?ECU failure

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carym
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by carym »

carym wrote:For those who may be interested, here is the latest. I promise, nothing more will be said by me until everything is working.
Well, I lied. This is more of an FYI and "get it off my chest" post than anything else.

Having paid $2377 for a factory approved used ECU install, it failed again after less than 2 hours of flying. The cost of this repair is now beyond belief. Shipping charges alone were $400 and I expect that Technify won't wave these charges, even though the last unit they sent me was bad. At least this time I did receive a LEFT ECU B failure warning on the G1000. After shutting everything down, and restarting the failure warning did not go away, and pulling the LEFT ECU A breaker caused the engine to quit. The quality control (based on my experience only) makes me worry for those who fly a single engine Thielert/Technify plane.
Cary
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wolfvoador
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by wolfvoador »

Hello. Had ECU FAIL 2013, a DA mechanic uploaded the ECU data with the two cables dangling under co-pilot dashboard, sent to Wr.Neustadt, had answer within 2-3 hours, and had me in the air again (it proved to be a software issue, nothing mechanic). If you have the connecting cables, CAN device, and the CD with the AE300 Wizard (only Diamond can provide this, ask your mechanic to fedex to you, on loan or even better buy a set), and are average computer literate, you can do it yourself! But this could either save you the trip (if a software issue), or make your trip less nerve wrecking (if you know exactly the cause of your problem and consider it non-essential).
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carym
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by carym »

Mechanic is coming to the airport today to do that. This is a Thielert engine, and Diamond (nor Thielert) will not sell or give the CD to anyone who is not certified by Technify to work on engines (I tried to get the software in the past). Just another frustration with the customer care we receive from Diamond. I'll update regarding the issue as soon as we find out.
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GLDAS
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by GLDAS »

Cary,
I sent you a PM yesterday, but it is stuck in the outbox.
I have several ECU's on engine cores that are going back to technify.
If allowable, you are welcome to try one of them.
-dan
Dan P. Eldridge
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carym
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by carym »

Dan,
Thank you very much. It turns out that the problem was a CAM SENSOR error. The error message just needed to be reset and everything is working again. When the ECU was downloaded to Technify, they thought that it was just a "nuisance error". Hopefully it won't occur again.
Cary
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Steve D
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by Steve D »

Glad it is sorted out. I have had 2 ECU failure issues on my Thielert 2.0 motors. First time took ages to identify the error. Turned out that the high pressure sensor on the common rail was clogged (directly attributable to poor maintenance). Second time, the new AMO mechanics knew where to look.

Seems to me that the Thielert diagnostic software is not as good as the Austro's. My AMO's have been repeatedly forced to refer all problems to Germany for data interpretation.
Steve Dewsbery
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wolfipilot
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by wolfipilot »

Hello all,

we are having ECU failures every 20-25 hours now on the one or the other ECU. Typically nothing happens but the annunciator in the G1000 lights up, the last time however we encountered a certain power loss on the affected engine (LH ECU / LH engine).

The read out made by Diamond the last time showed a significant list of parameters running out of the normal range, the data was being transmitted to Austro Engine, but no clear answer was given so far. They raise their eyebrows, so to say.

Diamond on the other side has clearly stated that recycling the fuse is not recommended, this could even lead to defect on the high pressure fuel pump. Diamond's recommendation is to either land and the nearest suitable airfield or (unofficially) simply ignore the ECU fail indication.

We are of course concerned about that issue.

Question here is: do other owners have this issue that regularly as well? Are you staying fully relaxed and keep on flying with the ECU fail indicator on, even when in IMC?

From my perspective the unofficial recommendation is simply a shift from Diamond’s liability to the PIC’s liability when not following the official checklist, but actually I cannot agree making a technical landing every 20-25 hours!
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carym
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by carym »

Clearly this should not be happening and needs to be repaired. The problem is that you never know if it is a real ECU failure. For the Thielert engine the only thing you are "allowed" to do in the air is to press the black ECU test button.


Cary Mariash
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wolfipilot
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by wolfipilot »

... some update and more data on that issue: we have flown 100 hours now and have encountered 6 'ECU Fails', both sides, so no regularity on one side. Diamond says: totally normal!

We now have re-checked the engine data and it appears that the loss of power I wrote about above was not only a partial power loss but a total loss of the engine power for a few seconds. Diamond says this was due to a waste gate defect from the turbo that appears from time to time. But hey, the a/c was just released from the 100 hours check the day before.

I mean, this is a -vi with an AE300, the situation is totally frustrating because we are slightly losing confidence in our aircraft. Anyone here having similar issues?
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Re: ?ECU failure

Post by CFIDave »

Ingo: Obviously what you are experiencing with your aircraft is not normal; our -VI with about 350 hours on it has never generated an ECU failure annunciation.

As I'm sure you know, an "ECU fail" message almost never means an ECU has failed. Instead, it means that one of the sensors used by that particular ECU is generating a value that is out of its normal range. When this happens the engine software cannot operate in its normal closed loop mode (relying on real-time sensor feedback), but must operate in a degraded mode where it "assumes" a default value for the failed sensor.

The only way to get to the bottom of this is to use the Austro Engine Wizard software to interrogate ECU memory after each flight in which you received an "ECU fail" message -- and then get help from Austro to determine whether the problem is a bad sensor (most likely), or if there's actually something wrong with the engine.

Help with this should come from Austro Engines, not Diamond Aircraft.
Epic Aircraft E1000 GX
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