rweatherford

And how to fix someone else's mess.... post purchase....

I first started to have electrical concerns when I was on the way home with this car, but I thought it might have been isolated to a rushed amp install. I found vampire clips (skotch-locs) on the power wire from the power antenna to power the amp, which was going on and off at random times during the trip. No biggie it's just the radio....

Then I noticed one on an unused wire in the engine compartment that had been used to power the EBC that was not installed. That was the start of my real concerns. Seemed to like these clips....

As most of you know if you have read the "How to use AEM with Volts in MS" thread that mine has never read correctly. Yesterday after an auto-x practice 3 hours from my house, it quit working on the way home. I had VE tuned all the way there and also during auto-x runs. I noticed the AEM was stuck between 15.3-15.7 and would only rarely move anywhere else. Today would be tear down day.

I started with the wideband plug under the car. Pulled up the interior, shifter, dash, etc. Found the wideband connector inside the shifter tunnel had started to come apart. A couple of zip ties later and a hole poked in the shifter boot (so the wires were not squished again) and all was working, but what about this darn AFR reading difference? The AFR reading always seemed noisy and erratic even when the engine was not running and the AEM was warming up. I decided it was time to dig into the dash. HOLY CRAP. Found a mess of wires. I left the stereo alone, but it is working fine and likely will, it's just not pretty. The wideband harness had a big section with tape on it so that had to be removed for inspection. Luckily just the outer cover was melted and no other items were hurt. Then came the ECM harness. I pulled up the carpet behind the seat and found this.





I got out the Haynes manual to see what the damage was and I was suprised (not) to find that the wires effected were all the injectors, power, ground, and CAS. The CAS wire (white) had 3 butt connectors and 2 wire splices. There was also an extra ground that grounded the sensor ground to the chassis ground. I think that is a big no-no. When I wiggled that ground the reading from the AEM would change.

This picture is to show what vampire clips do to wires and why you NEVER use them. This is the main sensor ground. It was almost cut in half.



Nothing a little solder can't fix, but they didn't leave me a lot to work with. I didn't change the injector wires, and I likely will soon, but they were in good shape. Two connections were a little loose, so I cut back the butt connector insulation and soldered the wires into the connector. If there is reason to be concerned let me know and I will tear back into it. I was running out of daylight and time.

Is there a problem with this? It shows it is a MSPNP 96-97. My car is a 95. Seems to be working ok, but are there other issues I should know about?




Re-installed everything and tried it out. It all works perfectly.

Video

I tried to upload to YouTube, but I fail...

Is this the famous knock sensing oil pressure gauge? Looked like it jumps when I star to ease out of the throttle. I think my timing map is probably too agressive near 100-130 KPa. Someone have a known good ignition map for a stock 1.8 on a log manifold? I think the rest is ok, but I've noticed this gauge do this before and I was now concerned.

Gauge wiggle


I decided to go for a tune run and one of my many assistants decided she wanted to go. I guess I'm pretty boring, or these kids are just used to my driving.




Thanks for any feedback! I can get a screen shot or something of the ignition map if needed. The MSQ is on a laptop.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

All this stuff looks like a recipe for success.

rweatherford

YAY I don't fail... Just had my security setting set so high I could never log into YouTube. The redirects just were in an endless loop so I was giving up.

rweatherford

Here is the Oil Pressure gauge wiggle when I lift out of boost. Is this normal?

curly

iTrader: (25)

"the video you requested is not available"

I might be clicking too soon, its only been 10 minutes since you posted it. What's it doing, jumping? I don't think that's normal.

rweatherford

Try again. It was processing.

curly

iTrader: (25)

"This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please be sure to accept the sender's friend request."

rweatherford

Sorry... Hang on.

rweatherford

Should work now... YouTube