Need a little help

[Crankyolman]

Nice $850 system and they used a pos $10 part to cause you all kinds of grief

So lame that some companies in this day and age still sacrifice quality/reliability to save a few $.

@least it's fixed and you can

I agree, I found out about coolant temp sensor issue right away and would have known about the pressure regulator had I been able to get correct information but last year their customer service sucked. This year it was somewhat better but in reality it was of little help. You guys are the ones who actually helped work it out.


You know what's really messed up?


My review of the Fitech 2 barrel system on Amazon was approved, then removed, then approved then removed again largely because I was critical of their customer service and pointed out that they couldn't even get their own phone number correct on the cover of installation manual. That information alone should tip people off that something was wrong.


That's not to say it is a bad system, It takes some tweaking but it did run well for a year. Hopefully there aren't going to any more issues from here on out.

[Crankyolman]

I just finished making 5 or 6 laps around the block with no real issues. I think we have it fixed


The only thing that might be a problem is after acceleration when I lift slightly off the gas there is a slight lean spike. Anybody have any ideas what needs adjusted to fix this?

[DarkMonohue]

I just finished making 5 or 6 laps around the block with no real issues. I think we have it fixed


The only thing that might be a problem is after acceleration when I lift slightly off the gas there is a slight lean spike. Anybody have any ideas what needs adjusted to fix this?

How long and how lean is that spike? And when you see it, you're still accelerating, but just going from harder to gentler acceleration, correct? Going lean when decelerating isn't really a problem.

[Crankyolman]

How long and how lean is that spike? And when you see it, you're still accelerating, but just going from harder to gentler acceleration, correct? Going lean when decelerating isn't really a problem.

I can't say exactly how long or exactly how lean but it happened just when I let up on the gas slightly, kind of still on it but slowing down from 30 to 25mph and 35 to 30mph for just one cycle of the controller. It was a very short amount of time and I don't think it got much over 15.


I'd have to re-flash the controller and lose my tune and probably have to go through the self learning process all over again if I want to data log and get exact numbers but I'm not ready to do that right now.



I drove it to work and back today and it seemed to perform flawlessly. The highest AFR I saw was 14.7 so I will say that problem is fixed too.

[babywag]

A momentary lean spike letting off throttle would not worry me in least bit.

[Crankyolman]

It looks like we can call this problem solved and I learned a lot about fuel injection in the process.


Thank you Babywag and DarkMonohue and anybody else who chipped in.



I'm so happy to have my truck back to daily driving duty and once again love it


Now I just need to find a couple of apple trees and see if I can completely fill the back with apples

[DarkMonohue]

Glad to hear it is finally working better. Issues like that can drive you nuts, especially when support is hard to find. I have gone through a few issues with the MegaSquirt in my other car, and that's a whole different kettle of fish since it's all open-source and usually owner-built, so there isn't a single manufacturer you can talk to when things go sideways. It gets frustrating.

That little lean blip sounds like nothing. FiTech says the unit will turn the fuel off entirely under deceleration anyway - there's just no need for it if the engine is being driven by the vehicle or inertia rather than producing power. And the theoretically "correct" 14.7:1 AFR isn't exactly unshakeable gospel.

[Crankyolman]

Glad to hear it is finally working better. Issues like that can drive you nuts, especially when support is hard to find. I have gone through a few issues with the MegaSquirt in my other car, and that's a whole different kettle of fish since it's all open-source and usually owner-built, so there isn't a single manufacturer you can talk to when things go sideways. It gets frustrating.

That little lean blip sounds like nothing. FiTech says the unit will turn the fuel off entirely under deceleration anyway - there's just no need for it if the engine is being driven by the vehicle or inertia rather than producing power. And the theoretically "correct" 14.7:1 AFR isn't exactly unshakeable gospel.

I run it a little rich, I think it's set to 14-14.3 while driving. lower when idle. I think it is fine now, the truck has always liked where I had it set. I also have the programming that turns the fuel off when decelerating turned off because under quick deceleration it would actually kill the engine. That is a known issue with the fitechs and most people would rather have their engine stay running than save the little bit of gas it costs.

[babywag]

amc engines are not efficient like more modern era efi engine designs.
14.13 iirc is "ideal" for E10 fuels.
Also afr 14.7 is for complete combustion/lowest emissions for real gas.
Gas hasn't been "real" for a long time.
It'll run better with lower afr and make a little more power.
If you want better hwy mileage you can tweak cruise afr for a few mpg by running it leaner.
Takes good data and tuning...contrary to the self-learning/tuning marketing myth.
Every engine is a touch different and every engine benefits from tuning.

[Crankyolman]

My settings before all the problems were,

idle AFR target 14.25
1100 45kPa 14,25
3000 45kPa Cruise 14.45
6000 45kPa 13.00

WOT 1100 95kPa 12.90
WOT 3000 95kPa 12.90
WOT 6000 95kPa 12.75


I will confess that I have little to no understanding of what those numbers mean. But the last time I pulled the plugs they looked perfect. The WOT numbers are the factory preset numbers.



Currently I'm running a little richer, somewhere around 14.00, I think idle is around 13.90

[R69US]

How's this going? I just saw the thread and realize it's a few months old.
Aside from the fuel pressure issues, I also see that your IAC steps are way outta wack. They should be between I think 4 and 11 at warm idle. It's the balance between the IAC motor and the physical throttle linkage.
There's a lot of good, FiTech specific info at
fitechtuning.com
Maybe run over there and take a look? I've had the basic FiTech 400 hp setup for about three years now and while it's not perfect it's pretty good.
-Brian

[Crankyolman]

How's this going? I just saw the thread and realize it's a few months old.
Aside from the fuel pressure issues, I also see that your IAC steps are way outta wack. They should be between I think 4 and 11 at warm idle. It's the balance between the IAC motor and the physical throttle linkage.
There's a lot of good, FiTech specific info at
fitechtuning.com
Maybe run over there and take a look? I've had the basic FiTech 400 hp setup for about three years now and while it's not perfect it's pretty good.
-Brian

It's running well now except for the expensive braided stainless steel return line deciding to fail.


Because of the two different issues with the fuel pressure it was throwing the IAC steps off, I've always had them adjusted properly thanks to finding Fitechtuning early on but that website has changed recently and when I posted over there about this problem it was completely ignored. It was the good people here who were responsible for getting me up and running again.