Controller problems (x2)

Mike M · 07-27-2008

Hey hey, both me and a friend bought a 3bar progressive kit over two years ago and had great luck with them when they were first installed. Both cars had other issues (one just bad luck breaking everything, and my car was torn down for a resto) and the kits were removed. My kit was installed in a friends car and worked good but after awhile he said it wasn't working anymore (can't remember what the exact problem was, the car seized a camshaft and that was it for that junker.. got parted and the kit removed, knowing the alcohol didn't work). My friends kit during that time was installed in my own winter beater and I had some issues as well with it not injecting (its been a long time so I don't have details on what the problems were) - it never bothered me as I was able to run 15psi non intercooled without alcohol anyway (without ping). The car got parted and kit removed. (Both kits removed last year sometime).

So anyways, fast forward to yesterday I was hooking up my alcohol in my resto'd car (88 Dodge Lancer Shelby with lots of goodies) and finished off by doing my final hookups for the controller (knowing very well that it may not work). With my own controller the unit powered up but I do not get the full/diag light to blink at all, go run my car (still at a safe/low boost) and I get no pump lights at all. I figure since the unit is powered up I will check the MAP input with a multimeter and I have proper input from the MAP. I have jumpered and primed the pump and it seems to be working just great prior to running it). I assume my controller is junked and then go install my buddies controller.

Get it in and power it up, power light is on and the full/diag light blinks 3 times... I'm thinking this just might work! Go for a run and as soon as I touch boost (dials on controller are set low) the controller goes into fault mode (diag light constant blinking). Read up on that and see there are a few potential problems. Doesn't seem like it would be a controller overheat issue (or could it?), I double checked my pump ground (removed it, resanded to metal and tightened it down - my ground is up in the cowl, its grounded to bare metal that should be fine, eh? I really don't want to run a new ground to the battery out of my re-wrapped harness, ugly). When my pump is jumpered it seems to work great, but I don't have a way of checking amperage draw. Anyways, I came out this morning to have a little look and recheck my ground. I went to test the controller (jumper the +5v to MAP input and check for lights with the pump disconnected) - as soon as I tried that in goes directly into fault mode before I was able to jumper it (due to pump disconnected I'm sure), so I ran my alcohol line into a bottle and kept the pump plugged in and was going to try and jumper the 5v to MAP again but its STILL going into fault mode. So as soon as the unit is powered up now it goes into fault mode, don't even have to hit boost to trigger the pump.

What else should I be checking before I order another controller (or two)??

Thanks for any input guys, my new build has over 6k KMs on it and I'm ready for more boost (12psi is nice and all, but I want moooore!!!!)

dvldoc · 07-27-2008

Check the controllers ground wire. Adding a relay might also solve your issue.

Mike M · 07-30-2008

Hey, thanks for the reply. Got around to checking that out, I switched my ground to another solid bare metal spot underdash and the fault light still comes on immediately (key on, don't even have to have it running). I removed the controller from the vehicle and opened up both units.

The first unit which wouldn't turn the pump lights on at all has a very obvious burned part on the board. I'm sure this controller is pooched. Here is a link to the photo and circled which part burned... any input as to why? http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7762/dsci0357rv0.jpg

The second unit was a bit questionable, the larger black piece (sorry, I'm not quite an electronics guru =p) looks like it has a small burned area where there might be a small crack and a little bubble... (the other unit I have looks perfect compared to this one, so something is fishy) the picture quality is poor but you can see a tiny bit past the blurriness, again the bad part is circled. http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8402/dsci0359ht3.jpg

I'm really quite sure both controllers are pooched, just moreso looking for a why to prevent any further failures... I guess I'll probably be ordering two new controllers in the near future along with a few more misc parts I need.

Thanks for any input =)

dvldoc · 07-31-2008

The units are free replacement for 1 year, You fried the microcontroller, It's the brain of the unit. On think that causes this is a poor pump ground from the install, It can cause feedback into the controller.

Just PM rocket468 for the Return form and then you can send the units in. If they are out of the 1 year warranty period they can still be sent in for repair and you just pay the cost. Which is not that much.