I always say, Megasquirt should be considered a collage course. You can not get one installed and running without learning allot. For anyone whom does not want to learn, do not use this or any other injection system.

And if you think you learn allot, just think of the group of guys that have created the system. They started back in the mid 90s with a plans built system known as EFI 332. It was to be a full featured injection control that if you were an electronics engineer you had a 40% chance of success. Well it floundered and flopped. Bruce and Al chose not to fail so with a 1987 GM ECU in hand they reverse engineered it and made the original MS1 kits. Fuel only just as the GM system is. Soon enough some cheerful lad said he thought he could write some new code and control spark timing with it, well he did. Not to long after that we now have the incredibly flexible system that Frank is working with.
Today there are about two dozen guys doing the design, development and support systems, with many more doing product testing.

To compare MS to the commercially available stand alone systems, most systems have had their software locked down for years before you buy them on some makes. Others are restricted by hardware limits. What you buy is what you got.
With the Megasquirt, the software is fresh, the hardware can be altered as changes are needed. The system is one of the best forward looking electronic devices on the market.

So for all the trials and tribulations Frank is going through, he will know what he has and can in time keep moving forward as he chooses.

AND he will understand EXACTLY what is going on with his motor.

Good post Charlie. I learned SO much when tuning my GM efi stuff. Thats all entry level, and still complicated as hell.

Yep - there's nothing wrong with MS - at least I don't think so. But - as Charlie says, there is a LOT to learn. If you think you know what makes an engine work, then try this for a dose of humility. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> I can make any carbureted engine with a distributor run great, but this is another ball game altogether. I assume I'll eventually understand it, but to do so requires far more awareness of the influence of one factor on another than I've ever considered. The flip side is that many of the carbureted engines I built long ago - and THOUGHT were about as good as it got - probably were never near their full potential.

The end result should be fine, providing I'm willing to dig into not only the engine parameters, but also the software files and make needed changes. As an example of that, I just opened the custom.ini file that controls auto-tune and found my software lockouts at minimum 1500 rpms and 60 Kpa. To use auto-tune at lower rpm and Kpa levels, I've now reduced the lockouts to 1200 rpms and 30 Kpa - just to see how it works.

I'm thinking there's a possibility that the oil leaks are from blowby on the new rings that aren't seated. I also found the PCV valve to be a little sticky from the prior head gasket blowing and putting oil in the intake. So, I'm going to get a new PCV valve in a few minutes and try driving the truck to see if I can seat the rings without doing any damage to the engine. The AFR and ignition timing settings are conservative, so I think I'll try it and see if it makes any difference in the oil leaks. I sure hope so, because one of the leaks appears to be from the rear main seal. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> That's hard to believe since I installed a sleeve on both ends of the crankshaft.... unless the 80+ psi initial oil pressure blew out the seal.... if so, I'd think the leak would be much bigger.

Frank

Drove it without the hood so I could watch and hear the engine... here's the hangar queen back from her maiden voyage:




The good news - The engine is incredibly smooth.... it doesn't even wiggle.... rock solid. I took it easy, but eventually got up to 4000 rpms in 1st and 2nd and put 2 to 3 psi of boost on it..... nothing sudden, just steady pushing followed by slow coasts..... took it up a steep hill in 3rd at 20 mph and fed some throttle to it..... no pinging. Aside from the accel/decel adjustments that are needed, it's running great for the rich AFR and modest spark advance controls I've loaded in the ECU.

The bad news - that didn't help the oil leaks - there's a bad leak somewhere. I can't believe the front AND rear seals are both leaking, so I'll bet on the pan and install one of the FelPro pan gaskets. I've never seen the need for them, but maybe this is one of those times. I just hope a pan gasket will stop what looks like a rear main seal leak.

Charlie, I need some instruction on the auto-tune function. I hit several vertex points where auto-tune made some minor corrections and eventually settled to 0%. I didn't know whether to burn each "0%" as it showed up on the display..... or just let it run and burn to the ECU when the trip was over...... so, I did some of both. The result of that trip is that I now have a lumpy-looking contour plot. How should I deal with the tuned points?

Frank

Frank, congrats on the maiden voyage..

I am wondering what your wife thinks, but I think I can guess pretty easily what she said <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I bet it felt good to drive it after so much time, money and ones heart into the project.

Heartbreaking though to have a serious leak as you have. I for one do not like the pan gaskets for these. I only use the Grey sealant for the non gasket joints. Good luck can be had with the Black but any of the other styles have not been as reliable from what I have seen.

Oil, Look in your front cover first. You should be able to determine if it is the seal or pan joint, hopefully it is the joint but be prepared to deal with the seals. I do not use repair sleeves very often, I thought they were the greatest thing when they were introduced and have had some great success with them. But there is so much that can go wrong too. There is a good chance the lip of the seal might have tripped when assembling them. This can dump the spring out of the seal.
Personally I prefer to move the seal in or out to get it out of the worn groove before I will use another sleeve again. I really will only resort to using repair sleeves if the surface is pitted.
I have removed sleeves in the past.

Tune, consider what the autotune did to be where that region needs to go. If it added fuel to an area go ahead and bring up the surrounding bins. Likewise if it leaned some. I burn and save after every pull.

If there is one real big benefit to the MS2 processor is stability. The earlier processor would suffer resets and was very prone to corruption. The main reason for saving a session. I have been on the road and the engine would just backfire and die while driving. You would sit on the side of the road reloading the firmware and then the MSQ hoping the plugs were not so fouled that it would not fire up again. This seems to be gone now.

Thanks, Brendan -

She doesn't know it yet - she's out shopping. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> But, you can probably also imagine what she'll say if I tell her the engine may have to come out..... again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

It's probably just as well she didn't see me driving around the neighborhood with no hood and a big ol' blower shinin' like the moon. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

Frank

Ohh that just makes you feel young again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I did that when I dealt with the stray bolt. The seal looked good, there were no leaks that I could see, but then it hadn't run for very long at that time.



You mean every time the auto-tune says "0% correction" you burn on the fly?

Yes, it felt very good to drive it - particularly as silky smooth as it was. There's light at the end of the tunnel.... just hope it isn't a train. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Frank

No, when I stop to turn around or get back to the shop.

I do allot of out and back runs, we do not have many roads up in the hills here so loops are not available.