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BY JOHN THOMPSON While basic fuel system diagnosis may begin with a fuel pressure measurement, it certainly shouldnt end there. The systems fuel volume and flow also must be measured and evaluated.
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he fuel injectors are at the end of the line in any EFI system. The entire fuel system and each of its components exist to provide proper injector flow rate through the injector nozzles and into the engines cylinders. Basic fuel system diagnosis should always be performed bearing this in mind. Diagnosing basic fuel system problems requires an understanding of components, fuel system design, pressure and flow theory, as well as diagnostic techniques. Lets start with fuel system components, beginning with the last component first, to explain how an injectors flow rate is calculated. Fuel injectors are designed and rated for the quantity of fuel that can flow through them at a given fuel pressure and duty cycle at mean sea level. The amount of fuel that an injector can flow is measured in pounds per hour. For rating purposes, most manufacturers specify a standard operating pressure of 43.5 psi. One exception is Ford, which rates its injectors at 39.5 psi as the standard pressure. Injector design flow ratings are measured in a static condition, which means theyre held open continuously. This is referred to as a 100% duty cycle. However, once injectors are installed in an engine theyll be pulsed with a varying duty cycle (depending on engine load requirements) measured in millisecond time increments. Operating injectors at 100% duty cycle would build up excessive heat within the injector windings, leading to premature failure. So in typical OE applications, injectors are never duty cycled above an 80% to 85% on-time. Injector flow ratings are factored when an OE manufacturer designs a fuel system for a specific engine size. Specific pressure and flow expectations as well as a dynamic fuel map based on rpm and load of a particular engine are calculated. This fuel map is the primary control factor of injector duty cycle. However, the fuel map assumes that the systems design specifications will deliver an expected pressure and volume of fuel to supply the injectors. Once installed in an engine, injector flow output depends on three factors the quantity of fuel flowing to the injector (volume), the force behind the vol-
ume of fuel flowing to the injector (pressure) and the injector duty cycle or on-time command from the PCM (pulse width). If the designed pressure or flow volume is altered by a defect in a mechanical component of the fuel system, or if the injector duty cycle is altered by the PCM due to an incorrect sensor input, injector flow rates will also be altered, ultimately affecting the goal of the fuel system, which is to deliver the required injector output flow based on engine rpm and load. Fuel filters trap harmful contaminants and are passive components that, when restricted, can cause immediate system problems by reducing fuel flow. Delayed system problems also will occur if a filter is no longer able to trap contaminating particles, which will then travel further down the line and affect other system components (usually the fuel injectors). Fuel pressure regulators restrict the return of fuel to the tank by a calibrated amount in order to maintain desired fuel rail pressure. If calibrated rail system pressure is exceeded, excess fuel will be permitted to return to the tank. Regulators typically fail by a ruptured diaphragm resulting in engine vacuum drawing raw fuel directly into the intake manifold, poor seating of the fuel-pressure regulator resulting in fuel leakage to the return side or no return flow to the tank whatsoever when a regulator sticks closed. To give a practical example of how injector flow rate can be altered by multiple factors, lets assume an increase in fuel rail pressure at idle due to a stuck pressure regulator. An increase in pressure will result in increased injector output volume. The PCM does not have control over the fuel volume being pumped in the system, nor can it control the pressure in the fuel rail. So how could the PCM attempt to prevent overfueling of the engines cylinders? Duty cycle. Faced with this scenario, a PCM (in closed loop) could reduce injector flow by reducing the injector pulse width. Conventional EFI systems utilize a submersible fuel pump with a permanent magnet electric motor, a vibration damper and a relief valve to prevent system damage from overpressure. Fuel enters the pump inlet tube by passing
Montage: Harold A. Perry; photos and illustration: Bosch, GM & Jupiter Images
July 2007
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Fig. 1
through a sock-style filter and is pushed through the pump to the outlet by the motor. Conventional EFI systems also rely on the fuel pressure regulator, not the pump itself, to control pressure in the fuel rail. Any fuel not required by engine demand is diverted back to the fuel tank via the pressure regulator. Therefore, its important to remember that fuel pumps themselves only supply fuel volume; they do not create pressure in the fuel lines. Fuel pump current analysis is a technique thats used to identify a deteriorating or defective fuel pump. It utilizes a low amperage probe to first calculate the current drawn from a fuel pumps electric motor, then transfer that information to a lab scope waveform (Fig. 1 above) for visual analysis. This technique may allow you to decide if the amperage drawn by the circuit is typical. Its normal for a pumps initial current draw to be higher when the pump is first energized from a dead stop. As the pump starts to turn and push fuel through the system, the amperage should drop and level off. Examining the current humps in the waveform created by the pump motor commutator bars will give you an accurate idea of how the pump motor looks internally. Any inconsistencies in the visual representations you see in a waveform that took only milliseconds to acquire mirror how the armature would look if you were to take the time to remove and disassemble the pump. Even one slightly worn commutator bar thats not necessarily a problem will show up in the waveform.
Fig. 2
You can calculate the rpm of the pump simply by picking out the repeating signature ID of that one commutator bar. If the pattern repeats every ninth bar, then you know that the pump has eight commutator bars, which in turn allows you to measure the time (in milliseconds) it takes for one revolution of the pump. Next divide 60,000 (1 minute of time in milliseconds) by one motor revolution time and you will have calculated the rpm of the pump. The rpm of a very worn pump motor is calculated in Fig. 2. Despite this techniques benefit of quick and easy access to rule in a deteriorating or defective fuel pump, you should always keep in mind that the only real certainties in the waveform are the amperage draw, the rpm and the visual signature of the pump armature. Typical auto fuel pumps draw 3 to 6 amps at 5000 to 6000 rpm. Unfortunately, this is an average, and unless youre familiar with the typical amperage draw and rpm of the specific pump youre actually testing, this average spec could mislead you. Just because a fuel pump appears to have average rpm, average amperage draw and commutator bars that are uniform in appearance does not guarantee that the pump can supply the volume of fuel the system was designed for. The great unknown of fuel pump current analysis is that you cant actually measure a pumps volume output with current. This is a definite negative, and you should be cautious in accepting current analysis as your only test. Ford electronic returnless fuel systems (ERFS) operate without a return line to the fuel tank. Because theres no return line, a pressure regulator attached to the fuel rail is not needed. Despite the lack of a conventional regulator, the ERFS does employ pressure regulation to control injector volume output. In theory, the PCM selects and sets a fuel system operating pressure. The PCM outputs a duty cycle command between 5% and 51% to the fuel pump driver module (FPDM) to control system pressure, using a fuel rail pressure sensor (FRP) for feedback. The FPDM doubles the fuel pump command from the PCM and outputs a duty cycle command of its own to operate the pump. In controlling the pumps on-time by toggling supply voltage, the system can maintain any fuel system operating pressure desired by the PCM (Fig. 3 on page 34). The FPDM also generates a diagnostic signal thats transmitted back to the PCM on the fuel pump monitor (FPM) circuit to indicate if there are any faults present. Any ERFS-related DTC that may be set by the PCM is a direct result of the duty cycle of the diagnostic signal returned to it by the FPDM. In operation, fuel is pumped from the fuel delivery module inside the fuel tank, through a check valve and fuel filter, pressure transducer, fuel rail and finally through the fuel injectors. The fuel pump pumps only the amount of fuel needed to keep the fuel rail at the desired or set operating pressure. Understanding how the FRP PID is calculated is crucial to understanding the
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38 psi
.28 GPM
Fig. 4
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Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Some of the available volume of water supplying the shower head has been diverted in order to flow to the toilet. Since a fuel systems maximum flow capacity is also fixed, a defective pressure regulator on a return-type system can divert fuel flow needed by the injectors (the shower head) back to the fuel tank (the toilet). An underperforming fuel pump or a restricted fuel filter also can reduce fuel system flow to the injectors. No matter what the cause, a reduced system flow will result in reduced injector flow volume. Reduced flow cant be remedied by increased pressure. Heres another example of the relationship among pressure, volume and flow. Assume you have good supply in the fuel tank and a pump thats in good operating condition. Split-
Fig. 7
what you really want to know. If you havent already, youll eventually encounter vehicles with one of the abovementioned flow restrictions that will effectively reduce the available fuel volume while having little or no effect on measured pressure at the fuel rail. Components that are underperforming but not yet completely failed, such as a partially restricted fuel filter, a defective pressure regulator or a worn fuel pump, are more easily identified by measuring flow and pressure together. Fuel pressure measured at the rail as well as the required injector flow rate at idle may be within spec. But we need to know the total system flow capacity at max operating conditions of an engine, when nearly all of the available flow will be used to sustain injector flow require-
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Circle #22
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