MicroSquirt.com read only forum (Jan.15,2018)

FoundSoul wrote:How much Dwell are you getting at crank? I'd try a static setting of 6ms cranking and 4ms running or thereabouts...

How much ignition advance do you have at crank? Do you have your trigger angle dialed in properly?

I'm not sure on the first question. I'll check my settings when I get home and give it a shot. I know some of my settings are as shown here… http://megasquirt.sourceforge.net/extra/setup-tfi.html with the exception of led 18 being set to warmup.

The car ran beautifully before I changed over to the megasquirt setup. I made sure to set my timing to 10* (spout out) before I shut her down to start the megasquirt metamorphosis.

The MegaTune software can tell you your current dwell during crank, you'll need a light to see your timing. The timing light reading should match the MegaTune timing display or your trigger angle setting isn't correct.

FoundSoul wrote:The MegaTune software can tell you your current dwell during crank, you'll need a light to see your timing. The timing light reading should match the MegaTune timing display or your trigger angle setting isn't correct.

Gotcha...I'll try the non fixed dwell settings. As far as the trigger angle goes....I guess I wont know for sure if it's 100% correct until it idles long enough for me to check it.

I've found you can usually get an accurate reading on your cranking timing with a light as well and see if it's close. You'll never get it to start unless you play with this setting and/or twist the distributor... then once it's started you dial it in right with a light.

FoundSoul wrote:I've found you can usually get an accurate reading on your cranking timing with a light as well and see if it's close. You'll never get it to start unless you play with this setting and/or twist the distributor... then once it's started you dial it in right with a light.

I guess I dont quite understand. I was under the impression that if I set my timing before the switch to 10* btdc that all I had to do was enter the same values in msns-e and it would be close enough?

Here is a new msq file with a "generated" ve table, revised cranking pw etc.

I did notice as I dropped the cranking pw to ~ 1-2 that it wouldnt even fire. As It rose to 4+ it would stumble for a second or two and die. I've played with the ae's again...but like before they appear to not have a great deal of effect on starting.

I would also like to not that it will only fire up after I turn the ignition off before I try to crank it over. If I do multiple cranks without turning the ignition off it will not even stumble.

And a snapshot showing an area which was probably closest to starting.

millhouse wrote:

FoundSoul wrote:I've found you can usually get an accurate reading on your cranking timing with a light as well and see if it's close. You'll never get it to start unless you play with this setting and/or twist the distributor... then once it's started you dial it in right with a light.

I guess I dont quite understand. I was under the impression that if I set my timing before the switch to 10* btdc that all I had to do was enter the same values in msns-e and it would be close enough?

If you're talking about basee timing then that would be nice, but it's not the case. I usually have to play around with a bit of 'trial and error' to get the trigger angle right. Here's a thread that focuses on the MS-II but the process is pretty similar for MSnS-E in my experience... http://www.msefi.com/viewtopic.php?t=12226

millhouse wrote:Here is a new msq file with a "generated" ve table, revised cranking pw etc.

I did notice as I dropped the cranking pw to ~ 1-2 that it wouldnt even fire. As It rose to 4+ it would stumble for a second or two and die. I've played with the ae's again...but like before they appear to not have a great deal of effect on starting.

I would also like to not that it will only fire up after I turn the ignition off before I try to crank it over. If I do multiple cranks without turning the ignition off it will not even stumble.

AE should be turned off right now, as should EGO correction.

Sounds like you may need more cranking PW, and possibly a bit more priming pulse.

This is more cureosity, not exactly advice to millhouse.
I am wondering if you could set the cranking RPM very high... reasonably higher than normal idle. And make the engine run on the crank PW. What this would do is eliminate all fuel paramaters except the cranking pulse. Which would be acting like a idle PW.
Then you could crank a few turns, increas crank PW, crank a few more. etc.

The problem I see with this is, for my engine to start best I need a crank pulse about 4 ms but idle is about 1.5 ms. So enough fuel to get it to fire might then flood the engine. This is because the cranking map is much higher than idle map I supposed.

Later today when I have the computer in the car I will see If I can make this work...

Also, I don't know the code you are using but I see
Are the negative angles advace or retard? Or are you using a different ignition mode? I only know about EDIS.

And, if you can, make sure you are getting good voltage DURING CRANKING so you know the fuel pump, injectors and ignition have enough to work. My speculation here is that maybe unloaded you have enough power for a good prime pulse but the voltage is dropping too much from the starter load.

Sorry if I added more confusion than help