XFI has been great for almost 2 years. Now it wont start

[GNVAIR]

Ok first let me say that the XFI has been a great addition to my father's car.
He doesnt race, but does drive it and take it to shows when its warm out.
Last summer in the almost 100 degree it shut off on him several times.
I drove the car myself with a fuel pressure gauge and the lap top hooked up and couldnt duplicate the shutting off nor did I seen anything out of the ordinary.
After sitting all winter he went to start it and it wont start.
Battery is fully charged. Has fuel pressure. Has spark. It just doesnt seem like its getting fuel. I shot some carb cleaner into a port in the throttle body and it fired up then shut off.
I pulled the cam sensor cap off to make sure the ring is still in place and not loose. I swapped a know cam sensor cap and it didnt make any difference.
I am not big on parts swapping without proper checking, but something is drastically wrong. If it has spark and proper fuel supply and pressure, it should start. Would anyone be kind enough to give me a few hints here?
Something tells me its in the cam sensor or in the box.

 

[Otto J]

Just for the heck of it unplug the TPS and try it.

 

[GNVAIR]

Otto, I just tried unplugging the tps and it still wouldnt start.
I think tomorrow I will check the cam sensor and possibly the wiring.
My father said that he hadnt run the car since December. It sits in a heated garage so I cant see how something could corrode or come apart.
Is there anyway I can check the fuel injector drivers on the box?

 

[DailyDrifter]

Are you getting a crank signal?

 

[GNVAIR]

Are you getting a crank signal?

Yes as it has spark.

 

[DailyDrifter]

The lights should blink on the XFI for the injector pulse.

 

[GNVAIR]

I cant remember if the injector lights are supposed to blink when cranking.

 

[HighPSI]

Since you have spark and it runs when you spray carb cleaner, you are missing fuel not spark. Have you checked for power at the injectors? Like Drifter said, what are the lights doing on the box?

Are you the guy who called me yesterday?

 

[DailyDrifter]

Did you hook a laptop to the car yet? Maybe you have to reflash it. I'm not sure if theres a "keep alive memory" on the XFI's, or if they even need one? Maybe Cal or Otto can chime in on that question (hopefully ). I would hook the laptop up and see what your missing. Maybe its got a dead tune.

Did any wires get chewed up by varmits possibly :biggrin:.(Hey ya never know )

 

[GNVAIR]

Since you have spark and it runs when you spray carb cleaner, you are missing fuel not spark. Have you checked for power at the injectors? Like Drifter said, what are the lights doing on the box?

Are you the guy who called me yesterday?

I know I said I verified that it is missing fuel. I have not checked for power at the injectors yet. I am going to try a noid light tomorrow.
I know that the 3 red lights at the bottom of box are flashing, The bottom one I think says points.
I wasnt the one who called.

 

[GNVAIR]

Did you hook a laptop to the car yet? Maybe you have to reflash it. I'm not sure if theres a "keep alive memory" on the XFI's, or if they even need one? Maybe Cal or Otto can chime in on that question (hopefully ). I would hook the laptop up and see what your missing. Maybe its got a dead tune.

Did any wires get chewed up by varmits possibly :biggrin:.(Hey ya never know )

Yes had the lap top on. All sensors seem to be responding. The cam sensor has me questioning though as the flag is 0 and the timing seems to lock onto a number and not change. Today when I had the dash board up it was at 83° BTDC when cranking which seemed odd to me. I had issues with the laptop connecting and staying connected. It kept kicking me out. One time it did it over and over to the point where I had to close C Com and open it again. It worked fine for a bit, then did it again.
When it did this, the check engine light would flash. I kept trying to get back in to see what code was in there that caused the check engine light to flash, but it wouldnt let me back in...........and yes, I know you have to keep the ignition on for the lap top to stay connected to the XFI box.

 

[DailyDrifter]

Good idea with the noid light, or backprobe it with a volt meter. I dont remember seeing numbers like that on my XFI dash. My cam sync would normally show 0 then flash to #1. I havent play with my XFI much because my car doesnt run :frown:. Its funny you say its booting you out.......I had the same problems. I even got a different USB cable and it still kicked me out.

 

[GNVAIR]

Yeah the noid lights have helped me out in the shops I have worked at in the past. My gut is telling me that it has to be something with fuel control from the cam sensor circuit. I think that is what I will test after I verify whether the injectors are working or not.

 

[DailyDrifter]

Even if the cam sensor is off, I would think it would still start if fuel was getting in.....might run like crap, but still. Whats your crank to start rpm? You could try bumping up the first injector pulse it sprays into the engine. (View to Systems Config then to Operational Parameters).

 

[HighPSI]

You say you know it's fuel but keep mentioning cam sensor. The XFI doesn't need the cam sync to fire the injectors. In fact, it starts in bank to bank mode until it gets a cam sync. The module won't give you spark if it doesn't have a cam signal. The cam sync coming in at 83 is about right.

It is going into flash mode when you crank it, that is why you keep getting disconnected and the SES light is flashing. The XFI won't fire the injectors when in flash mode, but the moduke will still spark.

Give me a call and we can fix this in about 5 minutes.

 

[Otto J]

Cal should get you figured out,if its something that cannot be fixed over the phone give me a call and bring the car up.

 

[WSLN 6]

GNVAIR, as far as getting kicked out of Ccom, my laptop would do the same thing if I had it in sleep mode then woke it up when in the car. I would do a fresh restart and then open Ccom. Worked well for me.
I have had the flashing SES light as well. Mine wll be cured by bypassing the Caspers adapter power and getting better voltage to the XFI box when cranking.
One other spot to check would be the orage ecm wire under the hood, I ahve had a bad connection there that caused the car to shut off at random.
Mark set go!

 

[GNVAIR]

Well I just spent several hours out there and my gut was correct.........it was the cam sensor. For some reason when I put it on TDC the window was almost at 6 oclock. I am not sure how it ran for as long as it did. Maybe it was right on the edge of where it had to be? No sure how and why, but it was definitely not where it should be. I pulled the whole sensor. Checked for looseness, wear on the gear and made sure that the ring with the window was tight (which it was). I reset it and it fired right up. I ran it for awhile and shut it down and restarted it several times with no issues.

 

[HighPSI]

I'm glad you fixed it. Still confused on how it killed the injectors I would be concerned as to why it moved.

 

[Otto J]

I would still pull the single phillips screw and remove the wheel and BE DAMN SURE the centering tab is still there. It can feel tight and be gone and be able to move