3.4 Frankenbird Won't Start!

[tkoforpresident]

I think he will. He's a sensible man, or sensible enough.

He actually stopped by today while i was working on the Bird at his house. (his dad drove him, he stayed in the car) and we talked for a bit and then i got him some tools from the garage, it being is actual purpose for coming out.

On that note, the corvette was taken today from behind my bird so we are getting VERY close to a first driving datalog... stay tuned!

[pocket-rocket]

Serious things like that are usually a good wake up call that doesn't go ignored. Let's just hope he listens to you, the doctor and his other friends.

[tkoforpresident]

haha yeah. i love those grand nationals too.

my buddy is doing great and i hope he changes his lifestyle habits as a result of his close encounter.

[pocket-rocket]

the vette owner is coming over to take his car home. One step closer to driving it.

btw, this garage is like GM heaven. We've got a chevy camaro, pontiac firebird, chevy corvette, and buick regal (3.8 turbo).

Had that bolded part read GN, I would have agreed with you, lol. Glad to see you making progress at any rate, and I'm definitely glad your friend is ok

[tkoforpresident]

the vette owner is coming over to take his car home. One step closer to driving it.

btw, this garage is like GM heaven. We've got a chevy camaro, pontiac firebird, chevy corvette, and buick regal (3.8 turbo).

[tkoforpresident]

sounds good. I'll see if i can get things ready to go on the road asap.

[SappySE107]

I think we are good for it to start moving and get an idea of where to go from there. BLM might be moving because of the alt load so I will leave the idle ve where it is at for now.

[tkoforpresident]

if it helps...

i put it in DRIVE and then back to PARK a few times during the log and even turned on the radiator fan once (manually) while in gear (to test my voltage)

[tkoforpresident]

is it something to be worried about?


my thermostat is a 180*

[robertisaar]

what an odd engine... seems to be VERY intolerant of changes in coolant temp... the BLMs shot up to 143 the first time the engine approached 163*F, then it dropped down to 153*F, then as the temp creeped up again, the BLMs eventually settled back to 127....

that 10* drop in coolant temp was strange enough(unless you actually have a 160*F thermostat, in which case, it seems to be a bit sticky), but the BLMs changing like that based on coolant temp was even weirder...

the IAC minimum seems to creep up a little more each time too... but that's not a bad thing, just that it's getting a better grasp of how much change it needs each time.

[tkoforpresident]

Ok, the tune worked this time so whatever wasn't working before is now.

I liked this tune the best in regards to the idling rpms. It was at about 900 while at idle and 800 while in gear. This seems like a good setup.

While in gear with the brake lights on, headlights on, radio on, radiator fan on, and even the heater on the voltage still stayed above 14 which is great.

I don't think i'll have any issues with that.

I know the BLM/ INT were moving around a little bit this time so take a look and let me know if the VE should be changed or if it's "good enough" so to speak. I know it can never be perfect but i'd at least like it to the point where it won't be a problem.

I have the tire patched and filled with air so now all that's left to do is pick up the plates at the DMV and put it on the road. Then I can get a log while driving.

Log attached.

[tkoforpresident]

that is odd... and when the fan kicks on and you can't connect to the datastream, that's the ECMs way of telling you that you're in limp-home mode...

so either the chip had a bad connection, burnt bad, checksum was wrong(for some reason though TP adjusts it) or the chip is actually fried...

most likely is that the chip wasn't seated all the way.

when it happens to me, i keep the key rolled forward, pop the hood, pull the tab up for the ZIF, reposition the chip and push the ZIF lever down again. almost always fixes it on the first try(and the fan will shut off).

Thanks. That's a good idea about leaving the key "on" while fixing the chip. I did in fact pull the chip out and then re-seat it but with no luck. Then i tried the old chip and that worked right away. I am pretty sure i had it seated properly.

I don't care if the chip is fried since i have another one but then i might have to buy another spare. I was more dissapointed with not being able to try out the new .bin than anything else. Small hiccup along the way i hope. I think the brakes are good enough to take down the street a couple times for logging purposes so maybe in a week or two we can start on the Base VE

[robertisaar]

that is odd... and when the fan kicks on and you can't connect to the datastream, that's the ECMs way of telling you that you're in limp-home mode...

so either the chip had a bad connection, burnt bad, checksum was wrong(for some reason though TP adjusts it) or the chip is actually fried...

most likely is that the chip wasn't seated all the way.

when it happens to me, i keep the key rolled forward, pop the hood, pull the tab up for the ZIF, reposition the chip and push the ZIF lever down again. almost always fixes it on the first try(and the fan will shut off).

[tkoforpresident]

ok... so for whatever reason none of the data was recorded.... now i'm stumped. I was almost certain that it was logging.

[tkoforpresident]

Ok guys. So i went over to datalog again today, this time with the latest .bin setup (6th version) and tuner pro wouldn't connect to the ECM with that chip in the PCM. Also, the cooling fan kicked on as soon as i turned the key "on" with that chip in place. I thought maybe there was something wrong with either the new chip/tune so i put the old chip back in (with .bin #5) on there (i have two chips and i continually swap them out with the newest .bin) and it acted normal. It let me connect to the ecm and the fan didn't kick on.

is there something physically wrong with the eeprom to make this happen?

Should i burn the new .bin on the chip that worked and see if it happens again?

Well, I brought a friend to check out the car and hear it run so i just decided to start it up with that .bin and not the new one. I logged it too (might as well since i had the equipment all set up) so maybe you guys can check it just to make sure it's as good as the last one. The .bin that is.

I do have some good news however. First off, I had my friend hold down the brake and pop it in DRIVE. The rpm's dropped nice and low again (650 or so) without stalling out. I stepped outside the driveway and away from the car and can now verify that this car sounds sicker than any v6 that i've ever heard in my life. John, your camshaft is epic.

Secondly, and much more importantly, while it was sitting in Drive with the brake pushed down i turned on the headlights, radio, and even the radiator fan (with my manual fan switch) and the voltage stayed up the whole time. What this means is that I think if we up the rpms a little (like in the newest .bin that didn't work on this last chip) than i can be quite sure that there will be no issues pertaining to voltage.

Sorry for that whole mouthful. If you guys could look at the log quickly and maybe offer up some insight/advice into why my chip wouldn't work I would be very grateful. I was just glad that the other chip worked otherwise i would have thought something was very wrong. instead, it must be either a corrupt .bin or chip.

let me know your thoughts.

max