Anyone having this FiTech Issue?

[MyOriginal66]

^what they said

 

[jimschulz]

Update: I was getting ready to pull everything off and send back to FiTech when I read the thread pipermike posted about. In it a guy talked about having a similar issue and was able to correct it by adding a direct ground to the TB itself. I added a ground from the TBI front passenger TB mounting stud and took it for a drive. Ended up driving 40 miles and didn't have a cutout. Hmmmmm? So I came back and pulled the ground off and drove it another 10 or so miles with no cutout. I got with Kurk at FiTech and am holding off on the return. I am going to wire in a permanent ground to the TBI and drive it heavy for the next week and see if the issue comes back. The FiTech relies on the carb mounting stud for return ground and I'm wondering if it just isn't making a good connection all the time. I have solid grounds from the battery to the motor, battery the frame, and battery to the body. as well as a ground buss for the relays and FiTech fuel pump. I will update this thread next week after puting some miles on it and let everyone know if the issue comes back.

 

[Tiko433]

Subscribed. Good luck

 

[pipermike]

Good luck Jim, I think we all are rooting for this system to be as good as it's made out to be!

 

[bteutsch]

I was having some similar symptoms as far as the motor would just cut out going down the road. Usually after a long drive. I am using the command center. I don't remember the tablet freezing, it would just go black, however my condition ended up being a loss of power at the wiring harness connector plug. Mine was getting hot on the pin that was the main power wire. After sending the sub harness back to fitech, and getting a replacement, the same thing started happening a few weeks later. I too wouldn't trust it for my wife to drive. I could always get it back going by messing with the plug where the sub harness connects to the throttle body harness. After the second time Fitech had me return the whole unit for inspection. They couldn't find anything wrong with my unit, but suspected I may have a ground issue at the command center. The solution was to add a relay for the orange wire that feeds the command center pump. I believe my problems are solved. Yours may be something different but at least its something to look at.

 

[swampbog]

update: I was getting ready to pull everything off and send back to fitech when i read the thread pipermike posted about. In it a guy talked about having a similar issue and was able to correct it by adding a direct ground to the tb itself. I added a ground from the tbi front passenger tb mounting stud and took it for a drive. Ended up driving 40 miles and didn't have a cutout. Hmmmmm? So i came back and pulled the ground off and drove it another 10 or so miles with no cutout. I got with kurk at fitech and am holding off on the return. I am going to wire in a permanent ground to the tbi and drive it heavy for the next week and see if the issue comes back. The fitech relies on the carb mounting stud for return ground and i'm wondering if it just isn't making a good connection all the time. I have solid grounds from the battery to the motor, battery the frame, and battery to the body. As well as a ground buss for the relays and fitech fuel pump. I will update this thread next week after puting some miles on it and let everyone know if the issue comes back.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=605736&page=16
just read this extremely long thread about some of the problems a couple of guys were having with their unit, both went back to carbs, not what i wanted to hear as i am considering this system might sit back and wait awhile now. Hope you guys get them figured out, maybe there's something here that might help if you have done read it.

Since I'm also on the above-mentioned thread/forum the ground thing is one thing we were curious about and a little surprised they were only using a carb stud as ground.
Most engines (ok all) have a gasket between mating surfaces and where bots are used there is a washer of some sort. Now if that washer on the intake manifold is siting on painted or some sort of non-conductive material and the intake has a gasket it between the rest of the engine how well can it get a ground? Not very well and probably real shitty for a ECU that is looking for a clean power and ground.
The guy in the above-mentioned thread had his hand held controller go blank on him and another had his go black. Whos to say what the controller is going to do once it gets a funky ground that spikes with irregular connections.
Couple snippets from the thread about one of the guys ground fix
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showpost.php?p=7432312&postcount=822
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showpost.php?p=7433298&postcount=845

I haven't ordered my FiTech unit yet since I can't do nothing till spring/summer but I've been following threads about the units and how they are acting and I really hope that most of these issues are fixable by adding a ground and/or doing a software tweak.
Until I order mine I'm going to continue reading all I can about the units, that and drink beer.

 

[charlesawhite]

I am going to add a ground tonight and see if that changes anything too.

 

[englewoodcowboy]

I too am looking to go the FiTech route and am also concerned with the above problems. Since I am using a universal hot rod harness and wiring everything from scratch, I have decided I too will add a ground wire in my harness just to be safe. Most EFI issues I have ever read about typically end up being a dirty power (fluctuating power etc.) or bad ground so I plan on eliminating that right out of the gate.

 

[68stang73]

Make sure your grounds are a completed circuts. Bat to engine, bat to frame, frame to cab, cab to block. Not chinsey ground wires either. The bigger the better.

 

[DirtDonk]

...Most EFI issues I have ever read about typically end up being a dirty power (fluctuating power etc.) or bad ground so I plan on eliminating that right out of the gate.

Good call. Always!
I bet we're up to about the 98% range of it being a ground issue on all the different EFI installs with problems here on the forums.
Some bad ECM's, some bad wiring, some bad "etceteras" but most of it's been bad grounds. Or more often a lack thereof.

Just look at a modern car. Everything is grounded/bonded together to complete the circuit and keep RFI to a minimum.
And our poor bodies (the Broncos, not "ours") pieces are poorly attached to each other even when they're welded. Anyone who's run into an issue with the headlights and turn signals and bad grounds can attest to that. Even the fully spot-welded core support is in poor contact with the rest of the body after all these years.

Paul

 

[Tiko433]

Any success stories ? And are all running the " Gostreet" ?

 

[jimschulz]

So far the ground seems to be doing the trick. Put another 50 miles on it today and no cutouts. I have noticed a WOT to a dead stop it will die, but thats a tuning issue and not a cutout. So far my display has not locked up once since the dedicated ground was installed. Will update again in a few days. And as to the posts above, I do run a phenolic spacer as I like to isolate the heat from the intake.

 

[DirtDonk]

Probably not needed as much as with a carb, but maybe still a good idea?
No more fuel to percolate or boil, or just warm up because no more float bowls for it to sit in. And the fuel itself stays as cool as it's likely to ever get because of the return system.
But I would think that the sensors could benefit from a cooler environment. Even if it's only a few degrees over the long term.

What are everyone's feelings on that subject?

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

In colder climates too, perhaps a heat barrier is not a good idea as the finer metered fuel from a fuel injector can suffer from icing at that point. And that really makes the accurate flow of a fuel/air mix through a wet manifold an issue.
Wonder if that's what some of the dyno runs were suffering from with the dual plane manifolds?
Higher velocities and more vaporized fuel possibly icing up? Seems unlikely in a hot engine environment, but that's one of the things the factories had to overcome during the early development of EFI.

Just more possibly useless info to think on now!

Paul

 

[charlesawhite]

Grounded the unit well and have had a spacer in place since the beginning. Seemed to be doing fine till this morning. The first 20 miles nothing then doing 45 mph it starts losing power and I have to pull over and it dies. Let it sit for about 5 min trying to start it off and on and it finally fires up and goes for 50 miles more without a hiccup. I am totally stumped.

 

[charlesawhite]

The funny thing was my handheld worked all the time never cut out.... Maybe the ground helped that??

 

[englewoodcowboy]

Grounded the unit well and have had a spacer in place since the beginning. Seemed to be doing fine till this morning. The first 20 miles nothing then doing 45 mph it starts losing power and I have to pull over and it dies. Let it sit for about 5 min trying to start it off and on and it finally fires up and goes for 50 miles more without a hiccup. I am totally stumped.

Now that sounds like a fuel starvation issue. Was the fuel pump running at this point? I have not read through the whole post but you could have power/ground issue with your pump. If it dies again, before you crank, I would pop the air cleaner and cycle the key and watch to see if the injectors fire. If they fire and no fuel is seen then it I s a pump issue, if you do not hear them fire then it is an ecu issue which could be power, programming etc. nut I would lean to electrical wit the pump circuit as primary suspect and it will be the easiest to diagnose. If you turn the key and the pump runs, have someone help by cycling the key on and off and wile it runs wiggle all connections to see if you can effect it.

 

[pipermike]

Grounded the unit well and have had a spacer in place since the beginning. Seemed to be doing fine till this morning. The first 20 miles nothing then doing 45 mph it starts losing power and I have to pull over and it dies. Let it sit for about 5 min trying to start it off and on and it finally fires up and goes for 50 miles more without a hiccup. I am totally stumped.

I'd be curious to hear if FItech has an explanation for this, after reading posts on other forums I sometimes get the feeling that the guy that designed it doesn't know why it's not working. Goes to show how much R&D automotive manufacturers have to go through before they roll out a new product. It's like me at work sitting it front of a laptop, Did I do something wrong or is the computer broken?? :-[

 

[charlesawhite]

Decided this morning to add a relay to the fuel command center just to make sure it was getting good power. If it dies will check to see if the injectors are firing. That's a great suggestion. If nothing else it gives me alone time with my Bronco on V-Day

 

[jimschulz]

One thing I had done from the beginning was to put in a dedicated 14ga ground back to the buss for the fuel command center. I didnt like the idea of grounding it to the body. I still have not had so much as a burp with either the ECU or display at this point. Going to take it on a 250 mile road trip tomorrow...Hope I wont have to get towed back!!!!

charlesawhite, what type of pump are you feeding the fuel command center with?