MartinS Posted July 4, 2023 Report Share Posted July 4, 2023 So, over the last couple of days I had an electrical issue as described by my previous post. This may be related but may be a new problem so I decided to start a new post, happy for them to be merged. Issues solved as discussed, went for a roughly 50km drive yesterday, engine ran great, no issues, log looked good when reviewed later. This morning went to go for another drive. Engine started fine but stalled backing out of garage. Nothing unusual, not enough revs on my part. Re-started but ran very roughly for only 20 seconds. Was hooked up so started logging and opened Runtime Values to Trigger section. Restarted and Trigger 2 flashed red in Runtime Values and Trigger Errors accumulated. Spent a couple of hours checking the intake cam angle sensors. No problems found. Went to start again, unable to connect to ECU. 12V at the power-in pins of both A and B plugs. No fuel pump prime with ignition on, unable to connect, no activity from e-throttle. Power relay system to engine ancillaries appears to be fine: all relays (except fuel pump) clicking with ign on. When I look back at the log now, there are no Trigger 2 errors, all the errors are Trigger 1. I just don't think I imagined Trigger 2 flashing in the Runtime window though. Have attached the log of the second start. I'm at a bit of a loss now not knowing what to check next. Is there an internal fuse in the ECU? As noted, there is 12V to both ECU power-in pins, fuses test ok. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_qWlsRDmWXP_hIY-tvwh2w7twYj4X5yr/view?usp=sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adamw Posted July 4, 2023 Report Share Posted July 4, 2023 In your log even when it was running there were trigger errors clocking up and larges spikes in RPM. After it stopped you can see you attempted to start it a couple of times later but the RPM stayed at zero. So at least at that point the ecu was still working but wasn't receiving a trigger signal it understood. Possibly a bad ground or something. The first thing I would do to rule out the ecu is remove it from the car and power it up on the bench then see if you can connect to it with PC Link. If you can connect to it on the bench but not in the car then that would suggest there is a wiring issue. You only need 12V on pin A5 and gnd on pin A34 to power up on bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinS Posted July 4, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2023 Went out today and started going through wiring to check my wiring loom. I didn't find any problems but noticed my Wideband controller wasn't powering up. I've kind of separated all my wiring, checked power supplies and grounds to everything, didn't find any problems. This meant cutting and testing wiring to Wideband as is hardwired, then re-connecting the wires. Power and ground appropriate for everything engine related that I tested. Then, when I powered up to see if the Wideband worked, it did. Also, the fuel pump primed and the e-throttle started. Tried to connect to ecu and I could! Cranked, no error messages, no trigger errors. Everything seemed to work. Didn't start but I don't really have everything back together. I think you have the issue identified, my problem is going to be finding the source. Not the ECU. I think there must be some kind of ground fault occurring in the wiring loom; maybe a damaged 12v line leaking to a ground or something along those lines. With the tape removed, the loom wires are hanging free with most not touching. I think I'm going to have to get out my mag lens and start looking for damage. Something I pinched or nicked during recent troubleshooting? Ideas welcome. A side question: as I've been going through everything, I can't find my initial instillation instructions and am having doubts about which intake cam should be Trigger 2. Is it 1-3-5 or 2-4-6 for the EZ36 and what should the intake cam offsets be set at? Thanks Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adamw Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 Either cam will work for trig 2, just the trigger offset will be 360 different. Our default is the LH side which would be the 2/4/6 bank. For the VVT offsets you can use the cam angle test to determine, set the test pulse count to 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinS Posted July 5, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 Thanks Adam 360 degrees different or 180 degrees different...or are we looking at 720 degrees of rotation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adamw Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 There are 2 crank revolutions in a 4 stroke engine cycle, your cams have 3 teeth on them, so the way the ecu knows which crank revolution it is on is whether it saw 1 cam tooth or 2 cam teeth in the previous crank revolution. If you use the cam on the opposite side then the 1tooth or 2 teeth count result would be the opposite, so the trigger offset will be 1 crank revolution or 360deg different. Note some of this is assumption based on how our newer ecus sync, I dont know for sure what G4 does for its EZ36 sync but likely something like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinS Posted July 5, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 got it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinS Posted July 6, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2023 I don't know if you are able to give some guidance, but I really need it. Today, I went out to begin troubleshooting. Yesterday I had removed all the wiring loom tape and coverings to begin inspection of the loom (not the engine loom, the loom from ECU to power relays and connections to engine). This morning, I went out to check my Trigger 2 wiring (I did use LH Intake and have the correct offsets in place...self doubt is crushing me right now), checked all the power supplies again, and checked power to the ECU. Could connect to ECU, engine started, ran great. Inspected part of the loom, re-wrapped it, turned ignition on and got the cycling relays I haven't seen since the original problem a few days ago. Took the wrapping off, separated all the wires as best I could, still 2 Hz cycling relays. At a loss, I thought I'd start unplugging engine components. Unplugged the RH intake cam solenoid, and the clicking became a 2 Hz buzzing. Unplugged the LH cam solenoid, buzzing became softer. I began to wonder if my issue is in the engine wiring loom. I have a good backup engine loom which was working fine recently and is untouched by me (the one in place was rebuilt by me which seems like a really bad idea these days). I've spent the day installing it. Have only plugged in inlet cam sensors, knock sensors, and injectors. 12V to ECU through the two power wires to the ECU which are powered through a relay with power from the starter and alternator, have continuity and the relay is working, engine loom plugged in, ECU grounded through engine loom at point on block with M6 bolt, 2 cm from this is another M6 bolt with a 6 guage wire running directly to the battery -ve. Both very clean (have just rebuilt the engine and the block was cleaned at the machine shop). Unable to connect to ECU. Shouldn't I be able to? It's not connected to much so there should be some error messages but I can't connect. Is there another way to tell if it's on? If I take it out and bench test with 12V to the 2 pins and ground, how will I know it's on? My biggest problem is I'm unsure how to approach this now. It's completely unreliable with a recurring problem I'm unable to reproduce predictably or resolve when it does occur. Do these projects become untenable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinS Posted July 6, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2023 Today, I finished replacing my engine wiring loom, cleaned all my grounds coating them on the surface with dielectric grease and reorganized to make sure all engine related grounds were connected to the engine block ('star' pattern), and rewired my main relay box. I have rewired the relays with better quality connectors on the power lines and have simplified the current paths somewhat. Didn't find any specific issues but a couple of 'maybes' (some corrosion one ground point, maybe a bad solder joint in one of the power lines). Turned on and am able to connect to ECU, relays work appropriately. It remains to be seen whether the issue is solved. It's had episodes everything seems ok. Engine starts and runs but e-throttle has decided not to work and no oil temp signal. Both likely easy fixes. I'll post on what happens the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinS Posted July 18, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2023 Well, as Adam suggested, this was likely a ground issue. One ground had some corrosion when I checked them. Other possibility is a poor solder job on one of the power cables to my relay box. I can't tell for sure but it looks like maybe it was contaminated so had a poor connection or connection which failed. Either way, it's been over a week and everything is working as it should!! Also, did the Cam Angle Test as suggested and got my intake cam timing dialled in accurately. Nice feature! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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