My new whip.. :)

[crazycanadian]

thats one hell of a tool!. neat to be able to read digital square wave format on a screen like such

I wish I could afford to add this to my own tool collection... I am lucky work lets me borrow it so I can practice using it... To diagnose cars these days you just about need to be an electrical engineer/computer tech wizard...

[shorestiva]

Do want... our shop is too cheap to get one. They haven't even updated our genesys since they got it in 07.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk

[crazycanadian]

Well wouldn't you know it.. I installed a new PCM today and I still had the same ****ing problem... So as it stands... Garbage in= Garbage out.... since the ignition control signal is a PCM command I am look at an input problem... Distributor signals all check out... CKP sensor on the crank checked out... Now this is where things become interesting... Stay tuned...

[crazycanadian]

Well picked a few more things off the list and might possibly have an idea where the problem lies...

I revisited the CKP sensor on crank shaft today.. I wanted to have a closer look at its actual pattern... There were no variation or odd drop out when my car was acting up but I did notice irregularity thats presents all the time... I'll post pictures tomorrow...

While I was out driving around I also took the time to hook up to my TPS and air flow meter signals... No problems or irregularities here so I moved on...

After that I tryed disconnecting the knock sensor... all though you could feel the car lacking in power under load(the computer is in limp mode and pulling timing) I still got the same miss fire problem... So we cross this one off the list...

On my last good stretch home I unplugged the CKP sensor on the crank shaft... All though the car doesn't idle that great like this, I could not get the car to act up... So I think tomorrow after work I'll look at this a little more closely and possibly replace this sensor...

[FE3-323]

now thats dedication!!! glad to see you found the problem!

[crazycanadian]

now thats dedication!!! glad to see you found the problem!

Can't count our chickens before they hatch... Car still isn't fixed yet...

Tonight I put in some more time on the car... Still no luck... I installed a new CKP sensor with no change...
Since the car is a home built with harnesses mixed and matched all threw out the car I didn't want to try and find all the actual ground locations.. So I took the computer grounds, spliced into them and ran a couple extra grounds... No change...I also voltage dropped them and saw no problems with resistance on the grounds.. On the road I disconnect my alternator, double checked that it wasn't charging anymore and drove the car... No change...

I did have some success... I disconnected the CKP sensor down by the crankshaft and drove the car a lot longer then I have in the past... It never did act up.... Once I reconnected it the car started acting up again but took a little bit... I have a feeling it has to do with putting the computer into a limp mode though... I had changed the sensor and it didn't solve the problem...

While I was at it I took a couple more scope pictures... At this point I am going back to what a lot mechanics do.. replace parts based on pattern failures... I'll send my distributor back and get warranty on it....

Scope pattern from last night... (Yellow= ignition control sig, Green =TPS, Blue = CMP, Red = Air flow meter)... No dips drops or anythere here that I can see...


Scope patterns from tonights run...
A close up look of the pattern from the CKP sensor down on the crank shaft... This pattern didn't make sense to me last night... The data on the Verus has the wrong wave form picture in there data base... I didn't know this until tonight when I had a look at the reluctor ring on the crank shaft...
(yellow = Ignition control signal, Green = CKP sensor down on the crank, Blue = CMP)


The reason the pattern looks this way is because the reluctor ring is set up like a saw blade... The pattern show on my verus would have come from a reluctor ring that has normal square teeth...


Can't see any problems with this CKP position sensor...
(yellow = ignition control signal, Green = crank shaft CKP sensor, Blue CMP)


Here is an interesting one... I current ramped all 6 injectors to see if they were being affected by the problem as well.. turns out its not just coil timing thats being affected... Injectors are being missfired as well.. The spike in the current pattern is where the problems occuring... You see this spike because multiple injectors are being fired really close to one another... When this happens the current signatures from each injector start over lapping one another...
(Yellow = ignition control signal, Green = CMP sensor, Blue = injector current ramp)

[crazycanadian]

Well its FIXED!!... As we all know some stuff is just stupidly simple... All though there is a little complication wrapped around this one...

Distributor timing... To far retarded was the actual problem... So why didn't I check this earler?? Well its simple.. I haven't changed the timing on the distributor since Jan 19th 2011... Why do I know the date? cause I just found out this morning I didn't have warranty on my distributor and thats when I bought and installed it... So why did it act up now?? Well back at the end of Nov I had gone out to help ronin get his K8 swapped BG up and running... While at it we had swapped the distributor out of my car and stuck it in his... When I did this all I did was mark where I had it and pulled it out... When I installed it I just lined my marks back up and went on my way...

Looks like mazda uses the distributors crank sensor as its primary signal to decide ignition and injector timing.. All though at certain times and under different load conditions it'll reference the crank shaft crank sensor and use it to determine ignition and injector timing... I managed to get mine distributor set at a spot where under the right conditions the computer got confused and threw a fit causing my missfire...

I think there is more to all this but I am going to get my hands on some parts first and I'll continue all this later...

[FE3-323]

Whoops!!!! glad you've found resolve tho

[IMACHU2]

Having sold auto parts half my life, I was pervertedly creeping this post waiting for you to find the easy, stoopid fix LOL. It was an entertaining and informative adventure though. It Happens to the best of us. I recently was trouble shooting the front washer pump on my 323 for an hour, when I figured out what the issue was. I have a MX-3 steering column in the car and the front washer / rear washer switches are in a reversed position between the two cars. (Clearly marked on the switch). Bumped the switch and washer fluid shot out, I was twisting the end of the switch and had a volt meter /test light hooked up trying to figure it out. (my V6 323 does not have a rear washer/wiper).

Some problems are much easier to solve. Today a customer "grounded" his H.I.D kit to a piece of plastic LOL

[323Permin]

So, I thought I would do you a favour Adam :0) ... posting some of the pics from the TSD Thunderbird Rally.. Hope that it is cool

[worldhazard]

ah man, i been wanting to do TBird for years. not to mention Alcan too. lol. what class were you guys running and how'd ya do?

[crazycanadian]

Thanks for posting the pics Rob... I would have gotten around to it eventually.. haha..

We ran Calculator... We should have run in novice.. It was Robs first time ever, my 3rd rally, but only my 2nd time driving... We did ok, we weren't last.. hahaha... I really need to learn my lefts from rights... Rob got us lost once... Over all it was lots of fun... Hopefully I'll get a chance to sift threw all the video we got and put something together.. If cash flow works out this year, I'll hopefully get to run Totem again in november...

This year was a great year to run Thunderbird... The event sold out with 60 teams...

At 2 people per team.. 11 stage teams at 2 people per team and then a few other random people doing administration and stuff we think there was about 140 - 150 people out for the event this year...

[crazycanadian]

All though the pics are great they need some captions...

This is what you get when you don't follow your navagators instruction. The first regularity of the event I got my lefts and rights mixed up. Just so happened there was a time station there. Nice little ebrake turn to get me back on the right road... haha..


Rob working hard.. It took him a little while to get the hang of the calculations... Now just to get a better calculator so he can work on them while we are driving..



This is how you clean your lights off when its cold and you don't have any water close at hand...


A present on my back window from the driver in team 41.. Had a great time chatting with them... They had come all the way up from seattle to run..

[crazycanadian]

Well a couple weeks ago I spent some time getting the car all ready for summer.....Just finally getting around to uploading pictures..

I took it into the shop I work at my day off hoping to get it all done in a couple hours.. That didn't work out so well though..

Here is my pile of parts.. Coil overs/Mx3 front control arms with sphearical bearings installed/17's/and some of the pieces for the new rear links..


Getting the car ready on the hoist.. I had to haul ass at this point since I could only spend a couple hours at the shop before I had to leave, so I didn't take any install pictures..


While working at the shop I ran into problems when I went to install the rear control arms from JPmotorsports.. All the sleaves were just a shade to small and didn't fit the factory bolts... Since I was on a time crunch and don't have a drill press at the shop I rear installed the stock rear suspension so I could drive the car home..

The car backed into the garage part way so I could tackle the rear suspension at home now... Everything all apart...


stupid stock rear spindle and control arms are siezed together.. Even with a press at work I couldn't get the bolt to budge.. In order to set everything up for this summer and still have something stock to go back to in the winter I had to buy a different set of rear spindles..


New rear spindle, new control arms going in..


You guys I am sure have checked out Permin323's set up with the 323 rear sway bar and the same rear control arms.. If not have a look and you'll see how having an Mx3 rear bar makes the install soooo much easier... This is a quick and dirty end link I made up.. Would have looked a lot nicer if I had female rod ends.. Unfortunately at the time I was buying the rod ends I couldn't get any female ones locally and I was in to much of a rush to wait and order a set in... Oh well this is holding and working fine so far...


Passenger side completely installed with the car on the ground...


After a wheel alignment this is where I sit...

Front
Caster L + R = 3 deg
Camber L = -2.6 deg
R = -2.0 deg
Front toed in = 1/16" total

Rear camber L = -1.8 deg
R = - 1.6 deg
Rear toed out = 3/16" total

I am going to see how tail happy the car is with the rear toed out a little more this year.. Also I played with the front upper strut mounts this year.. With stock upper mounts being slightly off set, I set them up to max out caster this year, instead of camber.. I didn't really gain much at all though.. I really need a different coil over set up.. Hopefully after my tax return comes in I'll have the extra funds I need for a different set up...

Rob(Permin323) and I also took some time last night to compare front track widths.. Rob using stock 323/protege front control arms is just a tad over 54" wide in the front... For me with the Mx3 set up I am just a shade over 56" wide...

First autocross of the summer is this sunday.. Looking forward to seeing if the rear arms and more rear toe out will make much difference in the car...

[Mazda_Powered]

solid update! how's the car riding now?