DIY Fuel injection thread.

[yoeddynz]

Yeah I think I'll get an adv sensor once I've confirmed that's what is dead.

My setup is on the same relay as the ecu so only powers up when that is running.  In fact the Spartan 3 canbus I have takes info from the MS3 canbus ecu and will only start to heat up the sensor once it sees the engine running - to avoid thermal shock. Plus they have proper heater control. So way better than the innovate product I was using in the Viva.

This above sensor control is the reason why I'm surprised its potentially shat the bed though

[GARDRB]

I believe you have to hook the Spartan 3 up via serial to a laptop and change the config in it to switch from 4.9 to ADV. I recently bought one of each from JRP (one for me and one for a friend) and they said to make sure not to mix them up.

[yoeddynz]

yeah that's right. Its a mini or micro usb port luckily.

[mjrstar]

I have an old g4 atom in my Mazda. It has terminals inside for CAN but no external connection. Is it straightforward to wire this up, or is more trickery involved?

[yoeddynz]

are you talking about connecting it up to a can enabled wideband controller? If so then yeah- on my ms3 its just two wires to the controller - a high and a low.

You could add a two pin socket in the case so avoiding future pissing about ?

(I know nothing about the architecture of old link ecus)

[mjrstar]

On the ecu there is no external can connecter/ cabling, but inside the case when you open it up there are 4 little prongs and the terminal is labeled CAN.

So you'd need to modify the case to get the wires outside. 

But then is there anything you cave to do to actually enable this to do CAN things.. 

[Roman]

Found a page about the G4 Atom, says this:

Communications

• Tuning Port USB via adapter cable supplied
• Serial RS232 via adapter cable available separately
• CAN - Connector and replacement front plate available separately

So it's likely that you can connect up those wires and it'll work, so long as in pclink it allows you to configure CAN for it.

It's likely that you've got two canbus channels there, and it'll be two pairs of can high and can low. 

If you solder or otherwise attach a pair of wires and then put a 120 ohm resistor on the end. 

You should see one sides voltage go high and the other side go low, when it's sending something. 

Or just hook up a can device and see if it works, then swap the wires around if it doesnt. 

[mjrstar]

Thank you fine sir, I was struggling to find much info around the original atom, my searches seemed to net results for the atom g4+ or atom II.

 

[Hyperblade]

1 hour ago, mjrstar said:

Thank you fine sir, I was struggling to find much info around the original atom, my searches seemed to net results for the atom g4+ or atom II.

 

Just contact them, they are really helpful and will walk you through it, they may even offer to do it all for you if you ship it back.

[mjrstar]

3 hours ago, Hyperblade said:

Just contact them, they are really helpful and will walk you through it, they may even offer to do it all for you if you ship it back.

Interesting,  I hadn't thought of that, I'd assumed they'd be more geared up to sell you the latest and greatest rather than messing around with used ecu's.

[Hyperblade]

50 minutes ago, mjrstar said:

Interesting,  I hadn't thought of that, I'd assumed they'd be more geared up to sell you the latest and greatest rather than messing around with used ecu's.

They still support their G1 ecus! Some of the plugin ecus require similar process to what your doing and they are happy to do it for them, you just ship it back.

The support is a really big reason to buy a Link ECU in NZ.

And even if you didn't want to go down that route, just posting on their forums will get you an official response on how to do it.

[Honda Ass Dragger]

Likely just need one of these cables - https://dealers.linkecu.com/ADA_4

I've got both channels in use on my G4X Plug In - I'm a noob and manged to get the second one installed myself
 

Can is awesome makes adding stuff almost plug n play

[Stu]

In the G4 ecus sometimes the CAN isn't enabled even though the connector is there.  Last year I had USB connection issues with a G4 Storm so sent it to them and they enabled CAN at the same time for free.

You can hit up Adam on the Link Support facebook page or chat with them on their website - they are extremely helpful which as mentioned above is a huge reason to use their products

[VitesseEFI]

On 16/01/2026 at 19:18, yoeddynz said:

Yeah I think I'll get an adv sensor once I've confirmed that's what is dead.

My setup is on the same relay as the ecu so only powers up when that is running.  In fact the Spartan 3 canbus I have takes info from the MS3 canbus ecu and will only start to heat up the sensor once it sees the engine running - to avoid thermal shock. Plus they have proper heater control. So way better than the innovate product I was using in the Viva.

This above sensor control is the reason why I'm surprised its potentially shat the bed though

LS4.9s do seem relatively fragile.  My RR man insists that the old LS4.2s are toughest of the lot, even if they do need free-air calibration from time to time.  Certainly my old Innovate LC-1 with LS 4.2 managed about 20 years before it started doing random things.  Ripped it out and promptly had recurring issues with AEM plus LS4.9 (though not actually Bosch sensors) so that got fired and now have a Zeitronics unit which has worked well for a couple of years now.  Irritatingly my old Innovate LC-1 and original 4.2 sensor has gone back into service on No 1 sons FrankenSpit and works fine.....  That sensor has survived some pretty rough treatment including many miles on an engine that burned alot of high zinc oil!

[yoeddynz]

You're the first person I've heard to say the 4.2 is tougher. Even bosch state the opposite. 

I had to replace 4.2 sensors twice with my innovate mtxl controller on the viva.  Poor heater control from that unit is the usual reason given. 

Ive since replaced my 4.9 and it's working fine for now. 

I couldn't fit a adv sensor as it seems they all have an extra plug not far from the sensor that would foul right where I run my cable. 

Annoying issue with my 14 point 7 is I can not get the boot loader to work for a hardware update. The loading screen dissappears when the port number is entered. This is a problem others have had with the same unit as mine, on the same fw version.  I need to update at least to the next version so I can have the alternative start up sensor heater options to try. 

Ive asked on the official 14 point 7 forum but Alan has now gone quiet..   I'll have to ask again. 

[VitesseEFI]

14 hours ago, yoeddynz said:

You're the first person I've heard to say the 4.2 is tougher. Even bosch state the opposite. 

Didn’t come from me originally. Both my usual RR man and the owner of the place I bought the AEM, soon exchanged for the Zeitronics and also a RR tuner said the same thing. 
 

Bosch would say that…… 4.9 is meant to be an improvement.  Maybe it is when installed and mans to OEM standard.  Sensors are cheaper than 4.2 at least.

[Roman]

I started out with an innovate controller and a 4.2

Then I was blowing up sensors left right and center. 

Someone said to buy the upgraded version (or whatever, cant remember) so I could run the 4.9 sensor. 

I think 3 hours was the fastest one died. 

Then I bought a super expensive controller that someone reccomended, still blowing them up. Was super fucked off.

At some point along the way I figured out that it was mostly cold starts killing them.
Because the Innovate instructions tell you to have the sensor wired up so that it NEVER runs the engine without the sensor going. 
So I was hot sensor/cold start nuking them. ffs. 

Thennnnnnnn
I bought a spartan controller with LSU-ADV. 
Have not blown up a single sensor no matter what I've done with it. 
The only time I've had an issue was one sensor got badly cross threaded so needed replacement. 

I shudder to think how much money I wasted on controllers and sensors because they kept blowing up (and innovate had no mention of the cold start issue, fuck you innovate)


 

[mjrstar]

I think my sensor takes a good 20 seconds or more to get to temp, post start?

It's the old innovate lc1 I've had for a million years and had in a bunch of cars. In hindsight I guess I haven't baselined it against another unit to confirm it's accurate. So maybe it's telling utter lies. 

Sometimes I've powered it up for ages and then started the car, do you get some sort of error when the sensor gives out?

[kpr]

Back in the day when it was just the Lm1  and few other products,  innovate stuff was good,  was a forum and the guys that made the original products  were quite active and helpful on there. they knew their stuff.  was a good tuning forum in general also.  
Then yeah they  got brought out and the og dudes left. the forum turned into a steaming turd and got shut down.  so support wasn't a thing anymore  

i still have my old lm1, that gets brought out now and then to compare  against the spartan with adv.   advantage on the lm1, it actually tells you when the sensor is trash or some other issue. rather than just a false reading. has the lcd screen to compare against what ever you have connected it to 

[gibbon]

so I am just sketching up a wiring diagram to use direct fire on the rx7 using IGN1A coils and the plugin link ECU. Google tells me the 'analog ground' for the coils needs to go back to the ECU. the factory ECU doesn't appear to have a "coil ground" pin, but has several "input" and "output" grounds. Should I wire it to one of them? I was going to get an expansion harness anyway, would it be better if I had a dedicated pin for it? Even the Link doesn't appear to expect to receive an 'analog ground' from the coils as there's nothing in the pinout for it