Espritmon Lights

[Passmore928]

Dear TLF

Does anyone (Erik) know the meanings of all the lights on the main Espritmon screen?

I see them flashing away and would be interested to have an idea of what they all represent and what is the difference if they are red or blue?

i.e. My STALL light is constantly red whilst driving - is there an issue there?

Additionally, is there a reason we aren't allowed by the system to upload espritmon files for the cross reference of others? (either as .log or .asc files?)

Just curious.

regards,

Andy

Edited May 15, 2010 by Passmore928

[eriks4]

Hi, I once wrote a brief piece of text explaining the different readouts but cannot find it at the moment, probably it was a reply to a pm, so here is already some of the info:

FW1, FW2 and FW3 are the values of the fault bytes.

In this particular case, byte 2 has bit 2 set.

To interpret them, press 'e' and you will see which error it is.

The DFCO is the Deceleration Fuel CutOff bit, you should see this turn red in case you are going rather fast and then go to a TPS value of 0.

REVLIM turns red when the rev limiter becomes active

PWRE is Power Enrich, which will light when the command Air/Fuel ratio goes below 14.6

T1 is a test bit which I used for further reverse engineering the protocol

O2R is O2 rich, will go red when the O2 sensor senses a rich condition, so it should blink periodically. It correlates with the O2

graph on the right going above the center axis.

Lights botton right:

CL = closed loop: red when open, blue when closed

HOL : in some GM ECU's Hot Open Loop, still need to figure out what the meaning in the Lotus ECU is, bit may be used for a different purpose, don't know

FAN : blue when fan is on

AC: bleu when AC is on

COM: should alternate between red and off to indicate communication is going on with ECU

SUM: is blue when checksum of ALDL datastream is ok

2ND: secondary injectors active (correlates with graph on right, 2nd from top)

OIL: indicates when the relay is powered that enables the oil pressure light to be activated in case of low oil pressure (to prevent low oil pressure warning at low RPM)

I wasn't aware that the log files cannot be uploaded, are you sure that is the case?

[cjtpb13]

Erik,

Thanks for posting the above information. Nice to have as a reference.

Hope you and the family had a wonderful Holiday here in the US

[eriks4]

Hi Christopher,

We just returned (Sunday at noon) and had a very good time. Saterday morning we went for breakfast with some friends from the OCLotus club. It's Monday 3 AM over here, have some jetlag problems and the whole family is having an early breakfast.

Have a nice Sunday evening,

Erik

[Passmore928]

Hi Erik,

Thanks very much for the clarification. Appreciated.

However, the one light missing a clarification is 'STALL' - what are the conditions for this to be lit?

By the way, it's a great piece of software and brilliant for real time multi parameter visualisation.

A real asset for the Esprit community - particularly the ABS screen.

However, unfortunately it seems you cannot upload espritmon files, I just tried again, only to be met with: the message

"Error You aren't permitted to upload this kind of file"

cheers,

Andy

p.s. I see you have some affiliation to TU Delft - several of my friends studied Engineering there and I have many hazy recollections of nights in Proeflokaal etc.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Passmore928

[eriks4]

Andy,

Regarding the 'stall' light, it was my best guess regarding a certain bit in the ALDL datastream. When I wrote Espritmon, I used the turbo_p4_doc.pdf as a reference since that describes the ECU that the Esprit ECU was derived from. Next I studied the GM datastream specifications that seemed similar to the one used by for the Esprit (in particular A093.DS.

Also, I used information from a list describing the Esprit ALDL datastream that Andy Whitaker, author of Freescan, put on his website.

There are slight inconsistencies between the various data sources I used and I don't think any single one is completely correct.

I do not have a full, complete, verified description of the true datastream, and in another thread in which Jonathan asked about the 2nd injector light, one of the engineers from Lotus thas was involved with the software development made the remark that they sometimes added/modified particular bits. Hence I'm not certain about the stall light, but from the data I have it seems that this bit is set in case of a stall.

Perhaps someone who was involved with the actual development of the Lotus ECU software can comment on this. At present the stall light is set when in the mode 1 data bit 7 of the 64th byte in the ALDL datastream is set (when counting in such a way that byte 1 contains the LSB of the EPROM ID).

Erik

[eriks4]

A brief update on the stall light. It is definetly something else, related to error 26. I just drove home from work and suddenly my CEL came on. I connected the laptop and indeed a code 26 error was reported. Strange thing is that the QDM B led is not continuously on, but the stall light is. I drove for about 40 km while logging the data. Indeed the ECU did not command the WGDC anymore, limiting boost. After about 40 km I stopped the car and reset the fault codes. I only drove about 2 km because I was almost home, but during that time the code 26 error did not return and the stall light remained off too. However, the QDM B light still was flashing irregularly.

I just checked the data from this mornings drive to work (about 106 km). After about 60 km, the QDM B light started to blink (on an irregular basis). This may have been the precursor to the actual event that cause the ECU to set a code 26. When I find out more after studying the log in more detail I will add the findings.

Erik

[Passmore928]

Hi Erik,

Interesting development. I had noticed the stall light was on whilst driving, ond obviously found this strange as the car was clearly not stalled.

I'll check through some old runs and see when it turns on - i.e. with the arrival of the QD B light...

cheers,

Andy

[fjmuurling]

Hi Erik,

This is what I found so far in my 2539/09EB bin (Turbo SE) file:

LDA A with db from 0067 RPM / 25

CMP A with $3C $3C (60) 60 * 25 = 1500 RPM

BLS (if C or Z = 1) to D81C Branch if RPM <= 1500

BSET (bit 6 = 1) at 004C StatusWord_2 bit 6 = RPM Relay ????

BSET (bit 7 = 1) at 0048

BRA to D822

BCLR (bit 6 = 0) at 004C StatusWord_2 bit 6 = RPM Relay ????

BCLR (bit 7 = 0) at 0048

Statusword 2 (byte 7 in ALDL Mode 1 stream) bit 6 is the bit for the RPM relay as far as I can tell.

L0048 is byte 64 in the ALDL Mode 1 datastream. As you can see bit 7 of L0048 is set or cleared in conjunction with bit 6 of L004C i.e. RPM relay. These are the only two places where L0048 bit 7 is used in this particular BIN.

Freek

P.S. Erik I send you the the relevant Code part by PM as I couldn't get the alignment right in this message.

[eriks4]

I just figured out what the bit does. I mentioned that it was bit 7, but that is when you start counting as bit 1 to bit 8. Freek, did I mislead you? I guess you looked into the code where the highest bit is set (counting from 0 onwards). Anyway, the bit is set when the ECU determines that the Check Engine Light has to be enabled, makes kind off sense. Info was in the GM A092.DS file. Must have missed it when I was developing the earlier code.

I will change the label and put a new version on my website.

Erik

espritmon.zip has been updated

I think I figured out what is causing the code 26 error. The fact that QDM B light sometimes briefly lights up, also after the code 26 has been deleted suggests that still something is not right, but does not manifest itself long enough to trigger a new code 26 yet. From the five possible causes, only one is possible, the oil pressure warning light relay that is enabled above 1500 RPM. The AC is off, there is no engine overheat, throttle jack relay is not powered and neither are the secondaries active. I will get the relay out and swap it to see whether the intermittent QDM B light stays off.

[fjmuurling]

Hi Erik,

no you did not mislead me but I assumed !!!. so your bit 7 is my bit 6. I start counting with bit 0 and end with bit 7.

Freek

[Passmore928]

Great work Erik.

I just downloaded the update and it makes complete sense with the CE light rather than stall.

One question, what are the two additional trends that now plot in the RPM window? (grey and green)

Additionally, once the CE light is activated due to a code 26B does the ECM always disable the WGDC?

I notice that with the engine off, ignition on, coolant >75°C, TPS>75%, CE on : using espritmon I can watch the WGDC rise steadily according to TPS increase.

However, whilst driving and the CE lit I see no movement at all under the above conditions, even when the secondary injectors are firing. Only once did I see the WGDC move, and this was to immediate 100%. (see attached pic).

Apologies for so many questions!

cheers,

Andy

Edited May 20, 2010 by Passmore928

[eriks4]

Hi Andy,

The green line in the RPM window shows your gear. In the previous version, there was only a readout of the current gear to the right of the RPM window, but I wanted to be able to see it in relation to RPM.

The grey line plots a variable that should be related to a filtered, instantaneous fuel consumption. I'm still working on the equations so this is nothing useful yet.

When I had the code 26 yesterday the wastegate duty cycle indeed remained 0. The spike in your data may be a reading where there was a data error. I haven't seen it yesterday. I also verified this with my hardware readout of the 8 lines controlled by the QDMs. These 8 LEDs (see picture) are connected using a transistor setup (to not really put a load on the outputs of the ECU) to the 8 outputs (RPM,AC,WG,2ndinj,TJ,can.purge,fan,eng.overheat). Normally, when driving with the WG active you can see the third green LED from the left blink at a rather high frequency (caused by the 32Hz pulse width modulation of the wastegate solenoid). After the code 26 this LED remained off. Indeed the Lotus manual says that in case of such an error, boost is limited (to what you can achieve without fooling the wastegate with the modulated pressure).

Erik

[Passmore928]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for the explanation and your continued development of this already excellent tool.

I'm going to have another troubleshoot this weekend on my code 26. Hopefully find the source this time.

cheers,

Andy

[Passmore928]

In the end the code 26 was traced by my local(ish) Lotus garage to a faulty ECU. I bought a new ECU from South West Lotus Centre.

This was actually far cheaper than having it repaired by Bluestreak, who quoted over £400 - the brand new one cost £220 including shipping to Switzerland.

Once this was installed everything now works. No Code 26!

I made another run with Espritmon I can see my WGDC varying according to throttle input etc. (see attached screenshot)

So clearly a code 26 will prevent the waste gate solenoid allowing additional boost via bleeding the pressure line to the wastegate capsule.

Car certainly 'feels' a bit quicker and more responsive than previously.

Thanks for all the help and advice.

cheers,

Andy

Edited June 16, 2010 by Passmore928