#1  
Old 08-16-2022, 08:02 PM
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Default FITECH wont start

About 2 months ago we converted my son's 79 camaro to a FITECH. Install went smooth and it fired right up. Last Friday he came home and parked it. It would not start Saturday. I checked all of the connections and fuses and tried it and it started and ran fine. I parked it and it would not start 30 minutes later.

We ran through all the connections again and they all looked good. I checked the white wire at the FITECH connector and it lights my light at crank and run. We switched out the HEI module and coil as we had spares and no change.

I checked the pump and it was getting power and you could hear it engage.

I dribbled some fuel down the throttle body and it started right up so I am getting spark.

I'm pretty sure we aren't getting fuel so I put a scrap piece of braided line on the outlet side of the filter to make sure we didn't have a blocked filter as he had just filled up and maybe got some dirty gas????

When he cranked the car, the line shot a steady stream of gas into a gas can so the pump is pushing fluid and it is making it through the filter. All of the lines are still as they were run with no kinks.

We also put the battery on a charger for two days to make sure the FITECH was getting full voltage as I understand they can be sensitive to that. When we were trouble shooting it on Sunday, I watched the handheld and voltage was dropping into the 6-7 range during cranking.

My first instinct would be the ECU but it links with the handheld with no errors. It shows changing inputs on the handheld during cranking. The handheld goes to run mode of cranking when you turn the key. The fuel pump shows 100% on the handheld when you turn the key. The one thing I did notice is that the injector duty cycle never read more than 0 %.

Any thoughts? I'll be calling FITECH tomorrow.

  #2  
Old 08-16-2022, 09:22 PM
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Whether they admit it or not fitech is the same as Powejection (which I have).
Everything is suspect. Check TPS, factory one was garbage, check o2 sensor, check the Idle air thingy(can’t remember the name). All the cheapest garbage available.
That said, completely rebuild it and its solid.
Lastly, if your hooked up to distributor vacuum advance, plug it and try.
Also, reload a good working tune, the computer has Alzheimer’s.

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Old 08-16-2022, 10:54 PM
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Do you show rpm signal on the handheld during cranking?

I would verify voltage at the system with a meter during cranking. If you really are seeing a drop to 6-7 volts the system is likely powering off and not firing the injectors. You need 10 volts during cranking.

A lot of this points to the battery. If it has some dead cells it may hold a charge and test okay, but under load falls on it’s face.

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Old 08-16-2022, 11:13 PM
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Brand new battery 2 weeks ago but I thought that as well. We ran the battery charger for 2 days before trying to start it again. I can pull the battery and have O'Reilly's check it on the bench.

I had my doubts on the alternator since we made the swap as the volts never read as I high as I would like. Always above 12 but very rarely above 13.

I never looked for an rpm signal on the hand held as I checked the blue wire connection several times. I'll check for that tomorrow.

This one has thrown me as my FITECH has been dead reliable once I got rid of any crimp only fittings and went to crimp and solder followed by shrink wrap.

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Old 08-16-2022, 11:24 PM
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My handheld only reads about 13.2v but the system and the rest of the car has a verified 14.5v.

Apparently this does happen from time to time but is just a readout issue.

Definitely look for the rpm signal during crank. You may want to try to record a log which would also show if the system is in crank or stall.

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  #6  
Old 08-17-2022, 06:19 AM
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I definitely have an rpm signal.

When I hook up the handheld, it shows a run mode of stall. As soon as I turn the key it switches to crank for as long as I have the key turned.

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Old 08-17-2022, 10:35 AM
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Do you still use an injector prime shot for startup or have you tuned around that with cranking fuel?

If you don't currently use it, try adding in some prime shot and see if that will get the engine to fire and continue running. If you have a second set of hands, I'd have somebody look to see if the injectors are firing at all during crank or after the engine fires. I'm leaning towards there being a fuel pressure issue. The pump can be pumping but if the fuel pressure regulator has gone bad, you'd have very little or no fuel pressure to fire the injectors.

The system seems to be doing what it's supposed to, but there's no fuel going through the engine.

If it turns out to be the FPR, you want a genuine Boshce in there. Part number 0280160575

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Old 08-17-2022, 04:01 PM
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No prime shot. I already tried looking down the unit when Caden cranked it. FITECH was pretty helpful today once I got off hold. The tech asked me to check some things while they were on the phone and it passed everything. They want the throttle body and handheld back.

They sent me the paperwork immediately to get the return and repair process started.

I completely agree that its a fuel issue. It might be worth trying the pressure regulator. I could have one in a couple of days and for $30 or so it might be worth the flier. It looks like it is two screws to remove to replace it? I'm not seeing an easy way to test the pressure but am open to suggestions.

It stinks to be down his daily driver but thankfully he can drive the wife's car and she isn't complaining about driving the Firehawk to work.

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Old 08-17-2022, 04:01 PM
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No prime shot. I already tried looking down the unit when Caden cranked it. FITECH was pretty helpful today once I got off hold. The tech asked me to check some things while they were on the phone and it passed everything. They want the throttle body and handheld back.

They sent me the paperwork immediately to get the return and repair process started.

I completely agree that its a fuel issue. It might be worth trying the pressure regulator. I could have one in a couple of days and for $30 or so it might be worth the flier. It looks like it is two screws to remove to replace it? I'm not seeing an easy way to test the pressure but am open to suggestions.

It stinks to be down his daily driver but thankfully he can drive the wife's car and she isn't complaining about driving the Firehawk to work.

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Old 08-17-2022, 06:28 PM
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Get a mechanical gauge and T into the line. Really need to see if the fuel pressure is correct before sending the unit back.

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Old 08-17-2022, 09:32 PM
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I went ahead and ordered a new regulator. I'll swap it out and if its not the problem, it won't hurt to have one in the shop since I have two cars with FITECH. Should be here Tuesday.

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Old 08-17-2022, 09:35 PM
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BTW, since we've been focusing on the regulator I remember that when I opened the system to run the line to the gas can to test the pump, I expected some residual pressure in the lines to spray when I opened the flare fitting and there was none. The only gas I had to deal with was due to gravity.

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Old 08-18-2022, 10:58 AM
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The regulator is easy to change. Two Allen head screws holding the backing plate. You can pull it out from there. It's o-ring sealed, so no gaskets to mess with.

If you run a vacuum line from the regulator to the back of the unit, check it for fuel. If it has liquid fuel in it, the diaphragm is shot.

In regards to not holding line pressure, that can be indicative of a problem, but not always. Not all fuel pumps have an internal check valve to hold pressure after the pump is off.

The easiest way to get a fuel pressure gauge on the system is to plumb it into one of the auxiliary fuel feed ports on the FiTech.

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Old 10-01-2022, 09:28 PM
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Time for an update. About a month ago, I contacted FITECH customer service and they were pretty impressive. We spent probably 20 minutes on the phone having me check several things with a multi meter. They came to the conclusion that the ECU was bad. I sent it back.

After a week, they were still waiting on ECU's. All said it took about 3 weeks maybe more to ship it out and get it back.

In the interim, I ordered a Command set up for my new to me 71 Lemans. Given that it was taking a while for the repair, I took the throttle body out of the new set and put on my sons car to get him running. Fired right up and been running great since. Better idle and mileage with no changes other than the new throttle body.

The repaired throttle body arrived today and I got it installed on the Lemans. The "new" throttle body has an updated wiring harness. All of the fuses and relays are in a box slightly smaller than a baseball. It mounts nicely and seemed to simplify the wiring.

Once I got the idle screws adjusted it fired right up. It took a little bit for it to get the idle right but seems to have settled in. Vacuum is up 3 in HG from the carb and it idles much smoother. I haven't made any changes to the tune after I set the initial set up. So far so good.

The complete set had pretty much everything I needed. I had to use some braided line and fittings left over from my son's install to build the line from the mechanical pump to the sump. Everything else was included in the kit. The new sump is much nicer than the original FCC. I used the backing plate for a pattern and mounted it to the core support with some end link bushings between the bracket and firewall. Nice tight install and should soak up any vibrations.

All in all I can't find any reason to complain about FITECH. Everything is slow now a days so 3-4 weeks wasn't the end of the world.

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Old 10-02-2022, 01:33 PM
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Glad to hear you’re up and running again!

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Old 10-05-2022, 01:33 PM
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Not trying to stir the pot here, but stories like this are why I changed my mind (at least for now) about installing an aftermarket EFI system in my '66. That was my original plan, and I installed the EFI fuel tank and plumbed my chassis for EFI, but decided to stick with a carburetor for now. There are just too many stories of ECUs fizzling out after a few months or a few years. IMO, the aftermarket companies have not yet reached an OEM level of reliability with their electronics. They can work well when functioning correctly, but it seems like there are a lot of people who say they have to spend just as much time fiddling with the EFI system on an ongoing basis as they did a carb, only the EFI systems are more complicated and expensive to repair.

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Old 10-05-2022, 02:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeGermanHam View Post
Not trying to stir the pot here, but stories like this are why I changed my mind (at least for now) about installing an aftermarket EFI system in my '66. That was my original plan, and I installed the EFI fuel tank and plumbed my chassis for EFI, but decided to stick with a carburetor for now. There are just too many stories of ECUs fizzling out after a few months or a few years. IMO, the aftermarket companies have not yet reached an OEM level of reliability with their electronics. They can work well when functioning correctly, but it seems like there are a lot of people who say they have to spend just as much time fiddling with the EFI system on an ongoing basis as they did a carb, only the EFI systems are more complicated and expensive to repair.
In fairness, this is an internet forum, so mostly what we hear about are problems. Very few take their time to post success stories by comparison. I'm sure there's been more than one carbureted car with an electric fuel pump burn to the ground from a stuck float... And by the same token, my Mom owned a Saturn that needed the factory ecu replaced three times...
Everyone should enjoy that there are so many options to choose from.

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Old 10-05-2022, 08:37 PM
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Everyone has their opinions. I shared so that others could learn from my trouble shooting. The FITECH on my TA has been reliable and I've driven it on several 6 plus hour one way trips. An ECU obviously can go bad but so can an HEI module or an MSD box and leave you stranded.

The last fill up before the Fitech swap I got 8 mpg. The first fill up on the Fitech 13.8 mpg and this included several hard throttle bursts so that the computer could learn.

This is my third FITECH now and I'm pleased with them. I might consider buying a spare ECU to have on hand as I see that Speedway shows them as a stand alone item now. It would fit all three cars.

As for tinkering, the only thing I have had to adjust so far is start up fuel as hot restarts need some finessing.

As for me, if you drive your car a lot, I'll take the fuel injection any day. I could get the carb running well and fairly efficient but as soon as the temp would change ten degrees had to adjust it unless I wanted it overly rich at idle. My wife really likes the Lemans and would drive it with the carb but she is much more comfortable driving it with the FI. She never had a car with a carb and setting chokes and letting it warm up where things I just don't think she wanted to learn.

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Old 10-05-2022, 11:51 PM
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close to 30,000 miles on my very early production FiTech. It's been driven in 110 degree heat and 0 degree cold. The reason you don't hear about the success stories is because those people are out enjoying their cars.

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