SR20DET Redtop Just added Enthalpy ECU, Injectors and Turbo - BIG PROBLEMS HELP!

[fortwayne240]

Alright. I have an S13 SR20DET Redtop engine. I have made several other posts relating to a no spark issue. I have fixed all other problems with the car and decided to perform some long over-due upgrades to the car. Of course, I made sure that the car was running perfectly before I installed any of the new items. The ECU was also working perfectly before I sent it to Enthalpy to have it chipped.

1. GT2871R Turbo2. Tomei 740CC Injectors3. Taka turbo lines4. 300zx MAF5. Enthalpy ECU Tune

Ok, now here is the problem. After trying several different wiring diagrams for the 300ZX MAF, I have gotten it hooked up correctly. I have checked all the wiring for continuity and power to and from the MAF and ECU. I am showing good 12v constant and ground at the MAF. My problem.....the car sounds like it is running on 2 cylinders, it craps out white smoke, and can't hold a good idle at all. I literally have to have the pedal held down almost half way to even get the car to start, and when it does, it barely runs at all. If I let of the gas the car immediately dies. I have a horrible smell of fuel coming from the exhaust. I know that changing the turbo is not going to affect the idle. There are NO leaks from the fuel injectors, rail or hoses. I am assuming that either the injectors, ECU tuning or the MAF is the culprit. If I unplug the MAF while the car is runing, nothing changes, it still runs like crap.

Now here is the biggest problem. I am unable to get the ecu to go into diag mode. The red LED in the ECU is always on, even when I turn the screw to make it flash the DTC codes. This is not normal, and I believe that the ECU might be the problem, but I would like to hear from someone else who has had this same problem, especially if someone else out there has had the Enthalpy ECU tune, and had the same problems checking their DTC's. As always any advice is welcome and appreciated.

[bardabe]

just send it back it's a bad tune. try to get a hold of anthlepy himself first see what he says. but sounds to me like the tune is bad itself.

[xsublimefrekx]

they are usually pretty good on replacing it if its a bad tune. Same thing happen to a friend of mine and they replaced it with ease.

[nzmoman]

if you pulled the plug on the MAF and nothing changed chances are your problems lies there. I would check my plugs to see if fuel is bulding up also. the wiring on the MAf sounds bad, or the maf ECU connection is bad.

Also when your car starts running fine, if it is a maf problem, you should expect a bit of smoke for a while after it is fixed, but not perminently

I had the ECU problem that you describe on a stock ecu. This was after my last swap, but after I got the car running for a few miles and got my car tuned, it was fine. I have plans to change to a different ECU now because that is not normal. However the computer may not throw codes if the computer has not run correctly with the new installs on the motor. I believe the engine has to function with all the parts first so the engine can tell you if something is wrong. But I may be wrong because Ive never used an Enthalpy tuned ECU

[S13FASTBACKSR]

When the key is on the red light on your ecu should be on. however the light should go off when the engine is running. If it stays on this means your ecu is the culprit. However this might not be because of the tune enthalpy did for you..you may have shorted out the ecu by wiring the maf wrong. I know you said you wired it right but just make sure. this is a common mistake. Your power wire should be going to pin e and your 5 volt should be going to pin b. your grounds can be wired into each other and then to the ground wire coming off of your harness or only one of them can be wired to your harness and the other going to your frame to complete the circuit. Also when you unplug the maf you should not be able to rev over 2000 rpms (or 2500) one or the other..this is because the ecu is reading "limp mode"..if its reving past this then the ecu is not reading limp mode because the maf is wired incorrectly and has shorted out the ecu. just make sure you have the power wire going to pin e and the 5 v. to pin b. let us know

[fortwayne240]

OK, I believe that I have found the problem. I noticed that the cover of the ECU looked dented in. I removed it and tried starting the car. It ran fine. I assume that the cover was grounding out the new board that has been installed in the ECM by enthalpy. I revoced the dent and added some electrical tape to the inside of the ecu cover to rnsure that it will not ground out anymore. I have ran the car all weekend, starting it, driving it, and shutting it on and off. I noticed a few probelms. I cannot get the boost over about 17 psi, without the car bucking and backfiring. I of course turned the boost down to 14 PSI, just to be safe.

NEW problem...... I decided to do some donuts in a parking lot, just for the hell of it.... wow it was fun, and then I parked the car, and shut it off. I went to re-start the car about 20 min. later, and I have the same problem that happened originally, and the ECU shows code 12, MAF problem. If I reset the computer by disconnecting the ECU for about 2 hours, the car runs fine...... as soon as I shut off the car, the problems happens again, and code 12 is thrown again........ I have re-set the ECU almost 6 times now, and the car runs fine, as soon as I shut the car off, it happens again.... I am going to do some searching on the forums, and hopefully come up with an answer, if anyone here has any ideas, I would appreciate them....

[S13FASTBACKSR]

well if your ecu is telling you the MAF is bad then I would think you keep having this problem because the MAF is bad. Reseting the ecu is not going to fix your MAF. the only thing that will fix that is to replace the MAF. ok now here are a few questions, when you first started this post you said the red led light on your ecu did not go off like it should when the engine was running. well is it now? I am guessing it has gone off since you can now read diagnostic mode and you could not before. However I would say since you are having the same problems as you were before it would be your ecu because this sounds like a bad ecu, but since your ecu is saying MAF I would try replacing that. But before you do that just check first to see if your 12v power wire is going to pin E on your maf and that your 5v wire is going to pin b because this is where they must go, if they are going to the wrong pin you will short out your ecu. and you have both grounds hooked up correct? also let us know if the red led is still staying on

[fortwayne240]

Well.... I removed the cover on the ECU, after noticing that the cover was dented in. I believe that the cover was touching the inside of the ECU, and grounding out the daughterboard inside. The car started fine, and I have been able to read the ecu codes. I must have forgot to mention this in my previous post. Sorry.

I have since tried several things in order to get the MAF to work properly, Including following the 300ZX FSM steps for testing the MAF. I removed the mesh screen on the MAF, on the side AFTER the air passes over the hot wire, and used grain alcohol to clean the hot wire and other exposed sensors in the MAF. I re-installed it into the car and it now works fine. I cleared the ECU code, and took it out for several long drives, shutting off the car and staring it again several times in order to try and re-create the problem, but it is still running great. I was nervous that removing the wire mesh, and cleaning the sensors would ruin the MAF. I still had a little smoke pouring out of the exaust for a little while, but all seems fine now. I have a NEW MAF coming from Nissan, for 240.00, and I will keep it in case I have future problems.

Anyone care to comment on my problem, feel free...... I will keep the thread updated with any future information that I may come across.

[fortwayne240]

Oh just for anyone who cares, I was able to get the boost pressure up to 19 PSI with no problems. WOW !!!!! incredible. ALL stock internals, just some rocker stoppers, and a well maintained SR20DET, and all is right with the world !!!! All I can say is WOW!

Anyone have any idea how long before I might have some problems with the internals...... I know that having a good A/F ratio, a good intercooler, and keep an eye on the EGT's can prolong the life..... but well, I guess the saying "hope for the best prepare for the worst" comes into play here.

[FSUDrifter]

congrats on fixing your problem... 19psi must be amazing. I am looking to go with the same setup i think.

Where did you get your stuff and how much? Anything you would do differently?

[S13FASTBACKSR]

the stock internals are good for 500hp. as far as boost your probably on the borderline of how much your headgasket can handle, you better be careful. maybe other people on here can tell you first hand what they've experienced as far as amount of psi with their stock HG. and by the way howcome when i went to the nissan dealership they told me $580 for a new maf off of a z32!!! lol are you sure its the TT one? well anyways congrats and be careful with that boost

[fortwayne240]

Well, I got the new MAF it was for the TT model of the 300ZX. I was a tech at the Nissan delership here in northen Indiana, so I got a ood price. So far the car is working fine. It still b ucks and hessitated the first few times I drove the car, and right now I have the boost set at 17 PSI. I had to reset the ECU, and drive the car for a while, but it drives better and better every time i drive it. Now, all I am woried about is the head gasket, and other questionable parts of the motor.

[fortwayne240]

I bought all the stuff from ENJUKU racing. I will list all the items I bought below:

GT2871RLE Turbo w/E compressor housing ( 3" inlet)Tomei 740cc injectorsTaka turbo linesEnthalpy ECU tuning300ZX MAF3" intake from http://www.hybridynamics.com

Total I belive that my bill was 2500.00 give or take a few.....

I already have the following which I would recommend before the upgrade:

Greddy turbo extensionGreddy downpipeMegan racing test pipeApexi N1 ExhaustGreddy Rocker stoppersTubular manifold

The power feels incredible. I also noticed that racing another 240 with the GT3036R turbo, my car builds boot faster, and gets to 100MPH with alot less turbo lag. Sure the GT3036R makes more power, but for light to light racing, and drifting, the GT2871R with a .64 a/r seems to be the way to go.

[analogassassins]

can any of you guys please help me? BLACKTOP sr20det.

started out like this...

im driving home and (a couple of weeks already) my throttle isnt acting right, i feel like it limps on me sometimes and lacks the power. anyway, one day im driving home and it totally dies out on me, to the point where its choking and backfiring as i exit the freeway. luckily the exit led to my gf's house. left the car there and looked on the forums. it seems the MAF was the culprit at the time. so i upgraded to the z32 maf which i happened to have lying around. after that was properly installed, still nothing. choking. black smoke. bad idle. blah. so i took out the ECU and had it shipped out to be reflashed and retuned. so now it can handle 550cc injectors, FMIC, z32 maf, and no speed limiter. i popped the ECU back on and blah, still nothing. same problems.

i had a friend come over and told me my TPS isnt working right, theres no click goin with it when i turn key on. so i grabbed a voltmeter, i guess the TPS was bad. ordered new one. got it today. installed it, and still nothing. actually, its not choking as much anymore. but its still blowing out smoke, though white-ish now instead of black and the idle sits around 600 (which im sure is a timing issue too) so seriously. what do i do? im at the end of my wits and not made of money...

someone please help. a lot of people keep suggesting fuel injector is stuck open, but how does one prove that? if so, i have a gift certificate at pep boys can order injectors there. what fits my car? i heard a 96 300zx?

help me. please....

[S13FASTBACKSR]

first of it would have been better to start your own topic on this. you will get a lot more responses and not be a thread jacker. But i'll try to help you out. Just to make sure..you did put 550cc injectors in when you had your ecu tuned for that right? because if you did, considering they were new then most likely one would not be staying open. If you want to check to see if one of the fuel injectors is stayin open there are a couple of things you could do. build pressure in your fuel rail by turning the key on. now pull the fuel rail off with the injectors still in and turn the engine over. ( Make sure to take the coilpacks out before you do this) now this way you can see if one of the injectors is staying stuck open) The other thing you can do is pull out all of your spark plugs and if one of them is quite a bit blacker than the others then that spark plugs fuel injector is bad (stuck open). for instince spark plug #3 considerably blacker than the others then fuel injector #3 is the culprit. Also while the spark plugs are out check the gap on them. should be gapped at about 30. Now what i think the problem is, is 1 of 2 things. your timing is somewhat off, check to make that its at 15degrees from tdc. or you did not wire the maf correctly and shorted your ecu. make sure the power wire is going to pin e and the 5 v to pin b. the 2 grounds wired to each other and then your harness or one of them wired to your harness and the other to the frame. also put a mirror behind your ecu and turn the key on. a red led should come on. then start the engine. if your led does not go off you have a bad ecu. now theres a lot of info so check it all out and let us know...and next time start your own post