Cant start Ford Duratec ST170 / SVT

Hi All

Hope you clever people can help.

This is my first time setting up vipec

I can not get this motor to run. Tried for days now!!!!

Spec as follow

ECU - Vipec V88

Motor - Ford Duratec / ST170 / SVT with the VCT on the inlet cam with Turbo

Ignition - Beru ZS041 coil on plugs. All info I have on them. ECU Mode is direct spark. Done tests, they click

Injectors - Deatschwerks Bosch injectors. Dead times as per spec given. ECU Mode is Sequential. Done tests, they click

Triggers - Brand new reluctor Ford sensors. Checked wires for wrong way around. 100% confident they are correct.

On trigger setup up I selected the Duratec VCT setup. Get steady rpm on cranking. Trigger 1 and 2 both get signal as they go Yes.

Trigger 2 picks up 90% of the time, even when checking under vvt in runtime values. Sometimes it says "error: 2nd cam pulse" on trigger 2. Comes and goes.

The cam has 5 teeth. 4 equal with one in between them. Almost like 8 - 3 teeth. I think my problems comes from here!!

Calibrated trigger. Get perfect reading on TDC. Sometimes the cam is in exhaust stroke and sometimes in compression stroke???

Dont know what to do, please help. Attached is the map file

Im pretty sure those coils are non-amplified, they will likely need an ignitor. You can confirm they are non amplified by measuring resistance between the two outside terminals - if it is very low resistance like less than 1ohm then they are non-amplified and will need a separate ignitor.

If you try to drive non-amplified coils without an ignitor, sometimes there will be just enough grunt trickling that you will get a weak spark when the plug is in free air where little energy is needed to jump the gap, but once inside a cylinder under compression they wont spark.

The rest of your set up sounds ok as does the trigger.

Thanks for the reply.

Outside terminals, 12 and signal measure 0 ohm.

If this is the case, what is the best way forward? Just buy a ignitor? If so which type or chance the coils?

A common 4-channel Ignitor is the Bosch 0 227 100 211 such as this one:

https://www.efihardware.com/products/2270/Bosch-4-Channel-Ignitor

Thanks

How does the wiring then work? Do they provide a ground only?

My COP are as follow

1 - signal

2 - neg

3 - 12v

When do your coils fire? On the falling edge of the signal, or the rising edge? The Bosch ignitor works with inductive coils that will fire on the rising edge. The ECU provides a low-going signal to energize the coil, and the coil fires on the rising edge.

Normal wiring is 12V to the positive side of the ignition coil, the negative side (in your case, the signal pin) goes to the ignitor outputs. On the ECU side, the coil outputs go to the ignitor inputs. The since the ignitor is completing the ground circuit for the coils, it also has a ground connection.

To re-confirm what David has already said, pic below from the Vipec help file should help. Note the terminology on your coil pinout is kind of wrong. I dont have a pinout for that specific coil, but all other 3 pin MB coils from around the same era were: 1=Negative. 2=Secondary ground. 3=Positive.

So, pin 1 to the ignitor. Pin 2 to engine block. Pin 3 to ign switched +12V.

After some more research, it does seem that these coils need ignitors

To confirm wiring.

Coil pin outs

15 - 12v

31 - neg

1 - signal - Ignitor goes here??

Thanks

The Bosch four-channel ignition module sorted the problem out.

Started the car yesterday!!!

Thanks

Tanks for reporting back.

I recently used those Bosch modules on a Ford GT race car, working fine. They are nice and compact, like them.