12/March/2013

Juan Brasal MC07K IMI Level III Motorcycle Engineering

Diagnosing and Rectifying Motorcycle Engine Faults Fuel Injection System Yamaha YBR125

The main function of a fuel supply system is to provide fuel into the combustion chamber at the optimum air-fuel ratio (10000 to 1 by volume or 14, 7 pounds of air to 1 pound of fuel by weight) in accordance with the engine operating conditions and the atmospheric temperature. The fuel requirements vary by the engine operating conditions, such as; acceleration, deceleration or operating under a heavy load. Fuel injection system can achieve an optimum fuel-air ratio required by the engine at all the times by using a microprocessor, which regulates the volume of fuel according to the engine operating conditions detected by various sensors. Fuel injection is a precisely method of fuel supply, which improves engine response, fuel economy and reduce exhaust emissions.

1- Construction and operation of the system. Yamaha uses an open loop fuel injection system in its YBR125. It means that the ECU does not receive any feedback from the exhaust (after the burning procedure of the mixture, exhaust gases). The system totally relays in the input signals from the throttle position sensor (TPS), crankshaft position sensor, intake air pressure sensor, intake air temperature sensor and engine temperature sensor, to calculate the right amount of fuel to deliver in every situation. This is achieved by whether extending or reducing the fuel injector opening period. However, in other models Yamaha uses a close loop system, which is built with an oxygen sensor (lambda sensor) in it. This sensor detects the amount of oxygen released into the exhaust within the exhaust gases, giving an accurate reading of the air/fuel ratio burned in the power stroke inside the combustion chamber. Therefore, the ECU can compensate the amount of fuel squeezed into the chamber by modifying the opening period of the injector. At the moment the ECU is able to modify fueling by 10% approx. Nevertheless, it is important to say that lambda sensor are improving day by day and in a future they will be able to run the engine by itself avoiding to use unreliable input sensors. One of the disadvantages of lambda sensor is that they need to work within a high temperature, it only works effectively when heated to approximately 316 C (600 F), and therefore they are ineffective during the first minutes of a running engine. The fuel system is built with a fuel pump which pressurizes the injector to a steady pressure of 250KPa (250kgf/cm2; 35.6psi). Therefore, it becomes relatively simple to supply the right amount of fuel by measuring the opening time of the Fuel injector nozzle, which is regulated by the ECU. When the ECU energizes the fuel injector, the fuel passage opens allowing fuel into the intake manifold during the time that the passage remains open. This is known as injection duration. The longer the length of the injection duration is, the grater the volume of fuel is supplied into the intake manifold. Injection duration is determined by the ECU which also controls the injection timing by the signals of the crankshaft position sensor.

2- Typical electronic/electrical fault found in the system.

Nowadays, electronic faults have become more unlikely to happen due to electronic components are better manufactured and well made, they are absolutely reliable. Nevertheless, they occur to happen from time to time. In my experience as a motorcycle technician I have come across with one electronic fault (within the fuel injection system), a faulty inductive pick up coil, known as crank/camshaft position sensor. This sensor monitors engine speed and position of the crank/camshaft to control parameters such as; fuel injection and ignition timing. The way it works is by sending a voltage signal to the ECU (2 to 4 voltages average figure). It is made of an iron core surrounded by a cooper wire winding, the cooper wire is extremely thin and long that there is the likelihood that it breaks. When the wire breaks the signal sent by the coil is reduced in voltage, therefore the ECU detects that a problem has occurred and it would activate the limp mode if possible. A faulty crank/camshaft sensor could lead into misfiring, backfiring and a poor engine performance. In the worst of the cases the vehicle would stop working. As an electrical fault I could mention the most common fault I have come across with, open circuit within the wiring loom, cut wires or corroded coupler connectors are the most typical faults. Since, all the sensors and actuators are connected with the ECU, there is an extended red of wires and many blocks connectors that are exposed to fatigue and water, those factors make them vulnerable to suffer from corrosion or stress. It ends up in an open circuit between the ECU and different sensors. In my opinion it is one of the most difficult problems to asses due to the complexity of the system. The self-diagnosis feature does not help as much as when it is a sensor issue, because the system is not able to recognize whether the fault is within the sensor itself or there is an open circuit in the loom. The ECU might think that none of the sensor are working, giving out all the codes for each sensor. When the actual problem is that there is not communication possible in between them due to an open circuit. Then, it is when the technician has to investigate the problem by checking continuity or voltage drop. When there is an open circuit within the system the symptoms may vary from bike going into limp mode or impossibility of running. *By limp mode we mean that: The ECU institutes a default program to keep the bike running, it supplies a predetermined amount of fuel regardless the engine or atmospheric conditions.

3- Systematic diagnosis techniques used to identify the fault. The ECU is equipped with a self-diagnosis function to ensure that the fuel injection system is operating normally. When a failure occurs in the system the bike report it back to the rider by illuminating an engine trouble warning light in the dashboard (amber color) and a fault code is stored in the memory of the ECU. *To inform the rider that the fuel injection system is not working, the engine trouble warning light flashes when the start switch is being pushed to start the engine. The bike in this state cannot be operated. *If a malfunction is detected in the system, the ECU provides an appropriate substitute characteristic operation and alerts the rider by illuminating the engine trouble warning light. Vehicle can be operated in limp mode. *After the engine has been stopped, the lowest fault code is displayed by the engine trouble warning light followed by the rest of them if there would be more than one. They remain stored in the memory of the ECU until they are corrected and deleted. (All the codes can be read either by the dashboard or the FI diagnosis tool) The ECU self-diagnosis function makes it easier to investigate the fault, assess the problem promptly and accurately. However, the self-diagnosis function only guides you through the assessment of the vehicle, further investigation and different checks must be done to confirm the actual fault. Ohms reading in coils, input/output voltages check, continuity checks (all the values can be found in the service manual)

4- Types of reading you would find during the diagnostic process. We would get different reading depending in the sensor we are checking, if we checking a inductive pick up coil we would check for resistance within the winding and we would expect to read in between 248 -372 Ohms, anything out of that range would indicate a faulty sensor. If we are checking the lean angle sensor we would look for voltage reading in between 0.4 to 4.4 depending in the angle of the sensor. We could also test the amount of fuel is squeezed by the injector, removing the injector from the bike and operating it in a measured test tube, we could check the fuel supplied.

5- Rectification process.

In an electronic fault rectification, we would have to replace the component itself having checked to make sure it is working correctly. In an electrical fault we might have the chance to repair it. If the fault is found within the wiring loom we could be able to replace the faulty part of the loom or the corroded connector. However, in some cases we would need to replace the whole wiring loom in the unlikely scenery of a damaged ECU block connector as an example.