flyrotary@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

Hey, Paul

Great to hear the good news. That is the one thing that folks on this list made it such a great list to be on. We can share our mistakes/lessons learned without fear of ridicule (well, maybe some good natured ridicule {:>)). I have posted things that were a bit embarrassing (and/or stupid if you prefer) such as my 12 miles engine out glide - with a full 18 gallon take just the turn of a handle away. Why? because I knew with absoluteness that the other than still had 3 gallons in it. It did, but the fuel feed had become disconnected and the engine could not reach the fuel. So, you hooking up two connections to one sensor pales in comparison in my opinion.

Does this mean you are sticking with EFI (in spite of a custom mounting plate?). I hope you do because I think in the long run you will really come to "love" EFI.

Keep flying

Ed A

----- Original Message -----

From: sqpilot@bellsouth.net

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 12:57 PM

Subject: [FlyRotary] a better running rotary

I went out to the airport today and ran the engine up, did a quick full power runup and then went to the runway and took off and landed (back on the same runway). Never ran better...matter of fact never ran this well. What, might we ask made the dramatic improvement? I call it reverse stupidity. A couple of days ago, I went to a page on my MicroTech ECU handheld programmer that I had not previously viewed. It showed rpm and water temp. My engine monitor showed a water temp of 160 degrees F. The ECU monitor showed a water temp of -24 degrees C. Not even close. To make a long story short, I had wired two monitors to one water temp sending unit. After running the engine, the ECU water temp climbed from -24C all the way up to -12C. I disconnected the wire that went to the engine monitor, and the ECU water temp immediately went up to 60C. Since the ECU varies fuel and timing based on water temperatures, it was unable to do it's job correctly with inaccurate water temp inputs. The cold start enrichment also was not functioning, as the engine map's were supposed to start reducing mixture levels after reaching 50 degrees C. It never saw those numbers, so it could not function properly. Now, with the proper water temp inputs, it runs GREAT !!! Cold start, warm up, idle through WOT is smooth as silk. To think of all the time I wasted trying to program injector open times, etc on an ECU that was receiving improper water temp information.

I should have known better than to connect two monitors to one sending unit, but I did it anyway. Just hoping others can learn from my mistake instead of making their own.

Just when I had a custom made mounting plate made for the HA-6 carburetor I just purchased, the thing has to go and run like a swiss watch. Murphy wins again. Take care. Paul Conner