KStar not holding maps

Found out today that my KStar unit isn't holding the map settings, if I write a saved map, then turn the car off and start it again then I can't read the unit and have to write the map back into it, if I don't turn the ignition off I can disconnect and reconnect and read the kstar with no problems.

Its really important on my car as the kstar is running four extra injectors and ignition timing. (Its an 8 injector mk2 16v Turbo) The car is undergoing a full restoration but I really want to get this sorted as the engine is back in fully rebuilt and running sweet.

I have taken the unit apart and am thinking about taking the chip off and reprogramming and fitting a new chip. I am guessing that it just flashes the chip when data is written to it so shouldn't be too hard to change for a new chip as a starting point.

Any suggestions more than welcome!

 

Have you still got the K-jet airbox and flapper?.

Best bet while you that far in would be to bin the k-jet completely and go over to standalone management I would have thought?.

Metering head will be a big restriction in your setup..

 

Car is running the standard four injectors through metering head and an extra four electronic injectors that are independant of the metering head, these four are controlled by the kstar which also does ignition.

It works pretty well, or used to, I am reluctant to junk it as the unit is still working, just not storing the maps when powered down. If it comes to it, then I will have to look at other options...

Luckily my business partner designs and makes circuit boards and programmes his own chips so I am gonna give it to him to read the existing chip and try copying the data, if any, onto a new one. He could probably reverse engineer the whole thing if required!!

 

Yeah that was my initial hope but there is no battery back up inside it, I have taken it out and its in the car ready to take to work tomorrow, not really alot too it really, a couple of circuit boards back to back, connector on each end (one goes inline with ECU the other is the RS232 port) couple of chips, one of which is removable (its in a holder) - this is the one I am gonna try reading and replacing first...

 

Not sure how that would effect everything else as it gets its power when the ECU is live, and the car is a toy so won't get used alot when its finished so I tend to leave the battery disconnected. Would prefer to get to the bottom of the problem if possible...

At the moment the complete car is in primer with no glass or interior other than the dash which I just put back in.

 

What are the chips inside? There's chips that combine a battery, Dallas real time clock chips spring to mind. Or is this just eprom based?

 

sounds like its a Stealth set up? best give Vince a ring.

 

would also be interested on pics of the inside, is it the later bigger box model?

Also does it use a permanent live?

 

No permanent live, it comes live when the ignition is turned on.

Mine is the smaller unit with ignition and fueling.

Not really alot to it, gave it to my business partner earlier who identified all the chips and diagnosed the eeprom as faulty, gonna solder in a new eeprom when it arrives, he thinks that will sort it out. Definitely no chips with battery back up inside. Really pretty basic electronics compared to what he does! He makes his own PCB's and programmes his own chips with stuff he has written.

He thinks that when I write to unit, it is saving in the flash memory but not writing the eeprom, so the flash memory is being lost when the unit powers down.

I spoke to Vince at Stealth earlier and he says its not a common fault with these...

I will take some pics of it inside when I bring it home, I left it at work as I will solder the new eeprom in under the magnifiers in the workshop...

 

Did you make your own leads? I might give mine a check on my next day off to see if it is still saved (i have backups somewhere here).

 

Yeah made my leads years ago, pretty sure I have all the plugs in stock at work so not a problem to make another if required.

Luckily I have backups too so I can write the existing map back in if / when the the unit is working properly again.

 

I need to have a mess around with mine as TSR borrowed mine years ago and they got lost...

When i was working in the automotive factory i got a friend to make me a lead from the original diagrams though i didn't have the end plug connector at the k-star end so i have 4 seperate connections iirc so will have to do a few tries the work out the order they go in again and then mark them up until i put a plug on them.

I might get mine RR again as i ported the inlet manifold to match the audi80 TB so there is about 20-25% more material opened out and smoothed.

 

I'm pretty sure that my lead is different to yours, its a 9 pin serial connector on both ends, male one end, female the other.

I have rebuilt my engine and turbo so gonna see how it goes when the car is back on the road and take it from there...

I am restoring the whole car slowly, did about 3 months of welding on it, all rust was cut out. This is about where its at now...

 

nice to see another TT/stealth racing(4 extra injectors)setup

 

yes the older models had the 9 pin connectors :-)

 

Yeah I bought the conversion bits from Stealth after tracking down an original TT kit.

This was about 12 years ago mind!

 

If its a standard type connector I could probably make you a new lead, but I would need wiring diagram and connector type....

 

I should be fine with mine but i can supply you with various wiring diagrams if you ever need them.

 

Same here mate,got the complete kit when they were selling them back in 2000,still got the receipts

a few pics of my carhttp://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/turbnix/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ16 & if your interested, there's a couple of mags i scanned on the original TT & the stealth racing conversion..


any power figures?

 

Thanks for that, articles are a good read, wasn't impressed with the verdict on the first article, I disagree entirely with their conclusion.

Nice car you got there, looking forward to getting mine back on the road, I will never sell it, I have owned it for about 15 years and it had got to the point where it was do something about it or leave it to rot, so doing something about it....

Out of interest, where you based?

Thanks Mike for the offer, which diagrams do you have?

As promised...