VS Commodore V8 ute ECU troubles

[SPArKy_Dave]

Thought I should start a topic about the problems I'm having with this vehicle, and its ECU

The car is a very early series 3 1998 VS Commodore Ute, with the 5.0ltr.
Apart from suspension and exhaust, it's completely standard.
The ECU says 16176424 on it, and the memcal says CKUN.

For along time, (actually, since we first bought it) it's had a cold start hesitation, and random no-starts.
The no-starts are only solved by forcing a clearflood mode (100% throttle) as you crank the engine.
If you don't 100% throttle, it'll just crank till the battery dies, like there's no spark or no fuel.

So, I thought I'd better learn some diagnostic skills, and see what the ECU is doing.

My old man bought me an ebay ALDL cable. This one - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-ALDL-Dia ... 2ec0b6b712

It came with EFILive V4 Eval version, (which I haven't got to work properly yet)
I can get it talking, but no live dash values, not even in the sensor item list.

In tunerpro, I tried running the adx file - 16176424.adx
(which I found in delcowizzid's adx thread)

I worked out how to create a virtual dashboard, and some monitoring graphs etc.
(I'm still learning on the history tables section)

Tunerpro finds the cable, and verifies that everything is ok.
When I try to connect to the vehicle, the gauges just bounce. I can see the proper values displayed for split seconds, when the bounces occur, but nothing more.
No proper live values display in the item lists either.

Is it me, the cable, or the car?

[VL400]

Try the TunerPro ADX "VR_$11_v1.04-tp5.zip" from here https://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=29

The vehicle you have is not a series 3 with that PCM, its a late series 2 still - it should be using a MAP sensor still. Also, grab the memcal ID tool from here .. https://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=905

[SPArKy_Dave]

Done and done.

Works now, but damnit, I created a kick ass dash in the other one, and can't seem to move it across.


The ute was originally sold as a series 3 by the dealer (have sales receipt and also know the first owner).

It has series 3 badges, and a series 3 sales brochure came with the car, which shows the old S2 engine in a pic, says 165kw in the specs list and all.
Has caught me out many a time.
Apparently, the very first S3's used up the last stocks of the S2 drivelines.

I later found another S3 sales brochure, (but a later print), which is identical page for page.............. except for showing a pic of the proper S3 engine,
and the specs page saying sequential injection, 179kw (or 195kw for the 'HBD iD' edition).

[SPArKy_Dave]

And woah................. I'm getting some weird values out of the ECU.

[VL400]

Oh lovely, thanks holden for making things complicated!

[SPArKy_Dave]

Ok, now I don't know about other peoples........... but I don't think my Engine Coolant Temp is supposed to vary by 30 degrees in 0.5 a second

And why does the ECU think my target AFR be 11.5?.......

[antus]

Sounds like youve got some communication issues in that car. Could be noisy electrics and we dont know how resiliant that interface is to that, or if it works at all. Did you say efilive doesnt work at all? The target afr will because the engine is cold, so instead of having a choke like the old days to add the extra fuel to get it going the ecu will adjust the target afr. If you let it warm up you'll see the target afr reduce.

[charlay86]

Does it keep changing temp rapidly or does it settle down?

[SPArKy_Dave]

Sounds like youve got some communication issues in that car. Could be noisy electrics and we dont know how resiliant that interface is to that, or if it works at all. Did you say efilive doesnt work at all? The target afr will because the engine is cold, so instead of having a choke like the old days to add the extra fuel to get it going the ecu will adjust the target afr. If you let it warm up you'll see the target afr reduce.

Did I mention that the gauge warmed up to 62Degrees, then flicked down to 30 degrees, with the voltage changing accordingly.
It settled around the 28Degree Temp.

The actual temp gauge in the car, reads normal.
The first run I did, showed an operational temp of about 95degrees in TP.

After I switched the car off for about 15mins, and re-started, the no-start glitch occured, and then the funky values showed up.
Car smelt very rich too, and was idling roughly.

[charlay86]

The pcm has 2 resistors internally that are connected to the coolant temperate input that it switches between at approx 50 degrees. This helps to increase the accuracy of the temperature reading. There might be a problem with the sensor or the connection to the pcm, would certainly explain the values jumping around.