STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!

eqs at frontiernet.net eqs at frontiernet.net
Fri Feb 3 14:02:13 CST 2006


Get in touch with Bruce Plecan of the turbo regal web site since he 
took the stock sy/ty computer and made it work for the GN motor.
He has a wealth of knowledge on this subject.

Quoting DOlivares <seravilo at netzero.net>:

> BM Computer was good because they gave me a nice canned set of 
> hex-tables to correspond to the changes I wanted to program FOR THE 
> GN TURBO only.  I'm trying to get the equivalent set-up for the SyTys 
> now... from the same outfit if possible
>
> If you knew how long it took me to wean myself off my suped-up 
> Commodore-64 to a PC, you'd understand my reluctance to trash my 
> existing hardware/software and learn something else....
>
> D.O.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jim Sloan
> To: 'DOlivares'
> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 8:41 AM
> Subject: RE: STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!
>
>
> I don't know about BM computer, but the Pocket Programmer should work 
> for most sy-ty chips.  Transtronics (http://xtronics.com/) had 
> upgraded the programmer to handle more chips, and you may need to do 
> that, if you want multichip capabilities.  Carl, at Transtronics, 
> could tell you if your model would work with the chips you want to 
> use.
>
> Datamaster is probably the most popular way to monitor the ALDL.  
> Tunerpro is a free download, and can be used to monitor the aldl, and 
> edit binaries.  I also have Promgrammer and TunerCat for editing.  
> Promgrammer is pretty cheap.  TunerCat is more expensive.
>
> Emulators, like the Ostrich and Romutator, are useful if you have a 
> wild build and need to make lots of changes to get things running.  I 
> used one when I first started burning 50 lb chips, and 55 lb chips.   
> There wasn't much to go on then, except stock bins.  A chip 
> programmer is sufficient for most people, and is cheaper.
>
> Jim
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  From: DOlivares [mailto:seravilo at netzero.net]
>  Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 8:09 AM
>  To: Jim Sloan
>  Cc: syty at syty.org
>  Subject: Re: STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!
>  Importance: High
>
>
>  I've been pouring over his 'Site the past week and been thinking 
> about the very same thing!
>
>  I never really got into reprogramming the SyTy stuff and all my 
> experience was based on work with the GN/TTA Buick chips after I 
> invested in all that BM Computer/Pocket-Programmer stuff years ago.  
> However, now that I want to move into the SyTy world with this gear, 
> THOSE CLOWNS WON'T RESPOND TO ANY OF MY E-QUESTIONS and may well be 
> out of business... or just not give a damn!
>
>  I'm not sure which direction to take now and keep hearing about 
> Tuner-Cats, Ostriches, Moates' wares-- and now you and your kind 
> offer!
>
>  Whatever I end up with, I would like to be able to DO MYSELF and not 
> have to rely on the mails-- and other strangers.  I am also reluctant 
> to part with all my familiar BM Computer junk and learn a new system 
> UNLESS I could be assured it was a more CAPABLE or versatile than 
> what I got.  Any ideas in this regard?
>
>  D.O.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Jim Sloan
>  To: 'DOlivares'
>  Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 7:55 AM
>  Subject: RE: STILL [Syty] Broke & Stumped!
>
>
>  Dennis,
>
>  I thought of something else.  I can burn whatever binary you want 
> onto a stock memcal, if you want to bypass the 10-1 hardware.
>
>  Craig Moates at http://www.moates.net/index.php?cPath=25_36  also 
> sells GM adapters, if you want to go that route.  I think Craig's 
> adapters are a little more robust than the old 10-1 hardware.
>
>  Jim
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    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.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>    ----- 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.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>    ----- 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
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>      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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