Jamey
On my car, the original ECU loom was one piece from the ECU to the engine bay, and did not go through the plugs on the kick panels.

Greg

 

Keep at it, I am really pleased to find out about the project. I believe that the time will come, not too long away, when these cars will be 'grounded' by no longer available electronic parts that have failed.

I am not too worried about extra efficiency (always nice, of course!) what I would like, being an electronics know-nothing, is a modern engine management system replicating the ignition and fuel settings of the original that can be bolted straight on - obviously with crank position sensors to be fitted, or whatever is needed to get rid of the old ignition stuff.

Where is your blog to be found, please?

 

Greg, im keeping all my updates on this forum thread now (the blog is currently out-dated)

The final project is what you suggested.. A digital ECU, Electronic ignition and Sequential injection.. but im just working on the ECU at the moment

I also believe old injected cars will become "Grounded" so im planning to re-create each of the BOSCH/LUCAS ECU's (up to about the year 2000) and maybe other brands and variants

The unit will plug straight into the existing plug in the boot, so its a really easy install... the only downside of this is that i will have to sacrifice a working (or dead) ECU so i can install my board into it

Also.. if you have any features or ideas you would like to see in the ECU, please put them forward, no matter how ludicrous or out there they sound .... Nothing is impossible, just really, really REALLY damn hard to do

 

Got my Microcontroller reading RPM now... not very accurately, but its reading it... ill need to make some better filter circuitry.... Progress will be slow over the next month or so, got car rego and bills to pay (cursed money)

But I do have parts on the way for the prototype, so progress hasnt stopped, just slowed down....

 

Thanks for the update! Darn those bills, they keep interfering with life in general don't they?

 

I was tossing up whether to update or not, but I decided to let you guys know what I've been doing

Hope you all enjoyed your Easter

I've been testing the project on my car (has old points based ignition) and when its at about 1000 RPM my micro reads 800 to about 1800, which is better than my first attempt which was 400 to 4000 rpm..... I would like the project to be within say 50 to 100 rpm of what your actually doing, but that would require a fair bit of filter circuitry..

 

And yes they do JameyXJ6, especially my car rego is like $600 then i have Insurance on top of that, and thats for a crummy 1984 N12 Pulsar.... My jag is WAY to expensive to keep on the road at the moment... got my medical bills to pay, mobile phone, etc... It Sucks.... anyways....

If people have any information regarding the lucas/bosch fuel injection, forward it to agilly1989@gmail.com (put "ECU" in the subject.. I have filters set up to organize my emails)

And remember, if you want to know what Im up to, where the project is at, any questions, tips or ideas, put them forward.... and let other Jag owners know... send them to this thread.... Getting to know other jag owners out there really helps me along with the project (having a little bit of a down time.. my condition is having a flare on me )

 

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well, I hope it's nothing serious and you'll be feeling better soon.
I'm emailing you several files I've collected. It takes a little searching but there is some very good information in them.

 

unfortunately it is kinda serious and thank you Jamey... Ill try to put it to good use

 

One of the files is too large for me to send with my email (27.5 mb) but you should get some good info from what I did send.

 

Thank you jamey, I have had a brief look and there is ALOT of information there... ill have a better look after work tomorrow

PS.... parts should be turning up this or next week so I can test some ideas out

 

Good, hopefully there is stuff in there you can use!

 

Sorry about the lack of updates guys... Still waiting on these parts... I have also had a good week for work

Hopefully the parts turn up this week

 

No problem. This is something that is going to take time, trial and error. Don't rush it.

 

Hi Folks, I registered here specifically to discuss this interesting thread. For a few years I have had similar thoughts along the lines Agilly1989 has posted. Sorry if this gets boring now but: I went as far as building a board using a PIC18F8722 which is an inexpensive (free usually) microcontroller which is more than capable of exceeding the performance in every respect of the early 1980's parts Lucas used. Reading RPM is simple using the CTC input, suitably filtered for protection and the PWM output is good for driving the injector groups. Sequential injection seemed a great idea until I read enough about it to realise that it wasn't going to be much help on the V12 HE, or any other basic road engine for that matter. I also found that there are now many suitable devices for driving the injectors that do all the fire & hold stuff for you and even incorporate circuit protection and fault detection. My device was also going to do the ignition, a seemingly small further step which proved to be quite complex in the end. I used 12 (free) single cylinder chainsaw ignition coil drivers, the idea being to use plug-top ignition coils but there is no space for those on a Jag V12. Just replacing what Lucas provided was easy (ish) but as has been asked here, what is the point? I foolishly allowed my idea to expand to the hand controller, dashboard display, real time adjustment and eventual dismal failure. I reckon you could replace the 16CU ECU for under £100 inside the space of a cigarette packet if you stick to the necessary basics, however, I just bought one off eBay for £36 to fix my XJS after I burned through the wiring loom while welding in a new wheel arch so, until I do it again or they are unavailable I'll live with that. Agilly1989, I wish you success with your project, it will be a good learning exercise. Just get an eBay ECU and a few pots to simulate TPS, coolant and air temperature and a pulse generator to fake the ignition amplifier's PIP signal. I think a 4k8 resistor fakes the oxygen sensor as we don't have them in Europe. Scope the output then duplicate it with your own board and a few injectors to see if you can drive them without killing your uP. If you can then your engine will run and you can knock them out on eBay!

 

Thanks for that useful information R44chopper... if you still have your circuit diagrams, or even pictures of your circuit, I would like to see them if you will allow me also how did you find this thread (out of curiosity)? And how did you project fail?

The point is .... Its a project, a hobby.... I'm always planning and designing circuits but never building them (I currently have a design for a I2C/SPI/Serial Debugging Display, a Multi-Function Clock (Time, Temp, Date, Humidity) and a few other ideas going on in my grey matter) if it performs better than the original ECU (Fuel consumption wise) well i have won if not, it was a learning experience.. So i will still have achieved something either way

Im planning to run the injectors through High Power Mosfets with protection circuitry (Over current/Over temp)... the hand controller will come at a later date, but I currently have my SD card breakout board and programming it to read from it (its a LONG piece of code) so the mixture maps can be controlled and saved to them

But basically the final version (what I'm trying to achieve) is a full modernization upgrade for various vehicles (older than 1990) allowing for the control of injectors, ignition, electric fan control, a better climate control amp (the climate control in my dads jag messes up rather often), trip computer, cruise control, etc... each thing being able to daisy-chain up to each other so they can work independently or as a whole... well thats what I'm thinking of anyway

I will probably offer 2 different kinds of ECU, the plug-in replacement and the smaller cigarette packet sized one for the cabin or engine bay

And yes, you can buy a 2nd hand ECU from Ebay, but they wont be around forever, and since there is next to no data on them (that I can find anyway), they may not be able to be repaired, so I'm offering a upgrade/replacement for those who wants to get it, but from what I have learnt (being in a vintage/veteran car club)... People want cheap and easy.. they will buy a 2nd hand replacement for 1/2 the price of a new replacement with the fact it may not last as long as a new one... So Im trying to achieve ALL the points... A Cheap, Easy, Long Lasting, High Durability, Strong replacement... hopefully for the $150 (Australian) I plan to spend on it

 

Mine failed bacause I wanted to do it all. I should have just made a repacement ECU then added to it stage by stage. The temptation to do everything in version 1.0 is the problem. There will probabbly be more ECUs on eBay than Jaguars on the road as time goes by. If I can find the diagrams and parts list I'll let you have them but things have moved on in the intervening years of course.

 

Oh yes, I found this thread from Google as I was trying to diagnose my 16CU and was looking for a schaematic, it turned out that the ECU is tougher than the injectors. Nearly all on the A bank have fried due to a short to earth on the wiring loom. Lucas used open collector drivers with Zenner protection diodes in their ECU so they are almost indestructible.

 

Yea, that's what I have heard as well... The Lucas ECUs are pretty tough... Usually tougher than the wiring loom or the injectors themselves...

UPDATE:

Got my 2nd arduino and my SD card shield through yesterday, now its time to work on the rather LONG piece of code to read the settings and the maps from the card

 

YAY, LCD turned up today

So.. I have my LCD, My SD Sheild and my 2 arduinos to try to fry or get working as a ECU lol