Did you do any tuning when you first drove your car? Did you go into boost? It's VERY possible you just blew you motor.

Even if you didn't go into boost I would STILL get a comp test done, just to be safe. All this trouble shooting is worthless if you have a grenaded rotary.

 

The kit was boughten second had and had the tune on it from esmeril. I was not going into any boost because 1. i was waiting for the weekend to be tuned and 2. it would not go about 5500 RPMS or so due to it being rich it would jsut bog down.

As far as compression goes i am trying to get my hands on a tester and will have it checked thurs or friday. However i was also told that if you pull a plug in each rotor one at a time and have steady beats of "compression" coming out or sounding then the motor is most likely not blown.

Also if it was blown ( not saying it is not) why would it be starting off of the stock ecu and not throwing any misfire codes or any codes of that sort?

 

Blown doesn't always have codes. You said it idled very rough and stalled when you tried to give it gas on the stock ECU, so I wouldn't say it's running good based on that description.

Unless you can drive on the stock ECU (obviously no boost) then it's not really "running". If you could remove the Int-X and start up, and troll around the neighborhood with the stock ECU, then you could say it's the Int-X without a doubt.

 

with the stock ecu its like it flooding itself out ... And i am past thinking the INT-X is bad since - well - i installed a new one.

I had it in my mind that i blew my motor awhile back but the local guys here are trying to convince me that i did not. It just needs to be checked, which will happen. Just not to sure what else it could be.

 

Sounds like the battery connections to the Int-X are weak. This will burn up the new Int-X and possibly be what caused the first failure. Double check the connections, power and ground and you may want to take a couple of photos of the wiring. Keep in mind, the new Int-X was plugged into an RX-8 and RAN before it shipped.

 

They power lead is ran directly to one of the power bolts in the under hood fuse box. I installed a 15 amp fuse. i beleve that was the correct fuse.

The ground is to the bolt containing a factory ground right behind the the box containing the ecu at the strut tower. The bolt was removed from the factory ground, the int-x ground was put in and then the factory ground was reassembled as it was stock and bolted in the same location.

I belive its excellent power and ground to the int x. If you would still like pics i could post them up

 

How do you have a "weak" connection?
Either the connection is good or its bad.
If there is power to the unit and it fails, then there is an internal failure - either the power regulation and/or switching is bad or there was a failure of the firmware or EEPROM.
Even if the power is intermittent, it will not "fail" the unit itself unless it has a problem to start with.

Things like this are NOT caused by external issues. This is just poor design and implementation:

 

Do you know for a fact that the Int-X doesn't have a problem to start with though? I work with hardware/firmware a bit, and I've seen intermittent power and low voltage supplies kill/brick hardware due to a combination of bad board design and bad firmware programming.

 

Precisely what I just said.

 

It is? *re-reads*

It still sounds to me like you're saying the Microtech couldn't possibly fail because of a bad connection? Maybe I need to take a reading comprehension 101 course.

 

What I was implying was that the Int-X might have a mechanical issue (as indicated in the picture above).
Int-x does NOT = Microtech in that there is a bunch of added clutter.

 

Now that i am on the second INT-X, if there was an issue with the first it is no more with this one. Power light is on and the Ignition light is on like all should be. Unless there is a setting inside that i am completely missing then i have a hard time thinking the new int-x would have an issue.

On the other hand, the starting on the stock ecu and not the INT-X makes me believe its an int-x issue ( which is why i replaced it).

 

You just need to be more specific when you say it starts on the stock ECU.

I hear you say it runs, then it runs rough, then it tries to flood itself, etc. Be a little more specific. Would it even be drivable off the stock ECU at this point (never mind the tune/boost)??

So when you crank it with the Int-X, what happens? The engine just turns over but nothing? Does it even sound like it wants to start? Do you smell butt tons of gas? No gas?

I would double check coils....make sure they are firing.


I don't think this is your issue, but I would still move the ground on the Int-X. The front cross brace is a much better ground. I remember I tested that ground by the STB with my multimeter and it was above 1 ohm- bad for a ground. Yours may be different but I would still move it

 

When the stock ECU is installed and the car is turned over, at first it seem slike its not going to start. Then after a few seconds of turning it verry slowly starts to fire. Sometimes putting the throttle partially down helps the car when starting it. Once it starts it does find a very consistint idle at a low RPM, about 100 RPM lower then normal. I believe its this low Idle rpm that causes it to shimmy every so slightly at idle. When the car is sitting running at idle with the stock ECU it smells like extreme amounts of fuel. Once the car has found a steady idle, if you rev it slightly it will fall past the idle RPM and the car dies. This is what i was accociateing with the car flooding itself, but if you never touch the throttle the car will idle all day long. As far as driving it on the stock ecu. I feel that if you never let the car return to idle it would be driveable, Not sure if it would be stubleing or smooth once above idle becuase i have not tried driving it, but i feel that it would be able to go aroudn the block or so if you played with the gas enough so it would not drop to low in RPM.

When trying to start on the INT-X, It does smell of lots of fuel. When trying to start the car it makes the turning over sound like a normal car would. does not sound off or odd at first just like if anyone went to start the car and it just did not start. After holding the key for 4 or 5 seconds, the sound of the car starting smooths out it sounds as if the car wants to start. Its hard to describe, but it sounds like car wants to start, there is just not the combustion happening to let it.

 

Have you completed a compression check yet?

 

Nada, just heard the sounds of compression with a plug removed, one rotor at a time. I am waiting for a friend to bring his compression tester over. compression test should be tonight or tomorrow.

 

I would guess you have a spark issue, and it's probably Int-X related.

Double check you have the coils set up properly, dwell correct, and start up timing is correct.

What is your vacuum when idling on the stock ECU?

 

i agree that some issues are leading me to believe its ignition or timing related. I do not think its fuel. I am not sure what the vac is reading at idle. never checked but i will if i get it up and idleing again. I know that the dwell is now set to 3ms and was at something like 2.3 on the map that was on the INT-X. As far as an acutal timing map i am using whatever is loaded into the maps on the dongle. I can post a screen shot up of my timing table later on tonight when i get up to working on it. I think i will have a compression check done tonight also since i can finally get ahole of the tester.

 

I'm interested in what your compression will be. I honestly think that's what it is, it explains why it happened all of a sudden.

Only think it doesn't explain is why you can start off the stock ECU but not off the Int-X......

 

Didn't he blow up an INTx.....maybe whatever caused it to toast itself is still causing problems.

Plugging in a new one without figuring out why it blew in the first place might not have been prudent

Thought it was the fuel pump circuit??

Have you checked the fuel pressure? Injectors?

 

^Yeah, I said something similar when he posted pics of the fried Int-X internals. Need to figure out WHY it blew....this one may have just blown too.

 

I have done alot of searching and testing and can not find anythign wrong with any componets that i test. To me it looked as if the int-x got hot, maybe from the location so cloe to the turbo and those wires belited together then the wires and relay themselves is what caused the int - x to fry. Only thing i can think of really unless i find something a little later on.

As far as screen shots go i am not sure what ones you guys would like to see ... here are a couple though.

 

exhaust leak onto the INTX area?

 

There was a small leak right where the downpipe hits the turbo. It was this way for the first drive home. which was about half an hour to 45 minutes.

 

What do you mean "so close to the turbo"? I presume the Int-X is in the normal location (inside the PCM case) and you have a heat shield over the box.
If the box didn't melt, the Int-X probably wont either.
Most likely you have some component-level failure inside the Int-X case from bad wiring.

It would be interesting the see the base timing map and the setup screens.