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FlyEFII legacy system on IO-390

N

nicoghilardi

I'm New Here
Hi all,
I have an RV-14A with FlyEFII legacy system on an IO-390 and I am experiencing cold start problems during the winter (not in the summer). I didn't build the plane, but the engine is running fine once it is running, so general mapping appears to be OK.

Several times now I didn't manage to get the engine to start until the battery went dead. Since there is literally no feedback, I am not sure whether my START values are too high or too low. I am therefore hoping that some of you might be able to share your experience and ideally your engine map values with me to give me a starting point.
cheers
Nico
 
Efii

How are you going about cold starting? I have EFII on my -10 and have started it with no issues down to 15 degrees without preheat. No I typically don’t try it but the preheat circuit in the hangar popped…
 
I turn the key, turn on ignitions, give the throttle three pushes, wait 20 seconds, then crank. I sometimes turn the mixture knob to +20% if it is cold prior to starting.

I suspect the START values are wrong, as they are substantially different from what I think are the default values. But I am not sure. What are your START values for the different temperatures?
 
Cold start

I have the same set-up (IO390) but with System 32 and I don’t do anything different hot or cold start. Just first start (if not started for 4 hrs) one full stroke of the throttle and return to idle and 3 or 4 blades starts perfect. Florida winters and Ohio summers for the most part but occasional Ohio winter. Almost always use pre-heat inside my hangar but occasionally not available in the winter. If so use 2 full strokes and about 1/2 inch more throttle. I use an Earth X battery and spins it very fast. Also the NL starter which helps with amp draw. The lightweight starter from SkyTec draw a lot of amps and problematic in some applications. PM me with your mobile and I’ll try and help. It’s important that EFI owners understand their ignition and fuel systems well.
 
Start

My start is much like dmattmul describes. I have the stock fuel map for starting. If the engine hasn’t been run that day, two throttle pumps, throttle idle, wait a few seconds and push the starter. Starts in a few blades.

The mixture knob is a global adjustment, it is always set on 0% for start.

If it is really cold and it doesn’t start immediately, I repeat the process above. This doesn’t happen very often as I normally preheat.

Not sure the map for the 540 is the same for the 390 but I’ll try and find out.
 
If it is in fact a legacy EFII system that used a SDS ecu, this might help.
First, I suggest you record ALL current settings in your system. Keep them as your default setting chart.
Second, look at START CYCLES, if it is lower than 24, than change it to at least 24 (I run 32).
Third, I would increase all START values colder than 50deg by 50%.

Note that if you spin the engine longer than your START CYCLE setting, the system reverts to your normal RPM/FUEL map which would be far to lean to catch.
 
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