S13link additional sensor wiring help

[James Clarke]

Hi all, 

I've got my first real ecu, G4x S13link, after years of running a chipped oem ecu and an apexi avcr.

I have some questions about how I can wire in additional/aftermarket sensors. Such as:

Cam trigger

Crank trigger

Boost control solenoid

Knock sensor

Intake air temp sensor 

Innovate motorsport oil pressure and temp and gauge

Innovate motorsport wideband and gauge

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In short, the basic question is can the factory wiring harness (irrelevant of condition for the purposes of this question) be used with aftermarket sensors in the same way injectors can be swapped out.

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For the crank trigger I assume I will need an expansion loom as there is no factory wiring for a crank sensor on the CA18DET. However, is it possible to use the factory plug for the sensors replacing the other oem parts? 

For example, rather than wiring the cam sensor to an expansion loom, can I wire it into the pins on the factory ecu plug originally used for the CAS as it is replacing those sensor input/outputs? If this is possible, does the ecu need to be told in the software that the sensor type has been changed here? 

The same question applies to most of the other sensors I have, such as the MAF wiring for an IAT sensor and the Knock sensor wiring for a more modern donut type Knock sensor? 

As for the boost control solenoid, I currently have the solenoid that I have been running for the AVCR, can this be wired into the factory boost control pins on the ecu plug? 

Finally, the Innovate components, I would like to have these sensors feed the ecu and the guages with information. The wideband has separate wires for this so it should be as simple as wiring it into the factory wiring for the oem narrowband O2. 

However the oil pressure sensor does not have extra wiring for this purpose as far as I'm aware. If this is the case can the pressure sensor be wired into the gauge and be spliced into the oem wiring to feed information to both the gauge and the ecu? Does anyone know if this would cause interference or a bad signal? 

 

I hope I've been clear in explaining what I'm trying to do, thank you in advance to anyone who can assist with this. It's my first time using a standalone ecu.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Adamw]

For the cam and crank sensor these need to be connected to trigger 1 and trigger 2 inputs.  These are both available either at the main ecu header (check the pinout in the manual) or at the original CAS plug.  Most commonly you would just cut the original CAS plug off the loom and run 2 new shielded wires from there to the new cam and crank sensors.  Yes you will need to set the ecu up with the correct trigger settings for the new trigger system.

 

59 minutes ago, James Clarke said:

The same question applies to most of the other sensors I have, such as the MAF wiring for an IAT sensor and the Knock sensor wiring for a more modern donut type Knock sensor? 

Doesnt the CA18 have a factory IAT sensor?  If not the expansion loom may be easier for the IAT.  The MAF loom only have a AN Volt input from memory so cant be used directly for a temp sensor.  Knock control wiring is easy, set up any tuning is probably best left for someone experienced.  

 

1 hour ago, James Clarke said:

As for the boost control solenoid, I currently have the solenoid that I have been running for the AVCR, can this be wired into the factory boost control pins on the ecu plug?

Yes.

 

1 hour ago, James Clarke said:

Finally, the Innovate components, I would like to have these sensors feed the ecu and the guages with information. The wideband has separate wires for this so it should be as simple as wiring it into the factory wiring for the oem narrowband O2. 

However the oil pressure sensor does not have extra wiring for this purpose as far as I'm aware. If this is the case can the pressure sensor be wired into the gauge and be spliced into the oem wiring to feed information to both the gauge and the ecu? Does anyone know if this would cause interference or a bad signal? 

The Analog wideband can go into the narrowband o2 input yes.  Note Innovate doesnt have an analog ground so make sure the black wire is connected to the engine block for best chance of success.  You wont be able to connect the oil press/temp sensors to the ecu - the innovate does something really weird with measuring those sensors - they only have a single analog to digital converter for reading the two sensors, it constantly swaps back and forwards between the two sensors and turns a pull-up on/off everytime it does that so the ecu will see all this weird behaviour.   

[James Clarke]

On 6/15/2023 at 2:11 PM, Adamw said:

The Analog wideband can go into the narrowband o2 input yes.  Note Innovate doesnt have an analog ground so make sure the black wire is connected to the engine block for best chance of success.   

Hi, first off, thank you for all of your help, you've pretty much answered all of my questions! 

I only have one further query, the above ground (black) wire you have said to earth to the block. Are you referring to the ground for the factory O2 on the harness, pin 115 on the ECU header is the O2 ground, so do you mean that wire needs to be connected directly to the block as opposed to the sensor? 

Or do you mean the sensor itself, which currently connects solely to the guage in standard form, needs an extra ground to the block? 

Thank you again!

 

Apologies, I have another question regarding boost solenoid. 

Is the solenoid powered directly from pin 5 (aux 1) and then to a specific ecu ground? Or can it be grounded to chassis? 

Thanks.