M130 Motec engine startup with Electronic throttle

Good Morning All

I have a Motec M130 ECU and i will be looking at starting the engine for the 1st time very soon but my question is do i need to have the throttle pedal all wired in for me to start the engine up with the electronic throttle or can i control it via the Motec software just for startup?

Thanks in advance for any replies

Rich

Hi Rich,

The Idle Control system will work with the DBW without a pedal configured. You do need to have the Throttle Servo correctly configured to get it to work, and you can, by changing the idle settings, vary the throttle opening on the engine. I would advise on getting the pedal installed as soon as possible however.

I have been thinking of something similar. Something along the lines of additional potentiometer in the engine bay to simulate manually activating the throttle when working on the engine.

Anybody ever done anything like this?

@greenamex2 I can't think that this is something I've ever wanted or needed with a dbw setup? In the unusual event that I do need to actuate the dbw throttle while I'm in the engine bay I'd get a helper to step on the throttle pedal.

The dbw system uses dual sensors at both the accelerator pedal as well as the throttle body for safety so it wouldn't be possible to replicate pedal movement with a single potentiometer. You'd most likely force the system into a fault condition.

You can use a dual gang rotary potentiometer like this;

http://www.jaycar.com.au/10k-ohm-logarithmic-a-double-gang-24mm-potentiometer/p/RP3756

As your throttle pedal replacement, I have one of these on my test bench for development work and there is no reason that you couldn't wire one into the ECU. You would need to ensure that the connections are good and that you are not allowing any noise to interfere with the actual pedal signal when the pedal is being used.

"@greenamex2 I can't think that this is something I've ever wanted or needed with a dbw setup? In the unusual event that I do need to actuate the dbw throttle while I'm in the engine bay I'd get a helper to step on the throttle pedal."

Unfortunately my wife is completely useless, my kids are insane and I don't have any friends...I have to spend a lot of time working out how to do two person jobs by myself!

"You can use a dual gang rotary potentiometer like this;

http://www.jaycar.com.au/10k-ohm-logarithmic-a-double-gang-24mm-potentiometer/p/RP3756

As your throttle pedal replacement, I have one of these on my test bench for development work and there is no reason that you couldn't wire one into the ECU. You would need to ensure that the connections are good and that you are not allowing any noise to interfere with the actual pedal signal when the pedal is being used."

Think this is the way I'll go. I'll get a spare sensor (unfortunately it is a custom made PWM dual channel sensor because I ran out of AV inputs, but not too expensive) and when I need engine bay throttle control I can just unplug the real sensor and plug the spare in. Can even act as a backup if the real one fails. Might even mill a nice bracket and lever for it.

Thanks for the input.

@greenamex2 - Ah yes, I understand your problems now! :)

Hi

Thanks for all the replies. Another quick question is whats the best process for startup for the 1st time for a brand new built engine?

As in setting up the ECU, or running in the engine?

Both

Rich

If you haven't already purchased it, our Motec M1 software tutorial will be a huge help for you. Also we include a complete worked example using the M1 platform in our Practical dyno tuning course.

Essentially the M1 actually gives you a pretty simple way of moving through the tuning pages though. Start with the Initial Setup work Book and then move through the pages in numerical order. If you complete each page in order then you'll have covered off all of the setup functions that you need to go through.

The process with a VE based ECU like the M1 goes like this:

1. Set engine details such as engine volume and # cylinders

2. Set fuel characteristics - Stoic AFR, density etc

3. Set injector data

4. Set Fuel Mixture Aim to what you want to achieve

5. Get engine running and adjust charge cooling gain (there's a webinar on this here, as well as the overall process on the M1: https://www.hpacademy.com/previous-webinars/ve-fuel-tuning-on-the-motec-m1/)

6. Adjust VE table until your measured lambda matches your target

As for the correct approach to running in a new engine, the most important aspect is to ensure that you apply some load to the engine fairly quickly after the first startup - The worst thing you can do is to allow the engine to run for an extended period when it's hot with no load. I generally start by running the engine at 2000-3000 rpm and vary the load. You want to use periods of moderate load to help the rings bed, followed by periods of low load to allow the rings to cool. I normally run the engine for about an hour on the dyno and over that time I'll slowly build up the rpm and load. The process actually allows you to quite quickly build up your VE and ignition values as you go.

Andre beat me to it, but as he said, step through the worksheets and workbooks in a logical process, have reasonable numbers in the Engine Efficiency and Ignition Tables, and use the defaults from the help elsewhere, and you will have an engine that should be able to be started. If you are having issues starting, look at your Diagnostic and Monitor Workbooks and validate that there are no errors displayed, and that the numbers in the complete fuel calculations are reasonable (and that their is being an Output Volume being generated). You may need to tweak the Idle settings a little to get the throttle to open further, this is done using the Idle Mass Flow Feed Forward Main, and the Idle Actuator Throttle Aim Maximum. Only change one value at a time, until you get your head around what each of the parameters does.