STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!

Fri Feb 3 08:29:40 CST 2006

I'm now pursuing this Outfit:

http://www.ecudirect.com/index.asp

...for my ECM-rebuild since I can afford to wait... Ty up on cinderblocks and all....

I got a brand new set of Lucas standard-impedance disc-injectors (36lb as I recall) so I guess your upgrade is not something I'll be pursuing.  Thanx anyway....

Now how about a line on REPROGRAMMING SYSTEMS-- or BM Computer, if you know how to raise the dead!

D.O.
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim Sloan 
To: 'DOlivares' 
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 8:21 AM
Subject: RE: STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!

Dennis,

I live in Lawrence, Kansas, but you can still swing by if you want.

The driver upgrades are for people running low impedance, peak and hold injectors.  I learned how to swap them out a few years ago, as people became interested in running larger injectors.  I don't do any rebuilding or repair besides that.  I don't know anyone that rebuilds them.  I think you can still buy a new or reconditioned ecm from GM.  NAPA also sold them at one time.  I don't know if they take your core.

Jim

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  From: DOlivares [mailto:seravilo at netzero.net] 
  Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 7:56 AM
  To: Jim Sloan
  Subject: Re: STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!
  Importance: High

  Aren't YOU the one(s) who lives in/near San Antone?  Maybe I could just pick it up!

  Now that Imus in the Morning is over, I'm about to take the new Typhoon-ECM out for a second test/learning drive; it's 47 degrees outside and I should have a better indication of whether the original problem has gone away... and pray that all those new horrors have disappeared overnight.

  Tell me about those FI-driver "upgrades."  I saw something about that stuff years ago... somewhere on these pages... and that's what I think has been wrong with my set-up, until I made the actual swap-out yesterday.  Do you rebuild these things?  Are all ECMs created equal?  Provided my old Syclone ECM is bad, who would be able to rebuild/upgrade it?

  Answer fast... before I think of another dozen questions!

  D.O.

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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jim Sloan 
  To: 'DOlivares' 
  Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 7:48 AM
  Subject: RE: STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!

  Dennis,

  Since I said that I had a spare ecm, I have sold two.  I have another one with an injector driver upgrade, and I usually sell them for $75.  Let me know if you are interested.  I could send it to you as a loaner for a substitution test if you want......pay me if it works, or send it back.

  Your best option may be car-part.com.  1227749 and 16198263 are the 2 part numbers to look for.

  Let me know.

  Jim

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    From: DOlivares [mailto:seravilo at netzero.net] 
    Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 10:01 AM
    To: Jim Sloan
    Cc: syty at syty.org
    Subject: STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!
    Importance: High

    Jim,

        When you say you keep around a "Spare ECM," do you mean the plug-ins or the whole ECM Box?  Based on my latest tests, the FI Drivers-- and whatever controls them-- are being victimized by either a thermal or a timing (delay) problem.  I understand how SEUs can screw up chips IN SPACE or other rad-hostile environments, but I kinda figured I was safe from all that junk in my car!  I wonder who sent that cosmic ray my way...?

        I took out the 10-n-1 Interface yesterday but things are really no better.  The Injectors batch-pulse fine then weakly at unpredictable times and for durations up to 30 seconds until I reach full-warm-up after about 7 minutes, depending on ambient air-temp.  Sunday, the thing actually started pooping out (choking and sputtering but throwing nothing more than a Code 44, which is practically useless information!) on the expressway at 70mph... long after I was well into warm, closed-loopery.  This thing is getting REALLY BAD and, as admitted before, I don't really know what to do about it!  I can't even take it to a garage or even the dealer!  They know less than I do and will only pull all my goodies and restore me to overpriced NOS crap for well over a THOU$AND!  Do you know where I can get a new ECM... CHEAP?  Know anybody who reconditions old ECMs?  Electrodyne or Spearco or somone like that had a "E6" plug-compatible ECM which was PC-programmable, but I forgot all the details... maybe this is the time to go the DFI route once and for all...?  Unfortunately, neither my wallet or my temperament are willing to part with all that Delco firmware just yet.

        In a few hours, I'm gonna gut the whole ECM out of my still-on-jackstands Typhoon and do more swap-in tests on the Old Horse #773.  IF that solves my problem-- and I still have profound reservations-- I'll still need to do something in the way of rehabilitating my old MEMCAL or ECM-- not to mention the 10-n-1 upgrade I want to eventually put back.

    Any thoughts?

    D.O. 
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    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: DOlivares 
    To: Jim Sloan ; syty at syty.org 
    Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 12:06 PM
    Subject: Re: [Syty] Broke & Stumped!

    Thanks... so far, and happy New Year... et pax hominibus boni voluntatis!
    [You know who you are.]

    Unfortunately, I have tried all those diagnostic trees-- even a couple of bushes for good measure!  This episode has been going on for nearly a month.  As I said, I'm running out of hardware to swap-out.  The only things I haven't diddled with is the EST Module in the Distributor and of course the ECM/chip.  

    The reason I haven't fooled with those things is that the misbehavior complained of is SO PREDICTABLE and only afflicts COLD-START-UP conditions, except when it's really cold outside in which case I will get precisely ONE chug-a-lug spasm about 5 minutes into the run-up to full operating temperature... just after everything had been going just fine.  That's the worst of it... as far as I can tell without a scantool... seat-of-the-pants power and smoothness is better than ever, otherwise.  This is no "intermittent."  This is pure predictability!  And my experience with bad chips and modules is that they either fail outright or exhibit sporadic, random upsets... before failing outright.  That's not what's occurring.  Even so, I might drop in my spare EST (Holley Annihilator) just for laughs....

    Keep thinking... what else could it be???  What's the connection to cold/cool ambient temperature?

    D.O. 
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    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Jim Sloan 
    To: 'DOlivares' ; syty at syty.org 
    Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 8:11 AM
    Subject: RE: [Syty] Broke & Stumped!

    Happy New Year Dennis!

    I've had hardware problems with several of the 10-1 adapters.  You could swap back to the stock memcal (and map sensor) to rule that out, if your build isn't too radical.

    I usually keep at least one spare ecm for a substitution test, and have seen quite a few fail in weird ways.  Let me know if you need one.

    Sometimes it helps to go back to the basics, and follow the diagnostics in the service manual http://syty.org/old/d&e-code44.html .

    Just a few ideas, if you haven't already tried them.

    Jim  

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      From: syty-bounces at syty.org [mailto:syty-bounces at syty.org] On Behalf Of DOlivares
      Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 7:36 PM
      To: syty at syty.org
      Subject: [Syty] Broke & Stumped!
      Importance: High

      Who watches The Watcher?  

      Who advises The Guru?

      Who assists The Good Samaritan?

      I think we're about to find out pretty soon-- at least until I can get my Lapdog running again (and one of the diagnostic programs to troubleshoot my li'l pony):

      Meanwhile, I NEED HELP!  With my laptop in pieces all over the bench, I can't run DIACOM or DATALINK to give me clues about the usual suspects:

      Clean-livin' doesn't always pay off if my holidaze so far are any indication.  I spent Christmas Eve on a carlift taking apart my right-front axle-- again!-- after being assured by our local "Gear-Guru" (who fully rebuilt that differential less than 6 months before I started hearing that same CLUNKING on left turns again) that all I needed was a new cir-clip (GM #14041989) to keep the axle from popping-out of the side-gear in the differential.  HAH!  More bad advice and I ended up taking a cab home....  More about that Horror Show in a later mailing.

      Meanwhile, we got our first technical freeze down here in what was becoming tropical San Antone on Nov. 17th and our first hard-freeze, appropriately, on Dec. 7th, and somewhere in between those times ol' Syclone #773 began throwing fits during start-up and for the first 5 or 6 minutes until the water jacket hits and stays at 180° or so.  I'm stumped for the first time in a decade or more!  Here's what happens:

      Since the new Walbro fuel-pump went in a few months ago, cranking times are way down... engine catches pretty quick, but now it won't stay lit and "choke" with the new IAC, which went in along with a new TPS and remote-adjustable FPR about a month before the new Walbro.  Now, I have to feather the pedal once the ignition gets going and hold the throttle open a bit while the IAC hunts for about a dozen cycles making the tach swing about 1200 rpm back and forth until we hit the "sweet spot" and the engine takes off smoothly and the IAC-hunting stops, at least for a while.  Now, it's safe to put her in gear and drive away as long as I keep a little positive bias in the pedal for the next few minutes every time I have to slow down to an idle or coast speed.  

      THIS PROBLEM IS WICKEDLY WORSE ON COLD DAYS, where ambient air is in the 40s or below, which thankfully is rare.  (Ain't this global-warming great!)  However, on a couple of occasions when I did have to drive in the 30s-- and even after reaching full-warm-up temperature-- the engine starts cutting out seriously as the SES light comes on!  Now, we're talking some MAJOR pumping of the pedal to keep things lit and if I can get on a clear piece of road and cruise a spell at 35 mph or better the problem goes away completely, until I shutdown and the engine gets cold again.  I barely even recognize that SES light... hardly ever see it.  Driving on warmer days never sees a recurrence of that mid-period cutting-out, and idle is smooth as is the rest of drivability.  Warm start-ups see a few moments of that IAC-hunting, but the rpm-sweeps are only on the order of 500rpm and the whole anomaly goes away in about 30 seconds.  I've NEVER encountered anything like this in my many years of wrenching!  Now, it's time for some wretching!!  All that ever gets logged in the way of a trouble-code is 44... not too helpful!

      Naturally, I replaced the O2 sensor-- no improvement at all!  Everything described above instinctually told me this was a weird thermal transient in the injector-drive circuits or else the MAT, CTS or MAP I replaced (for the hell of it) 3 years ago needed to be switched again.  So I did... one at a time to see if I could fault-locate the culprit that way.  No dice!  I'm running out of hardware to replace!  I've even tried setting that 10-to-1 Chip to different settings, but the same nasty behavior persists-- the engine's as well as my own!

      WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT MY PROBLEM(S) IS?  Be nice, now....

      Dennis O.

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