Emerald - what to look for when cranking?

[Myles]

Ok, so my k takes its time to catch when cranking - rotation is recognised, but the engine takes ages to show signs of catching.

 

What should I be looking for in the Emerald sw while cranking - e.g. to see if the startup ignition map is working for/against me?

[Rob Walker]

emerald displays the battery voltage whilst cranking, needs to be above 9v or you wont get a spark

[7 wonders of the world]

Hi Myles

 

Assume you have a green light on the Emerald? if not I've now seen two cars with the same falut in the main power feed to the Emerald, both had a fracture in the wire approx 4" back from the Emerald plug, just were the wires become a loom.

 

Untape them, and carry out a wiggle test with a meter, also look for badly crimped / dry joints throughout.

 

This may take time as the OE CC loom is far from perfect in that respect!

 

 

 

 

[charlie_pank]

my guess is you need more fuel when it's cold and speed < 600 rpm as it only fires after it has been cranking for a while and enough fuel has accumulated around the intake.

 

have you tried cranking while spraying easistart on the throttle body?

[TomB]

Mines similar but when going its fine, nice steady idle, quick pick up etc, but starting needs working on. Its cranks for ages and I end up giving a gentle squeeze on the throttle and it fires.

 

Obviously without looking at the map you wont be able to comment in detail, but should I be looking more at increasing fuelling on the main map at the 0 and 1 load sites, or looking at tweaking the correction tables for cold enrichment? I suspect the latter, but am not sure.

[charlie_pank]

I THINK there are some criteria you can set to tell the ECU that you're trying to start the engine (RPM below x, temp below y, etc... ) then you can tell it you need more fuel at that point.

 

I suggest you try the easistart test, as that will confirm that you need more fuel when cranking...

[Mankee]

Dave Walker told me of a trick he learnt from the factory Rover ECUs (I think) about firing in a load of fuel when cranking to help startup. My old engine always fired up very well, even with no specific cold-start settings. I can have a look at the different maps I've had Dave tweak over the years to see if the cranking enrichment settings might be of some use, depending upon injector sizing etc.?

[Myles]

Thanks - I'd be interested to see what your numbers are for the first few speed sites at the lowest load band up to the normal warm-idle speed site.

 

I could then maybe compare them to mine and see if there's anything waaaay out of kilter.

[Mankee]

Not sure if this helps, Myles:

 

http://images18.fotki.com/v458/photos/8/42688/7812053/Image2-vi.jpg

 

When I first got the car, the values for "Initial Inj prime" were:

 

12, 12, 12, 12, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

 

Still started caught and started fine though, helped by a tickle of the throttle.

[Myles]

Thanks - what is the basic fuel-map ('Injection') out of interest?

[Mankee]

Here it is:

 

http://images61.fotki.com/v218/photos/8/42688/7812053/Image1-vi.jpg

[Myles]

Thanks