Having trouble getting my Scanguage calibrated

[Me78569]

To my credit I spent a lot of time that day being "nice" and trying to get unstuck gracefully......I got tired.

[leathermaneod]

lol nice. Well I just got off the phone with edge again. The guy there pretty much convinced me to stay with the comp. Just maybe not tap the pump. According to him, without the tap levels one through three will work as they should. The 80hp level three puts me right below my clutch rating so that works out well, and I still get all the adjustability. He also said they do all their testing on mostly stock trucks and don't normally break stuff lol. My biggest concern at this point is input shaft. He also said to just use common sense when driving so hopefully all works out and I get the best of both worlds. Also just curious, where did you pull power from for the comp box? The fuse tap like the instructions recomend or what?

[Mopar1973Man]

1 hour ago, leathermaneod said:

The fuse tap like the instructions recomend or what?

That's all I did...

[leathermaneod]

Cool. Thanks once again for all the help!

[leathermaneod]

One other question, did you also connect the ground where they recomend? On the intake horn bolt?

[Me78569]

No need to add grounds.  If you are having issues then you need to figure out why.  Remember the block itself is grounded, so a little wire won't do anything more to ground.

[leathermaneod]

No I mean the ground wire for the comp box....I was looking at instructions online and it says it has a ground wire and to add it to the intake horn bolt with the grid heater ground....

[Mopar1973Man]

I used a manifold bolt. Nothing special...

[leathermaneod]

I assume you mean an intake manifold or plenum plate bolt? 

So new dilemma. I'm not sure I got accurate info on the comps capabilities without a wire tap. I was reading some old threads last night that had some very conflicting info on the subject. The sales guys at edge told me levels 1-3 or 40-80 hp will work without it. And I will have a lot more adjustability over the EZ. On some old forum posts I saw some saying it will be limited to 40hp and others saying it's just like and edge EZ. I plan to call the engineers at edge today at lunch but I wanted to see if any of you have concrete info. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Old information on my box was only level 1 would do anything even if you increased levels there was no more fuel but the timing map changed. So you can still use all the other setting just that there is no more fuel than what the CANBus can make.

[Me78569]

lvl 1 and 2 are timing and canbus. 

 

Levels 3,4,5 are all wiretap.  

[leathermaneod]

Ok so I just got off the phone with edge. The dude I talked to seemed very knowledgable and experienced and he told me that you get a little more timing on three, but no more than about 60hp or lvl 2 power wise. He also didn't think I would get a full 75hp out of my injectors. He estimated about 180hp total out of my setup between comp and injectors. We also talked quite a bit about it being safe if I drive sensibly. He said he was confident I won't have problems after I told him how I plan to use it. Plus I can always turn it down to 3. 

Heres another question about the ground location. This may sound stupid but I'm not good with vehicle electronics yet so here goes. Why not just hook it up to the negative battery terminal that's right there?

[Mopar1973Man]

Bad idea. Good way to create weak ground later. I neer hook anything to the battery. Being that all wiring is typically crimp the acid will find it's way into the copper core of the wire and rot it out.

Engine block is my first choice (Best ground).

Fender shield is by next choice still good.

Never directly to the battery.

 

[leathermaneod]

Very interesting! Glad I asked. Thanks again for everything guys as always. By the way Mike, I've been wondering and of course I understand if you don't want to answer this, but what do you do for a living and what kind of background do you have that allows you to do so much testing and know all this stuff??

 

One other question, whats the best way to tap the pump wire? obviously there are the T style connectors and such, but I've heard guys say there are better options and Ive seen one that screws together as well. Whats the best way to go? and also the most weatherproof?

Edited March 23, 2016 by leathermaneod

[Me78569]

I like the stealth cover for tapping the pump.  

 

http://www.amazon.com/BD-Diesel-Performance-1050201-Stealth/dp/B000CITISU

 

[leathermaneod]

I have seen those and I would definitely go that route except for the fact that my pump wire was tapped in the past. One of the PO's cut the wire and spiced in a little bit longer loop. He also added an extra leg out one of the butt connectors to make it easy to connect to. Shortly after I bought the truck, a place that did some work to the truck for me, cut that wire off way to short to do anything with other than crimp a cap on so that it wouldnt short against anything. Until now I had no plans to ever tap the pump and I almost cut that mess off to fix it all correctly with solder and adhesive lined heat shrink. But as I was getting ready to do it, I decided as long as everything works just fine, it wasn't worth messing with and risking ruining the pump or at least having to remove it to get more space. So I just liquid tapped all the ends of the connectors to protect them from moisture. Sometime in the future I will remove the pump and fix it right, but until then a regular wire tap will be fine and save me the $70. 

this is what it looked like

this is how I "fixed" it. I know its a mess, but hopefully it works for a good long time. 

Edited March 23, 2016 by leathermaneod

[Me78569]

wow.

 

I would likely use a waterproof butt connector with a built in shrink tube cover.

[leathermaneod]

You mean that's what you would do to fix it properly? Or that's what you would have done to begin with? 

I would have used them to begin with if it was me, or if I thought I had room solder and heat shrink. I'm pretty sure I can't do either at this point without removing the vp. Just not enough room in there. I think that liquid tape will hold up for a good long time though. And there's no reason, in my opinion, that a crimped connector like that should fail as long as it's protected, which, with the liquid tape it is.

maybe I could do it if I unplugged the vp connector, idk if it's worth messing with though...

Edited March 23, 2016 by leathermaneod

[Me78569]

without removing the vp44 your choices are limited.  

 

I would have used a weather proof butt connector at least if I was the guy that owned the truck before you  I would still use one now, but I am not sure how much good it would do.  

 

However depending on what my weekend looked like I would prob pull the vp44 and fix it.  Pretty easy to pull the vp44.

[leathermaneod]

Well I may just do that sometime soon then. Is there a reason not to solder the wires? Or why so keen on the heat shrink butt connectors? I mean I like them too but isn't soldering better? 

Since we're on the subject, what do I need to know for pulling the vp? I know about not loosing the little key, but how do I get it pointed up? Is there a good way to keep it from falling out when I'm reinstalling? Is there anything else I should do to the vp while its out like tighten the deliver valves or anything? 

Maybe I'll pull the vacuum and power steering pumps while the vp is out to rebuild the vac. Having the vp out should make that job easier. 

Once all that's done I can just get the stealth plate. Does that need to be installed with the vp off?

Edited March 23, 2016 by leathermaneod