tDR Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Fitted my VFCC yesterday, soldered it in as per instructions on website but after running it yesterday found the car really didn't wanna idle and was misfiring. Went back in at ECU today to investigate and left it idling at the same time - idle between a mere 100 - 300 RPM and lots of misfires if you rev up at all. Rechecked all connections - pin 31 ignition feed, ground as per diagram and black with yellow tracer MAP sensor wire going to green wire on VFCC, blue wire from VFCC to ECU end. All ok. Left VFCC powered / ground but took it out the MAP sensor loop and sure enough, car idling fine again and not misfiring. Tested a few times with same result, including after fiddling with rotary dials inside VFCC - changed them from default B on left dial, 8 on right dial to FF and then 00. Should I assume this is a faulty unit? Or am I missing something? To me it's like the VFCC is giving a duff signal (no warning lights on dash either) to the ECU when in the loop. Cheers, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Before sending it back, check the earth connection. I've had a Thor VFCC that didn't like being earthed to the ECU ground wire, even though it was a sound and soldered connection. Once I swapped it to ground out at a chassis point it was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tDR Posted July 3, 2006 Author Share Posted July 3, 2006 Before sending it back, check the earth connection. I've had a Thor VFCC that didn't like being earthed to the ECU ground wire, even though it was a sound and soldered connection. Once I swapped it to ground out at a chassis point it was fine. Cheers Jake, will give it a go. Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tDR Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 Tried grounding it to chassis this evening, still same problem Send back job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Before sending it back, give Thor a ring and see what they say. Might be something blindingly obvious that we have all missed now and again when fitting stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tDR Posted July 25, 2006 Author Share Posted July 25, 2006 Bringing this back to top as got the replacement last week and fitted it on Saturday - still the exact same problem. Does anyone have any possible explanation for this behaviour? I've even tried swapping my m8's MAP sensor onto my car, which made no difference. I may be barking up the wrong tree but I have a '97 facelift car (non vvt) which has the same MAP sensor as my m8's '94 pre facelift. I think the MAP sensor should be slightly different, given the boost gauge which needs an electrical input as part of the facelift dash. This is one thing I've never managed to fix with the car - it reads off the scale positive all the time, even at idle. Can anyone confirm or rubbish this theory? Anyone got access to a parts CD and can check if the pre and facelift MAP sensors have the same part number? Cheers, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben-san Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 Brian, I've just experienced the same problem last Saturday. New VFCC didn't allow the car to idle. The guys have experienced this with previous units, and I'll be sending mine back. Someone removed their old working VFCC during a swap to standalone, they fitted that and the car lived once more. Let me know if you do decide to get in touch with Pete @ thor, it may be just a case of a bad batch coming from the factory. B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bijal Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 we have had never ending problems with the thor vfcc. we had a complete bad batch come to us. then we had them replaced with a new batch and they AGAIN were faulty. customers were booked in for the jobs and we kept putting them back due to this problem. thor sent us 1 unit that they promised is working and guess what...it didnt. then they told us they realised its a software problem and that they can rectify that if we send the unit back, we did and then it came back we fitted it and guess what...it didnt work. i got fed up, sent the unit back, pete emails me to tell me the unit is working fine, all it was that the unit settings inside were some reason changed??? uuum.....hello...this was their responsibilty to ensure they put the settings back to what they should be AFTER updating the software. we wernt suppose to know the settings were not right? anyway, hole thing took around 2 months to sort out, you can imagine couple of customers were not too pleased. looking back at previous units from last year supplied to us have been spot on...no problems....plug and play realy. so it might be either purly faulty batches OR the jumper settings within the unit are not setup properly. worth asking them to go through what settings they should be at over the phone? open the units up and check to see the dials are at 8,B and not 0,0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tDR Posted July 25, 2006 Author Share Posted July 25, 2006 Ben, Bijal - thanks for coming forward with this info. It may not be my car at fault after all then! I have tried the rotary dials in various positions including 'B' '8' as you look at it - the supposed settings that work on a Supra TT. Pete did email me back when he got the 'faulty' one I sent back to him, to say he tested it and it all checks out ok so he was putting it back in stock to be sold on and that he thought I'd get the same result with the replacement he'd sent. I replied to explain I'd been through the mill testing everything on the car (pissing away hours of time as you do on these problems), gave him this thread URL but not sure if he read it so summarised saying when the VFCC is connected, the car idles really low then cuts out but as soon as it is removed, all is back to normal - please explain it or give me some idea of what may be wrong if not the VFCC. He's yet to get back to me Don't suppose anyone has a working fuel cut defencer of any other type they could send to me today to arrive tomorrow so I can try it and have this taken care of before running my car at TOTB on Sunday? I'm heading down south tomorrow evening or thurs morning to visit relatives before going there early Sunday. Cheers, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tDR Posted July 31, 2006 Author Share Posted July 31, 2006 Just to complete this thread - I last week ordered a GReddy BCC from mkivstore and fitted at my Dad's hotel the night before TOTB5. Absolutely no problems with this and tuned it to clamp voltage signal from MAP sensor at 4V to ECU. Have sent Pete an email asking for a full refund and compensation for 4+ hrs labour messing around with defective goods so I'll see what comes of that. Cheers, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I musyt have fitted at least 40 of the Thor (TRL) VFCC units, and have never had any trouble with them at all. They did have an issue with a supplier, but the faulty units were recalled by e-mail before they even arrived here, and that issue is now addressed, and a Thor supplier problem. IMO they are fine units, as are the other gizmo boxes they sell. Odd how opposite views can be for the same product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I have to say, in Pete's defence, I've fitted several of his units and I've only ever seen one faulty one. It does sound like Brian's had a pair of duff ones though. Strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 open the units up and check to see the dials are at 8,B and not 0,0. what were the symptoms....??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tDR Posted July 31, 2006 Author Share Posted July 31, 2006 Yes, I too had held the TRL / Thor VFCC in very high regard as both an innovative and reliable product for the purpose of eliminating fuel cut whilst still retaining a level of protection. This run in with 2 of them has left me disappointed though In Pete's defence he has been very good about it and has agreed to refund me and also sent out a 2nd one quickly when the 1st wasn't working. Cheers, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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