Brand New PFC not working.

[USRB25S13]

Well I just got my New Apex Power FC in the mail this morning and I went out pulled to stock ECU and pluged the PFC in. When I turned to key on nothing happend at all. No Check engine light illuminated and the comander isn't lighting up or showing anything at all. I checked the Model # to make sure it's the right one for my car. Crank the engine and it wouldn't start.

Is there somthing that needs to be done to the unit before it will work? I looked at the english manule from the Apexi webpage and didn't see any steps I missed.

[JasonO]

Try removing it and plugging it back in again, it's pretty common for the plug not to go all the way home.

[krzysiu]

dont put it in yourself. It best that the computer is put in by a mechanic and tuned straight away. I know someone that put it in himself with a new set of forged pistons. He drove it for a while untuned and bye bye new forged pistons.

my 2 cents

[benm]

Did you just "plug" the harness back in or did you "screw" the harness back in? It won't work unless screwed all the way back in.

[USRB25S13]

The plug is going in all the way. I am a mechanic by the way.

[Guest two.06l]

The plug is going in all the way. I am a mechanic by the way.

can i ask where you bought it from .was it brand new or second hand

[USRB25S13]

It was brand new from jap parts specialist.

http://www.jappartsspecialist.com/

I emailed him and he told me he would help me out with shipping to Apexi if needed.

[Merli]

The plug is going in all the way. I am a mechanic by the way.

It's happened to me before... Just unplug it, check all the pins are still straight, and try plugging it back in again.

If it still doesn't fire up after a few tries, check the power wires going TO and FROM the PowerFC (yes the PowerFC has OUTBOUND power wires)...

Other than that, it could very well be buggered? It's just a straight plug-in, and it should turn on and let you switch off the boost control option (if you're not using the boost controller, you have to turn the option off in the menus, otherwise it won't start properly/idle)

[USRB25S13]

I see how the plug can cause some difficulty. If the stock ECU is working before and after I try the PFC that would tell me the power/grounds are ok.

[USRB25S13]

I see how the plug can cause some difficulty. If the stock ECU is working before and after I try the PFC that would tell me the power/grounds are ok. What would a locked PFC do?

[FRISKI]

some of the PFC needs to be screwed back into its locatin as it uses these screws as a ground, ensure that there is metal from the PFC touching the cars surface for ground.

[lwells]

dont put it in yourself. It best that the computer is put in by a mechanic and tuned straight away. I know someone that put it in himself with a new set of forged pistons. He drove it for a while untuned and bye bye new forged pistons.

my 2 cents

Err, why pay for a mechanic to do it? IMHO that's just a waste of money since a PFC is essentially a plug and play device.

Sorry, but your friend was just stupid. Driving around on a base map with a rebuilt engine is a silly idea.

LW.

[INASNT]

Do you know someone with the same car?

Try it in their and see if it fires up.

When i put my pfc in the engine would turn over but not start and it kept loosing any setting we would change. The solution was to put a new earth into the loom and that solved the problem.

[R33vit]

This may not help, but whenever you remove and re-install a ECU you should disconnect the battery so as to not damage the ECU

[USRB25S13]

So the unit needs to be grounded? Can anyone comfrim this? Since the way they tell you to secure the ECU is to use the velcro tape they send with the ECU I don't beleave that. But I will give it a try.

[USRB25S13]

Do you know someone with the same car?

Try it in their and see if it fires up.

When i put my pfc in the engine would turn over but not start and it kept loosing any setting we would change. The solution was to put a new earth into the loom and that solved the problem.

Before the ground was put in the loom did the ECU work? Mine doesn't do anything at all. I tried running a ground wire to the ECU case and it didn't make any difference. So how did you figure to run the wire. Did you have to add an extra wire in the ECU conector?

[NRB]

I installed my PFC - simply unplugged the stock ECU, inserted plug into PFC then screwed the bolt down to lock the loom in. I certainly didn't need to earth it.

As for it being a "Plug and Play" device... sure it'll fire up, and even run enough to allow one to drive around, but the mixtures won't be anything near what is required. I can't see how the fool destroyed his motor driving it like that - if he was driving the car hard then I can, but people who fork out lots of money to rebuild a motor and install an ECU usually know a lot about the product they're paying for.

[Merli]

I've noticed that some PowerFCs uses it's metal case to ground itself.

You can't just have it lying on the carpet, you need to screw it into the bracket in the kick panel which will ground the unit.

Others I have seen have worked fine lying on the carpet, so I dunno?

[rb25]

yep, mine is an older model powerfc and it works fine just laying on the carpet.

[B-Man]

Dude - check that your AFM is wired properly and the right setting for AFM are there. And also check that your AFM is working OK (ie swap with another one)

I just had exactly the same problem - swapped my AFM out and all good. I just don't know if my AFM is stuffed or my wiring was wrong cause I had a Q45 (didn't work) and changed to a VG30DE AFM (worked)

Good luck