I'm really pleased to hear that with the help of BHM Dave got to the bottom of his issue, owning what amounts to a £35k paperweight is every car owner's nightmare. Direct Injection can present many challenging issues to diagnose, this moves to virtually impossible if you're then locked out of the ECU. However, it sounds like even with the dealer software no fault codes were throw, so BHM were forced to resort to the highly flawed diagnostic method of 'Parts Darts'.
Despite a happy ending to the saga, it does sound like the situation was what one might justifiably describe as
'highly unsatisfactory'! So we are all seeking our MAF sensor now, just in case…but it looks like the standard 2.0 Duratec engine that preceded the GDI does not use a MAF but instead has a MAP sensor down on the inlet manifold. This measures pressure and though not quite so accurate as a MAF, requires virtually no maintenance.
The excellent and easily tunable port injection Duratec engine in the
pre-GDI Plus 4 runs a pretty basic engine management system controlled by a Ford 'Visteon' ECU, as found on a Mk3 Mondeo. For example, while the injection is fully sequential, it still runs good old wasted spark ignition and a robust proven MAP sensor from Bosch. TBH it's late 90's engine management technology, however, in my humble opinion there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, because by the late 90's engine management had really been fully perfected.
When I studied the Visteon, the only element that surprised me was that it runs rather old school narrow band lambda sensors which are more 80's than late 90's engine management technology, my guess is Ford were saving money as wide band lambda sensors were quite expensive in the late 90's when the Visten was conceived. When you look at the Visteon specification it's quite obvious Ford's design brief was to create a robust cost effective engine management system that put proven technology ahead of the latest ideas available at the time. The new technology was more costly and still not fully proven, which is why it got good old wasted spark instead of fully sequential coil on plug ignition, and basic narrow band lambda sensing rather than wide band.
Critical engine load sensing is by virtue of a tried and trusted Bosch Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor, and an equally robust crank position sensor from Bosch to give engine speed, both manifold depression and engine speed are needed when using the 'Speed Density' method of calculating engine load. For the record, when measuring engine load that's so critical for fuel trims, what you're actually trying to measure is the amount of air entering the engine. It seems counterintuitive, but air has mass, and because a Mass Air Flow Meter (MAF) sensor measures the
true mass of air entering the engine rather than using manifold depression and engine speed to calculate it, a MAF is always the superior engine load sensor solution.
However, it's a bit like the difference between good old wasted spark and fully sequential Coil On Plug (COP) ignition, COP is unquestionably more efficient, but you've now got four individual pencil coils shoved directly down the plug wells, and as we all know the one thing ignition coils hate most is heat. For all these reasons, and when tuning Monty, if I could have retained the good old Visteon ECU with its simple but effective wasted spark ignition and MAP sensor, I would have done exactly that.
Don't get me wrong it's hardly the last word in engine management tech, far from it, but it does leverage the clear reliability advantages of sensor and operating systems that are super proven to be insanely robust. Indeed, you could easily argue the Visteon represents a perfect example of that sweet spot moment in engine management development when efficiency met outstanding reliability, and before things started to become excessively complex.
The truth is, if we didn't have ever stricter emissions targets to hit, with the exception of improvements in lambda sensor tech (wide band), engine management technology could have happily stopped with port injection controlled by systems no more complex than the likes of the good old Visteon
For what it's worth, I only replaced my Visteon ECU because I'd pushed it outside of it's operating range, sadly accessing the fuel and spark tables and making the necessary minor changes required, proved impracticable at the time. However, as I understand it, this situation has now been overcome by Williams Morgan. Revealingly, despite my EMU Black giving me the option to push the engine management technology to the next level with features like fully sequential COP ignition, l actually elected to retain the good old wasted spark system for it's bulletproof reliability. This is now proven to have been the right decision as Monty happily spins to 8,300rpm with zero ignition breakdown at these heady engine speeds, thus proving the simple Ford wasted spark coil pack is refreshing without any issues at all.
Equally, the perfectly functional and robust MAP sensor was retained, so with all the existing sensors, coil triggering and even the idle air control valve retained the existing factory loom could be utilised with no modification at all, this is what's referred to as a 'Plug & Play' installation. Beyond one simple additional standalone circuit for the new wide band lambda sensor upgrade, and the USB cable for comms between my laptop and the excellent EMU Black ECU, it's all the original loom.
With the existing engine management wiring remaining unaltered, this 'Plug & Play' approach eliminates 95% of the headaches than can come with an aftermarket ECU installation, at the same time it also removes the cost and complexity of building and laying a new loom. In simple terms, essentially what I've ended up with is a slightly enhanced and fully tunable Visteon
In terms of technology enhancements, all I actually elected to add was wide band lambda sensing, the original rather ancient narrow band sensors can only measure accurately at stoich (14.7:1), so a wide band lambda sensor becomes a bit of a no-brainer. When paired with my EMU Black it allows precise measurement from 0.68 Lambda up to 1.36 Lambda (approx. 10.0:1 to 20.0:1 AFR). With the release of the highly robust Bosch LSU 4.9 WBLS, that paired with the lightning fast processor inside my EMU Black Monty benefits from delivering a response time under 100 milliseconds, it would have been madness not to upgrade to wide band!
However, because my priority is reliability over pushing at the bleeding edges of engine management tech, I've retained the Bosch MAP sensor and wasted spark arrangement. For anyone with a standard port injected Duratec Plus 4, that to me represents the traditional chassis Morgan sweet spot combining a highly efficient and reliable modern twin cam engine with a simple yet effective and robust engine management system, the good old Visteon ECU you already own is more than up to the job. And even if you are doing some mild tuning, which can easily bring you close to 180hp, the Visteon will still cover your needs with a proven and cost effective re-flash from Williams Morgan.
In summary, and at the risk of being accused of thread drift, these days you really only need a 'Plug & Play' EMU Black if you're planning to go beyond 180hp, or if you're an incurable Geek like me
