A lot of times I over think projects and they end up sitting because of it. I've found that I just have to force myself to start working and figure it out as I go.
A lot of times I over think projects and they end up sitting because of it. I've found that I just have to force myself to start working and figure it out as I go.
Stampie said:A lot of times I over think projects and they end up sitting because of it. I've found that I just have to force myself to start working and figure it out as I go.
Wells that's me in a nutshell. This has been sitting about a year and a half now because of it. 
2018 resolution: Just do something.
Trying to jump back on this horse. I'll need to go back and update photo hosting or clean up this thread at some point (and find a new easy to use host)
So as it sits, I still haven't fired up the car. It's really really close though. Wiring is 95% done. I bought a battery for it, hooked it up with the actual finished wiring, and nothing smoked or popped. Ha! Turned lights on, wipers work, even HVAC blower. I even cranked it over. That was fun, cranking the engine over for the first time in years.
I knew it wouldn't fire because I didn't have the ECU plugged in yet, and the fuel lines aren't on the rail. I wanted to get the battery on it so I could run the fuel pump and get all the old gas out of the tank first. Unfortunately, no gas came out. :-(
I could hear a pump running so I got underneath to investigate. The secondary surge tank under the car is buzzing, but apparently not the in-tank pump that feeds it. I pulled the feed hose off that comes from the main tank to the secondary surge tank as well to verify (plus I can drain from here instead of the bay). I pulled the cover plate off in the trunk, and verified I do have voltage at the plug. So, I guess next step is pulling the fuel pump out of the tank and finding a replacement. I'm not sure what's in the tank as this car is such a conglomeration of previous models... and it had a mk3 ABA in it with 90's sourced CE2 wiring prior to this.
Staying true to my goal to get back after this... pulled the rear in tank fuel pump and confirmed it was in fact dead. Ordered a new Bosch unit courtesy of Amazon Prime.
Woohoo! Fuel flow. Proceeded to drain the tank to get all the old gas out. Then I hooked the line back up to the secondary pump surge tank under the car, and clamped up the hoses to the plastic lines and to the fuel rail. Yes I'll secure these more properly, but wanted to send pressure first and make sure nothing was leaking. All is good to go!
So now I have a very short list. Need to wire the coil, and hook up the wideband. The rest is theoretically Megasquirt settings and tuning. Oh, and I picked up this sweet 1980's giant dealer poster. :)
That poster is sweet!
So is the Golf, get it going soon!
I just did a quick read-thru. Good stuff, thanks for posting it, and good for you getting back to it after the lapse. I think we can all understand that Life is a lot bigger than progress on a build project.
Megasquirt stalled my project for a couple of years as well. So don't feel bad
Nice score with the poster!
And great job getting back in the saddle for your build. You’re so close to being there!
Got an OBD1 era coil from a mk3 ABA Jetta wired up last night after the kids were asleep. I think I can trigger this directly off the Megasquirt as I have it configured. 12V from factory fuse box switched ignition. Grounded to chassis (and ground strapped to head). Grommeted through the firewall in the cowl tray. Tach signal wire is added as well. Tonight I'm hoping to tackle the wideband wiring and plug in the ECU.
Plugging away again tonight. Next step was wiring the wideband, which also includes the gauge, which took me backwards a few steps to accomplish a few other tasks first. I wanted that gauge in the center console, but I also wanted 2 other gauges there (oil psi & oil temp). I had also considered mounting the MS box there for easy access to the port, and visibility of the status LED’s. So I grabbed the center console and this is what I came up with.
Not too shabby. I’ll probably put a 12V charge port down in that center cubby also since the ash tray/lighter charge port were lost to make way for that 3-gauge panel.
I finished loading the gauges, and had considered mounting the Innovate LC2 wideband controller visible so I could see the status light for calibration. I couldn’t come up with a spot I liked it, and didn’t want to surface mount it with wires exposed, so I’ll probably just hide the whole thing under the dash but leave it accessible if I need to.
Clicked away at night over the weekend after family obligations and soccer games and the pumpkin patch and dinner at grandma's, etc.
The car is now in theory 100% wired. Fuel lines done, coolant lines on, everything. 02 sensor controller calibrated. Even have the oil pressure/temp gauges wired and backlit. ECU is plugged in, and it's time to plug in a laptop to it and start trying to make it actually run.
Any tips for a complete rookie who is about to download TunerStudio to his wife's MacBook for the first time?
Anybody in Michigan a go-to for Megasquirt help that knows the ropes?
I'll give you some suggestions based on my experience with MS on an Lt1. I made all of these mistakes, you might be much smarter than me.
1. Make sure all of your signal grounds are isolated from the engine block and run straight back to the battery. I ran them all to a junction block then ran a #10 wire to the battery from there. Most of these signals are 0 - 5 volts and the ignition noise and power grounds will make these signals un stable. This was different that the MS instructions called for. Same with the O2 sensor if it is heated, the power ground and the signal ground should be separate.
2. Go through each step in the manual to verify you are getting a stable crank trigger signal, and that all of your sensor inputs make sense , for example your IAT reads close to room temp at turn on.
3. The default accel enrich was way to aggressive to start and I would foul plugs in several blips of the throttle, less is more here.
4. Don't for get basic mechanics still applies with this electronic wizardry, fouled plugs don't fire no matter what the fuel map is set to. If there is a problem don't assume is is a computer issue just because that is what you are working on.
5. If you get really stuck PM me and I will give you a number of a guy that can remote access your system and get you running and an hour or two and the education is worth the cost.
Good luck
Another achievement unlocked. I plugged in the megasquirt and powered it up for the first time. Downloaded new firmware and flashed the board to the most current version. Then I downloaded and hooked up TunerStudio for the first time as well.
I did some of the basic settings, but I've got a good amount of learning to do before I actually figure out which ignition settings to pick, and how to load a base map, etc. Steep learning curve trying to get this off the ground.
It seems my first issue is that I'm not seeing the distributor hall sensor signal while cranking. I did calibrate my throttle position sensor, selected the appropriate temp sensors, and which wideband controller I have, and the ECU is priming the fuel pump like it should.
Way to go! I really like the gauges/ECU mounting: very clean!
Have you confirmed that the sensor itself is working? It should be a 3-pin: pwr, gnd, and signal. I had one of those go bad on a '89 Alfa Romeo Milano that we raced on One Lap. It's a hard thing to diagnose when you don't know anything about anything :)
damen
badwaytolive said:Way to go! I really like the gauges/ECU mounting: very clean!
Have you confirmed that the sensor itself is working? It should be a 3-pin: pwr, gnd, and signal. I had one of those go bad on a '89 Alfa Romeo Milano that we raced on One Lap. It's a hard thing to diagnose when you don't know anything about anything :)
damen
Thanks! Yeah that's the next step in diagnosis is checking it at the sender itself to determine if it's a hardware issue, or if I have a setting wrong in the inputs on the ECU.
My wife took off with the laptop though to work on some things while she was staying out of town, so I decided to button up a lot of the other odds and ends that needed put back together. I siliconed the conduits I had used to run the wiring behind the fenders and snugged them up since I have run all the wires that needed to be run.
Made sure the lights and blinkers and such worked. For some reason my passenger side blinker circuit isn't working front or rear.... will have to look into that later.
Fenders back on, front fascia back on, bumper back on, front lip spoiler... wheels and tires... hooray! looks like a car again.
Well per badwaytolive's insight above... this past weekend a friend and I got around to mechanically testing the hall sender signal at the distributor itself. We had 5V and ground at the sensor as it should, but no signal upon cranking.
So, we pulled it off and now I need to find a replacement. A local VW parts guy in town should have a donor, just need to make my way over there.
I believe the hall sensor in the dizzy is the same one that is in my Audi. They are available new.
Well I'm still getting no RPM on TunerStudio.
I replaced the distributor (and therefore the hall sender) as I thought I had diagnosed that as the issue. Plugged it and cranked it over and again saw no RPM on Tunerstudio. Doh.
I also got ahold of a stim from a local guy so I was able to plug that in and test out the MS board. Using the RPM pot on the stim, I was able to get RPM signal, so at least I know the MS board is working.
So now I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong in the wiring at the hall sender, or if there's continuity from the hall sender to the ecu, etc.
Do those distributors need a pull up resistor?
Share your MSQ on MSExtra.com? Go to the MS2 area in the forum, lots of good help there.
Don't load someones base map, that's like wearing someone else's underwear. Using a "Base Map" with incorrect settings can damage stuff.
Start a new project, a default MSQ will be created then you go in a twiddle the settings to match your hardware. Part of the MS experience is learning how injection works, and what all the settings actually do, and what makes your motor happy. Using someone's MSQ doesn't teach you anything, and when it doesn't work right you get more confused and frustrated.
xflowgolf said:Well I'm still getting no RPM on TunerStudio.
I replaced the distributor (and therefore the hall sender) as I thought I had diagnosed that as the issue. Plugged it and cranked it over and again saw no RPM on Tunerstudio. Doh.
I also got ahold of a stim from a local guy so I was able to plug that in and test out the MS board. Using the RPM pot on the stim, I was able to get RPM signal, so at least I know the MS board is working.
So now I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong in the wiring at the hall sender, or if there's continuity from the hall sender to the ecu, etc.
Do you know anyone with an o-scope? I have to wonder if the new to you hall sender is no good. Maybe pull the dizzy and spin it with a drill with the ignition on, see if the MS board sees RPM there? Could definitely be bad wiring between the sender and the ECU. Old VW wiring gets real crumbly.
A simple test for the wiring without an o scope. Connect the hall sensor as shown, make sure your signal ground is not to the block but back to the ecu. Install the pull-up resistor as shown o the V+ side and leave the signal side disconnected. Start tuner studio and then connect and disconnect the resistor to the signal wire, in effect creating a pulse train slow enough that you can see. Once you have that solved that then you can then look at the sensor.
Is tuner studio showing a constant low or high signal?
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