Gotech Pro X nearly melted my engine
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Gotech Pro X nearly melted my engine
My race car (2WD Sapph with T3 and 36mm restrictor) ran with a Gotech Pro X ECU until recently. The unit is only about a year old and has done about eight race days. A few weeks ago at Brands Hatch the car gave out the occasional brrr as it misfired at various bits of the RPM range. Had nothing in the qualifying session or first race of the day, race two heard a couple of worrying misfires, race three the car misfired a bit more and went down onto three cylinders so I pulled in.
Plug three was fused and I was worried that the car had detted. Compression test says all is OK so we started on the diagnosis. Luke (Enhanced Performance) pulled the ECU off and hooked it up to a frequency generator which simulates the input from the 36-1 trigger wheel. As the RPM rose the ECU seemed fine until suddenly at around 5700rpm the ECU decided to put out random spark trigger signals.
Lucky there doesn't appear to be major damage to the engine. The ECU has failed in a major way and has gone back to the supplier for a replacement. I won't be using one again obviously. The ECU was well mounted, hadn't been wet or been placed in a hot area or suffered any shocks and was relatively new.
Charlie
Plug three was fused and I was worried that the car had detted. Compression test says all is OK so we started on the diagnosis. Luke (Enhanced Performance) pulled the ECU off and hooked it up to a frequency generator which simulates the input from the 36-1 trigger wheel. As the RPM rose the ECU seemed fine until suddenly at around 5700rpm the ECU decided to put out random spark trigger signals.
Lucky there doesn't appear to be major damage to the engine. The ECU has failed in a major way and has gone back to the supplier for a replacement. I won't be using one again obviously. The ECU was well mounted, hadn't been wet or been placed in a hot area or suffered any shocks and was relatively new.
Charlie
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yet another story of a gotech product doing it's own thing seems like they have a little life of there own and from time to time just do as they please just glad it didn't take the engine with it
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gotech is utter junk, i have removed 2 systems from 2 escorts that were probalmatic , chnaged to emerald and dta and both have been fine, i wouldnt use gotech
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Had a similar problem with car mis-firing on higher rpms turned out it was the trigger and cps that couldn't read signal right. check that first. same setup on gotech. mine was not ecu causing missfires.
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The map was fine. 297 safe HP from a newly built 2WD engine. The loom is also brand new, and the ECU was tested independently of the car - isolated and fed with a trigger signal. At certain RPMs it just started randomly firing.
Link Atom ECU next I believe. Should be more robust.
Positive marks for Luke at Enhanced Performance for the engine build, mapping and diagnosis of what went wrong with the Gotech. Negative marks for recommending the Gotech in the first place. It's clearly cheap and should never been installed. Lesson learnt.
Charlie
Link Atom ECU next I believe. Should be more robust.
Positive marks for Luke at Enhanced Performance for the engine build, mapping and diagnosis of what went wrong with the Gotech. Negative marks for recommending the Gotech in the first place. It's clearly cheap and should never been installed. Lesson learnt.
Charlie
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You know how it is with tuners and their preferences. I'm happy for Luke to use whatever ECU he feels is best and whatever he's happy mapping with.
I don't care if the car uses a Link Atom, Weber Marelli or a Speak and Spell as long as it works, is reliable and produces good power.
Charlie
I don't care if the car uses a Link Atom, Weber Marelli or a Speak and Spell as long as it works, is reliable and produces good power.
Charlie
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your saph is the light blue one, with full cage and single seat??
was looking around that on monday nice car i thought it was lukes track toy as its got luke neal competition engines on the back
link ecu's are alot lot better than gotech
was looking around that on monday nice car i thought it was lukes track toy as its got luke neal competition engines on the back
link ecu's are alot lot better than gotech
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Speaking as someone who designs and has made ecu's .....
Very surprised any ecu fails on its own as most faults are usually caused by external factors.
I have no direct experience of Gotech so cant comment on its quality.
Using a signal generator to test an ecu is not the right way to test it !
The ecu signal needs a missing pulse and also needs to have an inductive profile and rpm related amplitude ... all of which it cannot do so I would expect it not to behave correctly when being tested this way.
Unless of course this is a custom designed piece of kit to test it that simulates the signal exactly ...?? !
Very surprised any ecu fails on its own as most faults are usually caused by external factors.
I have no direct experience of Gotech so cant comment on its quality.
Using a signal generator to test an ecu is not the right way to test it !
The ecu signal needs a missing pulse and also needs to have an inductive profile and rpm related amplitude ... all of which it cannot do so I would expect it not to behave correctly when being tested this way.
Unless of course this is a custom designed piece of kit to test it that simulates the signal exactly ...?? !
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I'm not sure but lets not get into a marathon technical Passionford war over this one. I'm confident that Luke tested it properly and the ECU is firing randomly under certain conditions. So it's off the car and the engine is undamaged.
If a different ECU produces the same problem then Luke will be investigating further but I trust him to get the diagnosis right.
Charlie
If a different ECU produces the same problem then Luke will be investigating further but I trust him to get the diagnosis right.
Charlie
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Charlie,
I am not after a war but you did post the problem on a public forum where there are people like me who understand these things in great detail.
I was just pointing out that a signal generator cannot be used to test an ecu this way as you stated as I have had a great deal of experience of this in my career.
Also, this is most definitely not a dig at EP in any way before anyone says otherwise
I am not after a war but you did post the problem on a public forum where there are people like me who understand these things in great detail.
I was just pointing out that a signal generator cannot be used to test an ecu this way as you stated as I have had a great deal of experience of this in my career.
Also, this is most definitely not a dig at EP in any way before anyone says otherwise
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Using a signal generator to test an ecu is not the right way to test it !
The ecu signal needs a missing pulse and also needs to have an inductive profile and rpm related amplitude ... all of which it cannot do so I would expect it not to behave correctly when being tested this way.
Unless of course this is a custom designed piece of kit to test it that simulates the signal exactly ...?? !
The ecu signal needs a missing pulse and also needs to have an inductive profile and rpm related amplitude ... all of which it cannot do so I would expect it not to behave correctly when being tested this way.
Unless of course this is a custom designed piece of kit to test it that simulates the signal exactly ...?? !
#24
i know a few people running gotech with no problems at all.
when taken apart inside the gotech ecu looks well built, ecu's only usually go haywire when they have a faulty reading off a dodgy sensor/pick up ,you could find that changing the ecu does cure the problem because more that likely the new ecu will need new or different sensors loom etc which is probably your problem anyway
when taken apart inside the gotech ecu looks well built, ecu's only usually go haywire when they have a faulty reading off a dodgy sensor/pick up ,you could find that changing the ecu does cure the problem because more that likely the new ecu will need new or different sensors loom etc which is probably your problem anyway
Last edited by Ford RS Enthusiast; 17-12-2010 at 01:07 PM.
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Checked with Luke. He's accurately simulated the conditions of the ECU in the car including giving it exactly the right signals, upping the ambient temperatures, etc. He knows what he's doing, and the ECU has failed.
Onwards and upwards.
Charlie
Onwards and upwards.
Charlie
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Charlie
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I would like to know how the ECU was tested. A race car we built for a customer is using a Gotech Pro-X. The last track day we were testing on a trackday, when about 3 laps in, it started to hesitate about 6500 rpm. It would still pull strong up to that, no difference. About half a lap later, the hesitation came on about 5500 rpm, and within another half a lap, it came in about 4500rpm. When it came in I checked it over, and everything looked ok. He went out again in about half an hour, and the car seemed fine until 3 laps in again, and a repeat. This ring any bells.
John
John
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Serious question, why bother with an aftermarket Ecu for what is basically a stage 1 conversion? The L6/8/P8 ecus can do everything you need and more? There are years of experience behind the webber ecu's, just seems so pointless changing them unless you are going for stupid power ?
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i had gotech fitted to my 200sx, after been looked at by a well known 200 specialist they reckoned the standard nissan ecu had more features plus the cold start was a nightmare.
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I would like to know how the ECU was tested. A race car we built for a customer is using a Gotech Pro-X. The last track day we were testing on a trackday, when about 3 laps in, it started to hesitate about 6500 rpm. It would still pull strong up to that, no difference. About half a lap later, the hesitation came on about 5500 rpm, and within another half a lap, it came in about 4500rpm. When it came in I checked it over, and everything looked ok. He went out again in about half an hour, and the car seemed fine until 3 laps in again, and a repeat. This ring any bells.
John
John
I didn't test it - for that sort of thing I rely on Luke at Enhanced Performance. Maybe worth visiting him or the place that sold the Pro X in the first place for testing.
Charlie
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Serious question, why bother with an aftermarket Ecu for what is basically a stage 1 conversion? The L6/8/P8 ecus can do everything you need and more? There are years of experience behind the webber ecu's, just seems so pointless changing them unless you are going for stupid power ?
Charlie
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During a race my car is doing 15 mins at a time of high stress accelleration and the engine is very carefully balanced. I don't trust the Gotech in these conditions. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad ECU - just not reliable enough for competition, in my opinion.
Charlie
Charlie
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Has anyone actualy informed Gotech or Jamsport of this 'common' problem as I'm sure they would like to know and hopefully offer some feedback with regards to this?
Would be nice to know as I'm going to be using one soon or maybe not now
Would be nice to know as I'm going to be using one soon or maybe not now
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sounds like it might be related to driver temperature and may be a fundamental design issue rather than manufacturing defect, although it could be not properly heatsinked or something.