Innovate LC-1 problems
 

Hey, I installed an Innovate LC-1 wideband a while back. It was working fine for about 3 hours after I installed and calibrated it. Then the AFRs went to 22.4 and stayed there. Full lean reading; I figured the sensor overheated, being mounted about 3 inches from the turbo. There are no trouble codes, which is weird. Also, it would come on and off randomly, working intermittently. But mostly frozen at 22.4

So I relocated the bung about 17 inches from the turbo, and bought a new sensor. I performed the steps just as the manual describes for a new sensor: sensor unplugged, turn key on for 10 seconds, then off for 10 seconds, sensor connected, on for 2 minutes, it calibrates it, and the LED is on steady, not blinking, still not flashing any codes.

Well the damn thing is still reading 22.4, and now will not even work intermittently. Ive tried recalibrating it a few times and nothing. I felt the tip of the sensor after it was calibrated and the tip is hot, so the sensor heater is working. Ive even taken the sensor out after a drive and the tip is nice and clean.

Has anyone experienced this problem? Any other ways to reset or recalibrate the thing? Luckily I tuned the AFRs for idle, high vac areas, cruise and some low boost while it worked initially. But I cant tune for WOT now! WTF?

You may have the wrong fuel selected. Connect it to the computer program that came with it and and see which one is being used. A free-air calibration should show 20.8 AFR.
Barry

Get a new sensor...

They are 50-60 dollars and available at most auto parts places.

sounds like he already did that and doesn't want to do it after every 2 hours of running...

here comes a dumb question...
you are mounting it 17 inches AFTER the turbo right (in the down pipe)? i will assume you are.

there are 2 things that come to mind that might be your problem:
1) the EGT is still too high when your wastegate opens. a turbine acts as an expander; harnessing energy in the exhaust stream. as exhaust gas passes through the turbine (expander) it cools considerably. of course the wastegate bypasses part of the exhaust gas and this gas goes into the downpipe close to the same temperature it went in. is it possible for you to fabricate a divorced down pipe? if so, mount the WB in the path that must first go through the turbine.
this possible solution will obviously take some time to validate.

2) you've got an exhasut leak somewhere. this seems less likely in my mind becasue of your description of the problem, but sometimes pressure pulses can casue reversion that draws in atmospheric air past the WB element. this air can be pulled in through a leak in the exhasut, or from the tailpipe (if you have a REALLY short exhaust system)

i blew out an LC-1 a while ago, but that is becasue i was foolish about where i mounted it. i have not yet replaced it, but i will be very careful to put it FAR from the turbo.

there is also a chance that LC-1s have a high failure rate, i'd be curious to find out if anyone else had this problem.

strang you guys are having problems with your's

my lm1 was mounted maby 14" post turbine, post turbine egt's saw 1800+ a few times (old style hks egt gauge, think its accurate), i put a few seasons on that, had to calibrate it every spring but other than that no issues. i recently pulled it and used it in an evo, still works fine

are you turning it on immediatly on with ignition or do you wait a few seconds as i do

mines mounted at 12oclock dead on, yourself?

atleast 10k miles on it now, mostly on a stock port cosmo re with a t04s, stil hasnt died?

Hey guys, sorry I havent been on here much and I made a dual post in the Single Turbo section and have been replying to that one.

Fuel selection set to gasoline

Bung is mounted 17 inches from the v-band (where it meets turbo) which is still funny to me cause I see ALOT of engine bay shots where the o2 sensor is mounted 3-6 inches after the turbo (sometimes right next to an EGT probe, lol)

Have already replaced sensor once, and heater circuit is still working

Ive tried moving the 12V source from the radio switched 12V to the main ignition switched 12V, nothing

Ive tried re-grounding, and many times re-calibrating, nothing

One thing I havent tried is to spread out the grounds to a multi-ground terminal and then to a single 8-10 gauge wire to the engine block

How do you guys have your grounds set up? Ive been on the Innovate forum a lot and this seems like the most common problem.

And perhaps the biggest problem is I have the older 6-wire unit, which apparently had a lot of problems. arghx suggested sending it back to Innovate and they would exchange it for a newer version 7-wire unit which is seems to be the shiznit!

Power and ground for the LC-1, XD-16 gauge and ECU are all at the same location. The O2 sensor located 10-12 inches after the turbo on the down pipe with the recommended heat sink always work for me on many applications.

When I first installed mine it did the same thing. So like crispeed said try grounding everything at same point.

What I did was use one of the lugs on top of the block and ran my gauges,ecu,lc-1, soldered to one lug. Worked like a charm. So when I hooked up my haltech I ran all the grounds to the batt still works.