Forcefed86

iTrader: (4)

Right I get that, but your fans together with your lights fuel pumps etc aren’t anywhere near enough load to cause the alternator to drop below 13v WOT. I’m just saying even “new” parts house alternators (autozone, napa ,orileys, etc) are crap 50% of the time from what I’ve seen. There has to be a reason yours isn’t working and everyone else is. Your load on the electrical system isn’t that great… No more than mine and I never come off 13.4v with the same alternator. (forgot I also run trans cooler fan and alky inj pump. My magnafuel 4330 pump and taurus fan are both monsters. I’m just saying that alternator should handle your system

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

I get what your saying. I had the issue of getting bad alts from a parts store before (different car). Either way, I suppose the issue will be fixed by replacing the alt. An upgraded alt never hurt anyone I suppose. Will just be overkill for my application. I may still have mine tested tonight when I get off of work. Now I am curious how it will check out.

On a slightly different note. If I do end up getting the 220 amp alt. Is the 4 ga wire from the alt to the back of the car going to be large enough to handle that amperage. I am reading it will be so I would like to believe that.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

I took the alternator in to Advance and had it tested. It checked out Good. So this would rule out the alt. It would be something with the wiring, not enough amps from the alt, or battery?

slowride

iTrader: (3)

Hard to say if thats true or not. It might not happen with a cool alternator, etc. Can you get a boneyard one to try? I have had good luck with my local rebuild place for electric motors. Takes them a few days, but they don't usually build crap either.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

I actually tried a spare one my girl had on her motor that's going in the RX8. I stole it and threw it on the car. Still had the same result. The Power Bastards alt came in today. I will go snag it up when I get off work and throw it on the car. If it does not fix it, then I may be slightly angered by the car and set it on fire.

rotary1307cc

iTrader: (5)

No way u should have a voltage issue. I have a standard truck alternator. 4303, twin fans, electric water pump, trans fan, meth pump, rule 2000 ic pump, tons of gauges.......... and a 25% under drive..



Everything on at idle I may bump 12.9 but no lower


How are you monitoring voltage? With the scanner pid or an actual gauge or what?

RedRocketZ28

iTrader: (19)

We can have a "SET OUR CARS ON FIRE PARTY"! Mine is having issues as well.

aknovaman

iTrader: (7)

I suggest you guys are missing a big part of the equasion. i.e. the car chassis wiring.

If you simply pull al the fuses from the fuse panel, (i hope you have one) then just run the fans, fuel pump and EFI off the alternator, I bet you will not have a problem.

Why blame the alternator if it cant charge? The rest of the car may be putting too much of a load on it or there may be a bad connection that simply wont allow the alternator to properly charge the system ? puts too much of a load or

Then re-connect each system to power and see where the load/erratic voltage developes. That will give you a better idea of where the problem originates.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

As far as monitoring voltage it depends. I noticed it on the dyno because Ryan noticed it on his laptop when doing logs and runs. I noticed it on the street through my radar detector (it reads voltage constantly when not getting a signal) and when diagnosing the issues I have been using a volt meter in different locations.

I really don't know how it could be wiring though. Its a way simple setup with 4 ga minimum wire being used an 0 gauge as the main cable. The only wire I have going to the alt is the trigger wire with a NON LED light in it for resistance purposes. Its in the right pin bassed on the diagrams and also, if you unplug the plug all together the voltage only reads a high 11.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

Ok guys, I am ready to eat my "i told you so" sandwhich with a big glass of "sit and listen" to wash it down.

Basically. I swapped out the alt to the 220amp alt. No change.

Now here is a little diagnostic info for ya:

(Readings were taken with headlights and blower fan on)

Voltage at alt. 14.4.
Voltage at kill switch 14.2
Voltage into main fuse box 13.8
Voltage at cig. Lighter in cabin 12.4

I assumed that maybe my 4ga wire was to small running to from the starter to the main fuse box. I grabbed a spare 0 gauge cable i had and temporarily ran it from the battery to the fuse box. The Voltage readout at the box and in the cab at the cig lighter never changed. Maybe .1 V but nothing significant

Any thoughts on any of this. Anything someone would like me to try and or get readings from.?

Forcefed86

iTrader: (4)

Shouldn't be checking overall system voltage at the cig lighter IMO. Could be poor connection, crap on terminals, too small of a fuse etc..

Since you've verified voltage at the alt post and battery is good. Your system voltage is probably fine. Where do you pick up your main power to the ECU? Fuse block? I’d want to verify that first, then the fuel pumps, then the fans etc…. If that’s all good you could run a separate wire form a known good source to a 5-10A fuse, then to the cig lighter receptacle.

Depending on the length of the wire, 4ga should be plenty IMO. Make sure your 4ga wire to the fuse block is clean and making good contact, soldered connectors etc. Then ensure chassis grounds are up to snuff. Can’t really have too many IMO. Ensure you have good grounds tied into the trans, heads, block and chassis.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

Well I know as of now I only have one 4 ga wire from the motor to the chasis. I plan on putting a second one off the driver side to the chasis. Most likely off an alt bolt down to the chasis. I will start digging around and verifying voltage at all the important parts later tonight or even tomorrow.

It was brought up that I could also just run a dedicated line to the front for the ECU and harness to make sure they are getting proper voltage. I will add some grounds, check a few more things out as far as connections go, and get some more readings from a couple locations. Hopefully something pops out at me when I am on my voltage search.

I agree that the Cig lighter is not a good place to check voltage. However everything else is buried under the carpet behind the dash so the outlet was easiest to get it.

On a side note, the Et street radials were starting to show some cords. I pulled the wheels off and sent them to work with a friend. I should pick them up tonight with a new set of Hoosier QTPs for the back 27x10.5x15. Hopefully they will get the job done for me

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

This morning i worked on the car a bit. I added a second 4 ga ground from the back of the driver head to the frame rail of the car. From there i changed out the spark plugs and made sure the new ones were gapped properly. When all of that fiasco was done, i went for a test drive to see if the ground strap helped any. I made it about four blocks before the smell of fuel arose. Made it another block before i was overwhelmed by the smell of fuel. Upon turning into the nearest parking lot, fuel shot up from under the hood onto the windshield. I shut the car down, threw it in neutral, coasted to a quick stop in a lot. First thing i did was pop the hood and grab the fire extenguisher behind the seat. Luckily, No fire. However, the entire engine bay was soaked in fuel. Enough to where it was dripping off the hood once opened. Long story short, trailered it back to the garage. It seems that the injector on cyllinder 4 is SPRAYING out of the bottom of the injector where it seats to the intake. I will pull it apart tomorrow and check the status of the O Ring. Its crazy that it happened so suddenly and the other 7 have no issues what so ever. Curious if the o ring was pinched or ripped upon install. I will no more soon.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

I picked up somenew o-rings and replaced them on the passanger side rail. The O-ring that was spewing fuel did not looked damaged really which worries me a tad. However after replacing them all it held pressure and fired up and idled with no leaking issues. I will give it a test drive later when the rain lets up.

here is a pic of the front cover. You can see from where the e85 stained it how much fuel i am talking getting sprayed inside the bay. I am lucky it didnt catch fire.



Now back to the electrical issue for me.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

Long story short, I think I got the voltage issue tracked down. Two things. One, the main 4 ga wire going to the main fuse box was a little loose. Tightened it down, checked a few other things, and went out for a quick test drive. Everything seemed to be doing well. Then I Lost all charging from the alt. Voltage showed 10.9 and stayed. Made it to a friends house, and the spade on the bulb that was inline for the exciter wire had broken. Replaced the bulb and went out again and everything held pretty steady. With the headlights and all fans on it held right around 12.8 or 12.9 Voltage is good to go.

However, I did find my next issue. It seems as if the coils on the turbo side are getting to hot from the downpipe. After the car gets up to temp, It has an issue building boost and the coils on that side get way hot. Once the car cools down it builds boost fine again. I think my first swing at this problem will be making and installing a head shield around the downpipe. Hopefully that will be enough to cool them off. If not, I suppose it will be coil relocation time.

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

I grabbed a lazer temp gun from work and took some readings after driving around and getting the car warmed up. I found some of this interesting so i figured i would share. Coolant temp read 185ish when i shut the car off in the garage and took these readings.

(All readings are in Fahrenheit)

Coil #8 - 287
Coil #2 - 247
Coil #1 - 188
Coil #7 - 188
DP @ turbo - 510
DP @ rear of bay - 470
Turbo blanket - 246
Intake - 140
Pipe to intake - 120
Radiator - 141
Intercooler - 97
Alt. case - 280
Shifter handle - 117

I made a heat shield to put over the downpipe to help protect the coils. I will install it once the car cools and take readings on the coils again. If the heat shield does not do the trick, i will have to relocate the coils.

oscs

iTrader: (19)

Are your manifolds wrapped? edit* I was on my phone

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

Yes, all manifolds are wrapped along with the downpipe.

I installed the shield, heated it up again, and took some more readings. Here is what i got with the shield installed:

Coil # 8 - 190
Coil #2 - 210
Coil #7 - 183
Coil #1 - 171
Heat Shield - 194
DP - 550
Blanket - 236

Here is a pic of it all installed. Not sure if i am a fan of the looks.

oscs

iTrader: (19)

yeah looks like crap IMO (the look not your fab skills) and not a drastic temp drop for coil #2 Id move them further up (hovering above the fuel rails)

Phish806

iTrader: (5)

Yeah i will see what i can do on moving them most likely. It may take a little bit to get it all figured out i suppose