Megasquirt no advance and not starting !

This is my first post on here so please be gentle !
I am in the process of installing megasquirt and have hit a wall with the ignition ! My set up is as follows:
Mk1 golf gti 1.8 8v
Megasquirt ms2
Using single coil direct (no ignition module ect)
Didi dizzy so no vac advance ect
Audi fuel rail

The trouble I an having is that when I set up the timing using fixed advance it always stays at wherever the dizzy is set. I cannot get it to advance or retard using the ecu ? When it does fire it sounds like a lawnmower ! Something is clearly wrong but I cant figure it out ??
If I choose fixed at 10 it stays at 6 ? Even at 6 it should still start I think but its not running ?
I used my degree wheel to work out a trigger angle based on the vane passing the hall sender at 100 btdc, does this sound right ?
If anyone has this setup and could point me in the right direction I would be enternaly grateful !!

 

Digi dizzy not didi lol !

 

I have seen posts about cutting out the vanes in the dizzy ? Should I have done this as im not running a tooth wheel on the crank ? So much info out there it gets confusing...

 

If it's the same as my 16v then have you set the base timing to the megasquirt by turning the dizzy with the ignition on 1st click till the middle led on the ms lights. Then turning the dizzy anti clockwise till it just goes off.

I'll try and find the link

 

http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?53889-Megasquirt-The-FAQ

 

I had issues orignally setting it up but it's been fine since, I didn't modify the dizzy at all on my MK2 16v.

It was all down to the trigger angle in the end I think?.

I also used a tci/ ignition amp to drive the coil (on MS1).

 

You certainly did not see posts like that here.

The correct information how to get your car running is on this forum.

Some starting points are in my sig.

 

The bits about cutting vanes came from an American site ! Thanks for replying guys. The bit about the led's stump me as I haven't seen one light up as im turning the dizzy ? Is there a setting on tunerstudio that allows me to set up a led to do this ? I am definitely getting a hall signal as my rpm is steady on cranking ? And I also have a spark !

 

You can have the trigger angle so it fires the wrong plug, this could explain your issues.

I played with the ignition angle until it ran, then fine tuned it to get the requested vs actual timing to tally up.

 

Just had look and my Trigger Angle is 0 on my MS1?. Trigger angle Addition 0, Spark Output Inverted No, Cranking Advance 6.

 

Thats probably because they were megasquirting ABA 8v's in the USA which only have a single window vane in the dizzy so they cut in the other three windows!

 

Thanks for the help people ! Its much appreciated !
Had another bash tonight and after twisting the dizzy around a bit I got the led to light up !
I turned the dizzy clockwise and then anti clockwise until the led turned off. This was accompanied by the fuel pump priming. I assume this is right ? I set the trigger angle to 60 as per the manual and then using my remote starter, turned the car over and no timing marks in sight !! I then started to adjust the trigger angle in steps. Ie 60,50,40,30,20,10 but the timing light never appeared to change ? It started to get dark and the car battery began to die so I had to leave it.
One thing I did notice was the MAP reading was barely moving (measured as load on the gauges ?)
Im running 280 cams. As its set for speed density, should I switch to alpha n or move the vac line to get a better reading ? And ultimately would this affect me trying to set up the timing ?
Sorry about my ramblings but more info the better right ?!?!

 

Thanks for the reply, thinking about it now it make sense ! Lots of the posts just say "vw golf 8v" ect so hence the confusion... been righting all this info down on my pad so ive binned it all lol !

 

Concentrate on the ECU config first, before worrying about specific engine hardware such as cams and whatever.

The LED mode is to set the distributor in a reference position. This is a position that you might want to revisit with an advance timing light to ensure ECU set spark timing is what the engine sees.

Big cams on an 8v means very little vacuum at light loads, so reduced resolution for both spark timing and injection maps (you will be lucky to achieve 60kPa on big cams).
You can still get the speed density to work if you know what you are doing, but that is the least of your problem if your config is not right.

My 16v has cams too, and my ECU is still running in speed density mode. I use the car daily for the school run and work commute, sometimes in very heavy stop start traffic.
Starts and runs from cold and pulls away without stumble in any temp down to -10 deg C.
You obviously have some way to go before your calibration becomes mature like that, but it shows it can be done if you know what you are doing.

 

I've got the Kent 1602r's in mine and it drives perfectly well on Speed Density as well.

Have you got it running?, I would have tbought it would be very difficult to set timing just by bumping the starter?.

 

I have managed to have a look at the car again after a brief spell of illness and have spotted something odd!
I fitted some reconditioned injectors and it was doing the same thing. Trying to catch but no running.
I decided to check the hall signal again. The voltage to the + pin is about 5v, the ground is showing 0, but when I earthed out the centre pin on the hall to the engine block it was showing 12v ? as far as I know this should not be ? This could possibly explain why I cant get the timing right lol.

 

That is correct for a VW distributer setup with megasquirt. The hall sensor needs a positive feed, a ground and a signal. That signal wire will be either 5v or 12v depending on how the megasquirt is configured internally as the hall sensor will ground that line causing the led inside the opto isolator chip to illuminate.
Who built the megasquirt for you?

There's is always confusion over wether the VW hall is 12v or 5v, personally I've used both with success, although I generally prefer the 5v option.

 

Hi mickey, I was under the impression that the 5v feed which I took from the tps was the only live feed to the hall sender ? Phil at extraefi built my ecu. If this is all ok then im stumped again as to why I cant get the timing right. Tried lots of things now, rising edge, falling edge. playing with the trigger wizard to try and get the timing marks to appear on the gun but still nothing. Cant be far off as its sparking and getting fuel ect. THe rotor arm is pointing to the right lead at tdc as you would on a normal mk1 gti.
May have to call in a megasquirt pro !!

 

Who built the engine control harness?

 

Hi toyotec, I built up the loom using the pig tail loom that came with the ecu. The loom was labeled so just followed the diagram provided. I double checked with phil at extraefi any thing i was unsure about.I thought I done it all correctly but maybe not ! Time to rip it out and start again lol