. The car did run before switching to the LinkECU and adding fuel components. CAS was in the exact same position, R35 coils and harness were already there as well. Truly lost, is there anything I should be checking?

[Adamw]

Looks like you should have enough spark for it to start and I dont see any issues with your setup.  Some timing lights just arent great when it is a low voltage spark in open air or when the offset is so far out that the plug is firing in a vacuum rather than compression.  With the plug in the cylinder under compression or the engine running it will probably start working.  

The RB trigger offset seems vary a lot, but most commonly it is around -85.  Can you try it there.  Also attach your map and a log of it cranking, I will take a quick look.

 

[magguza]

I narrowed the inconsistent spark to the ground wire on the powdercoated cover. The harness is fully re-pinned and all coils are connected, but the ground wire previously on the cover now goes straight to the battery. It sparks every cycle as it should with this setup but it still doesn't run. The files are too big to attach again so I'll google drive all.

• Cranking with all coils connected, no injectors, -85 timing offset
• Cranking with all coils and injectors connected, -85 timing offset
• eTune map

[Adamw]

So the timing light works now?

[magguza]

Still nothing. Should I be messing with the trigger offset values to try and get the spark to align with compression like you previously said? I can't think of anything else to get the light flashing besides getting the car running.

[Adamw]

Ok.  There is a lot of fuel settings I dont like in that map you have so it is potentially a fuel problem too.  Does that spark tester thing you are using have an adjustable gap - if not how big is the gap?  If you had an old spark plug lying around you could open the gap up to say about 3mm and put that in cyl 1, this would increase spark voltage and may help the timing light work.

Also increase dwell in the orange cells below as per this example may help:

[magguza]

The spark tester is not adjustable from what I've seen, I couldn't find anything online about the gap it comes with as well. I used the best of the previous sparkplugs which I confirmed were firing and gapped it to 3mm, then adjusted the dwell table like you did above. The timing light did not go off with any of these changes but it looked like the light on the spark tester was much, much brighter. I played around with the timing offset and attempted to crank for a timing light flash between -275 and -55 (increments of 30 degrees) but none resulted in a timing light flash either.

[Adamw]

Does timing light flash with the ignition test turned on?

[magguza]

I gave it another try this morning without doing anything other than the previous suggestion and it worked. The timing light button is kind of wonky but it flashes now with the updated dwell settings and gapped old plug. Thanks for the help, it was 3 weeks of stressing and ordering/returning parts.

[magguza]

19 hours ago, Adamw said:

There is a lot of fuel settings I dont like in that map you have so it is potentially a fuel problem too. 

Sorry for the double post, I found out that my timing offset is approximately -75 (around the 5th timing mark on the pulley, 20 degrees stock for BNR32s). However it still won't start. Could you go into the fuel settings that you didn't particularly like? I would prefer to learn about this stuff for a career or future projects as well.

[Adamw]

5 hours ago, magguza said:

I found out that my timing offset is approximately -75 (around the 5th timing mark on the pulley, 20 degrees stock for BNR32s).

Was the with the "lock timing to" box also set at 20?

 

5 hours ago, magguza said:

Could you go into the fuel settings that you didn't particularly like?

1. Load equation source is set to BAP/MAP Xover - this means there is no compensation for manifold pressure off boost.  It will go lean when the idle valve opens and rich when it closes etc.  Generally MAP is fine for the RB26's, unless it is a very aggressive drag engine with no idle valve etc.  I suggest set it to MAP at least to start.
2. Wall wetting compensation and first crank prime are both enabled, should be one or the other.  I suggest turning off wall wetting compensation for now to keep things simple. Set first crank enrich to 200%.
3. Charge temp table is all zeros.  This does most of your warmup enrichment in modeled mode.  Copy the example table from the help file for a better starting point.
4. There is a 4D fuel table enabled with some large compensations in it.  Genereally for tuning with alpha-N, you should start with this zeroed out, tune the entire main VE table on lowest boost setting, then increase boost and only add compensation into the 4D table if it is needed.  Generally with GTR's you will find this 4D table will be negative numbers at higher boost (ie pulling fuel out) - unless fuel pump or something isnt keeping up.  Not adding fuel like this file has.  
5. Closed loop lambda is enabled from 500RPM and 0°C and there is no lambda sensor assigned.  Suggest you turn this off until it is tuned.
6. The VE table doesnot look typical, you would usually see numbers around 100-110 at peak torque.  This file has ~70.  So as a better starting point I would start by highlighting the whole fuel table and type "*1.5", then enter, this will multiply the whole table by 1.5.

So not all those points above are going to influence start up, but some certainly will.  Many are however factors that are going to make tuning more difficult so best to start with them set appropriately. 

I would also do an injector test to confirm each injector is clicking if you havent done so already, and confirm fuel pressure in the rail.  If still no go with those changes then try a squirt of starter fluid into the intake as a quick confirmation it is a fuel issue.  

[magguza]

Lock ignition timing was set to 10. Would my timing offset have been the -85 that you mentioned if I had set lock to 20?

I left most of the settings where they were from the map that has been going back and forth between the tuner and I. I'll suggest these changes to him instead of doing it myself as I don't want to mess with his work.

[Adamw]

3 hours ago, magguza said:

Lock ignition timing was set to 10. Would my timing offset have been the -85 that you mentioned if I had set lock to 20?

Yeah, if you want to use the 20 deg mark on front cover you should have had the "lock timing to" set to 20.  I suspect your correct offset will be -85.