Questions on ECU, oxygen sensor signal, injector pulse width for 700 series.

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Duong Nguyen, Jul 30, 2004.

  1. Duong Nguyen

    Duong Nguyen Guest

    I have been trying to debug a problem of falling fuel economy on my
    760 V6, 1988, LHjet 2.2. The fuel economy for this car is now 5km/l
    (11.7mpg) but used to be around 6.5 km/litre (15mpg) city driving.
    This despite increasing the tyre pressure from 28 psi to 35 psi. There
    is no other symptom, the car still drives very well.

    The oxygen sensor signal when the car is fully warmed up and idling is
    from .2V to .8V with a lots of .2V noise spikes that seem to come from
    the computer (the disconnected oxygen sensor signal is clean.) The
    signal makes a complete cycle (i.e .2V to .8V and back to .2V) in
    about 4 seconds which I think is too slow. The transition time is
    about .4 second. It also responds in the correct direction to a lean
    condition (introducing a vacuum leak) and rich condition (removing
    vacuum from fuel pressure sensor.) albeit after to couple of seconds
    delay (why?). This oxygen sensor is new and produces similar signal to
    the old one which I thought was faulty.

    The injector pulse width (which I forgot to measure) with this oxygen
    sensor signal drifting up and down, is absolutely constant indicating
    that the computer is probably still in open loop mode and ignoring the
    oxygen sensor. In that case, what is causing the change in the oxygen
    sensor signal? Is this new sensor faulty (and the old one also
    faulty?) I'm more inclined to think that there is still something that
    stops the computer from entering close loop mode instead of both
    sensor faulty. On the other hand, the lack of transitions on the
    oxygen sensor is the only thing remains that could prevent close loop.
    Is there another sensor signal that I haven't thought of? It is
    probably not a temperture sensor since in this car there is only one
    temperature sensor and the temperature gauge is exactly in the middle.
    Also the rpm has dropped down to the correct value of 750 rpm from a
    cold value of 1000 rpm indicating the the computer knows that the car
    is already warmed up.

    My questions are:

    1) What are the conditions that must be met before the computer enter
    close loop mode?
    2) How can I determine if the computer is in close loop mode?
    3) Does anybody know how the injector pulse width shoud behave with
    respect to the oxygen sensor signal? The range in milliseconds?
    4) How many transitions should the oxygen sensor make in a second with
    the car warmed up and idling.
    5) If I looked at the Air mass signal, oxygen sensor and injector
    pulse width what should I see? Pin number on the AMM?
    6) And finally, does anybody have a program listing of the LHjet 2.2
    EPROM or similar?

    As you can see I haven't go a clue what the problem is yet and really
    want to make sense of these signals. Any suggestion welcome.
     
    Duong Nguyen, Jul 30, 2004
    #1
  2. Duong Nguyen

    AJS Guest

    I haven't read all your post, just skimmed it (I will reread later). Have
    you tried resetting the ECU? Have you then take the car for a run and let it
    remap?



    AJS
     
    AJS, Jul 30, 2004
    #2
  3. Duong Nguyen

    Robert Dietz Guest

    This is all based on the ignition plugs, wires, cap and rotor all being
    in good condition. Engine settings otherwise in stock or as originally
    set condition.

    Any Bosch Fuel injection system, starting with the 1970 system, reads
    the coolant temperature first. In the LH cars this sets open loop and
    increments the fuel map values as the coolant temp increases until it
    reaches the threshold switching value to go to open loop operation. At
    this point priority goes to the MAF. The air mass measurement is
    converted to a dwell angle or pulse width signal to the injectors with
    consideration given to whether on not the throttle is closed. The
    validity of this calculation is compared to the expected O2 value versus
    that reported by the O2 sensor. Whatever discrepancy is seen at the
    checkpoint time is used as a fudge factor to adjust the injector pulse
    width, and so on and so on.

    There is a test point located in what appears to be a two pin AMP plug,
    IIRC, along the right front fender. There should be SB/W wire that when
    grounded closes the idle air control valve. A DMM connected between the
    G/W wire and ground should read a fluctuating voltage between ~2v and
    ~12v. This sweep is obtained by turning the adjustment screw on the
    MAF--you may ahve to drill two 1/8" holes in the aluminum plug inorder
    to remove it with needle nose pliers. The voltage sweep when reading the
    analog scale across the boot, of the meter should cycle evenly about
    once per second. A second meter connected across the O2 sensor and
    ground will sweep slightly slower but not as slow as .25 cps.

    Lazy O2 sensors are mainly caused by tip contamination. Silicone spray
    used on intake hoses or seals can be deadly to O2 sensors. Antifreeze
    from leaky head gaskets or raw fuel from streaming injectors can also be
    a problem.

    I'd check the thermostat first, to make sure the engine isn't running
    too cool; coolant reservoir for CO, to make sure the engine hasn't at
    some point over heated and damaged the head gaskets; coolant temp sensor
    for proper value, if the coolant temp signal is low the engine runs
    richer. Pull the vacuum hose from the fuel pressure regulator to make
    sure the diapragm isn't leaking. If that didn't turn up anything I'd
    make sure the injector grounds on the manifold were clean and tight,
    retest, then bypass the fuel pump relay to run the pumps with the key
    off, then pull the fuel rails and using a plug with pigtails and two
    jumper leads (switching the ground side), fire each injector in turn to
    check for wet tips, drips and streaming.

    Other than a bad control unit, I think that's about it.

    Bob
     
    Robert Dietz, Jul 30, 2004
    #3
  4. Duong Nguyen

    Duong Nguyen Guest

    Does this means I can influence the sweep rate by altering the AMM
    output? How easy is it to restore the orginal setting? simply remember
    which way the screw pointed? If the sweep rate comes up to 1 cps does
    this mean the AMM is just about correct?
    I have already replaced the thermostat sometimes ago because the
    temperature gauge wasn't where it should be (in the middle pointing
    straight up.) Don't know how to find out that the engine is definitely
    warmed up though.
    Don't quite know how to do this. Shouldn't there be "hard to start",
    "oil in coolant" and such symptoms?
    Already done this, found no leak.
    I'll do this ASAP. Perhaps this is the reason why the oxygen sensor
    signal looks funny.
    Thanks Bob for a very detailed response.
     
    Duong Nguyen, Aug 2, 2004
    #4
  5. Duong Nguyen

    hk Guest

    better to measure the exhaust CO reading ,it'll indicate the outcome of
    all you mentioned.

    Duong Nguyen ¼g¤J¡G
     
    hk, Aug 5, 2004
    #5
Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments (here). After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.