EA82 SPFI ECU

[TomRhere]

IS it probable for the ECU to loose the ability to advance the ignition timing?

 

The freshly resealed EA82 runs good, just lacks power when pulling hills on my daily drive to/from work.

T-belt timing is dead on, disty was set at 20*, but I have bumped it up a tad which slightly improved things.

 

Talking with a co-worker, he brought up a possible ECU issue. I'm not real knowledgeable on these things to be honest.

 

Do know the EA81 I had in there did the same on hills, but I was thinking it was more of an engine issue than control issue.

 

Got 2 other ECU's here, Black case of unknown year, and the one from the '92 parts Loyale. Be the weekend before I have time to swap one in. 

[silverhelme]

Did you plug in the connectors to set the timing and forget to unplug them?

[Quidam]

Tom, I'd do a compression test on it and go from there.

[TomRhere]

I did a comp test on it over the weekend;

Cold; #1=100, #2=85, #3=85, #4=95. Warmed up; #1=110, #2=110, #3=105, #4=105.

 

I used those slightly dished pistons in it. I would link a pic and/or the thread, but for some reason, I can't do that. Grrr! The thread was "IDing EA82 Blocks", pistons are shown in opening post.

 

Pistons were removed, de-ringed, cleaned, re-ringed(same rings), and put back, same hole they came out of.

 

Green plugs are disconnected.

 

Once I get it up to 55mph or so, if I can keep it around 3,000+ rpms, she'll do okay. But a steep hill will drag it down, no response to throttle input unless I downshift to 4th.

I've driven this same route for 8+ years, and have not had an issue maintaining speed on these hills before. It's just been recently that the issue has arose, both this engine, and the EA81(running the SPFI).

 

I have left it in 5th, and just gave it more throttle, just to see what it would do. Just continues to bog down, and I hear no spark knock, period. Thinking I should, but don't know if it would if the ECU isn't giving it any advance. Don't know much about FI systems, old carb and vac advance guy here.

 

Talking to Harve brought up the fact that 2 engines are doing same thing, maybe it's a computer issue. So, I'm on here asking for thoughts..

[ivans imports]

try a vacume gauge and see how many inch of hg it makes at idle norm is 18-20 inhg

[naru]

IS it probable for the ECU to loose the ability to advance the ignition timing?

 

The freshly resealed EA82 runs good, just lacks power when pulling hills on my daily drive to/from work.

T-belt timing is dead on, disty was set at 20*, but I have bumped it up a tad which slightly improved things.

 

Talking with a co-worker, he brought up a possible ECU issue. I'm not real knowledgeable on these things to be honest.

 

Do know the EA81 I had in there did the same on hills, but I was thinking it was more of an engine issue than control issue.

 

Got 2 other ECU's here, Black case of unknown year, and the one from the '92 parts Loyale. Be the weekend before I have time to swap one in. 

 

Probable-No.Possible-probably.

Should be easy enough to check w/a timing light.

 

Compression is kinda low.

SPFI wants something in the 130-155 psi range.

Might be enough to explain the performance differences.

Probably explains why additional advance helped matters.

I would advance 2 more degrees and then 2 more etc.as long as it improves.

 

How does it perform during a short full throttle run on the flat?

Does it hold fuel pressure all the way up the hill?

TPS ohm out OK?

Got another MAF to try?

[TomRhere]

Hmm.

 

Well, once it get close to the power band, regardless of gear other than 5th, she seems to pull fairly well, could be better though. It still seems to be lacking some oomph.

 

Not much "flat road" around here so to speak. But I have tried to accelerate, (in 5th), on what "flat" there is. Ain't happening. I've even put the pedal to the floor and all I get is intake noise, no noticeable increase in speed.

 

Got to get me a few new gauges so I can check vac and pressure readings. The ones I have are better suited for paper weight duty..

 

Going by Naru's post, it seems this engine would be better with the Weber set up I have here. That,, is doable.

 

I do have extra MAF's, Injector body's, fuel pumps here, can try those.

 

Do know, what ever the issue is, it's killing my gas mileage. I've lost over 100 miles on this tank. Actually had to get gas today on the way home, reading 245 or so on the odo. Was doing 225-230 miles at 1/2 tank before this engine swap, and usually made it to Saturday before filling it with gauge still showing around 1/8th + or so, 320 - 350 miles driven. Best was 445 before filling but it wasn't on the "E" mark yet, just had the chance to buy gas $0.20 cheaper than around here, so did so.

 

Be the weekend before I can do much. Leave here before 5:00 AM, and don't get back home much before 7:00 PM. Long days....

[TomRhere]

Swapped in another ECU.

 

It seems to have helped some, and I can actually feel it want to accelerate now in 5th. I can induce spark knock if I put my foot into it. That,,, did not happen with the other ECU. So suspicions were correct there.

 

Still have more playing around to do.