Revision

Motorcycles: Fundamentals, Service, Repair

Michael A. Nixon

Chapter 15

Fuel Injection

[New, formerly part of carb chapter]

Nixon Motorcycles: Fundamentals, Service, Repair Chapter 15

After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

' List the four basic fuel injection parts

' Describe the fuel injection system’s three operational stages

' Describe the functions of various fuel injection system sensors

' Distinguish between the speed/density and mass-flow fuel injection system types

' Explain the differences between closed loop and open loop fuel injection

' Describe the principles, benefits, and applications of direct injection

' Observe special cautionary measures when servicing fuel injection systems

' Make routine fuel injection system adjustments

' Troubleshoot basic fuel injection system problems

Important Terms

Robert Bosch TP Ram Air Compensation

Mechanical Fuel Injection AP Speed Control
Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) IAT Secondary Throttle Valve
Throttle Body MAP Bank Angle Sensor
Sensors ECT Electronic Owner ID
Electronic Control Module (ECM) O2 Indirect Injection
Maps Lambda Probe Direct Injection (DI)
Fuel Injector Fuel Delivery Rail Stratified Combustion
Pulse Width Fuel Pressure Regulator Orbital Direct Fuel Injection (DFI)
Speed/Density Sequential EFI Air-Assisted DI
Mass-Flow Adaptive Fuel Values Ficht Fuel Injection (FFI)
Pivoting Vane Knock Sensor Homogenous Combustion
Hot Wire Ion Sensing Semi-Direct Injection (SDI)
Closed Loop Self-Diagnostics Flashing the ECM
Open Loop Fault Code No Codes, Don’t Look
Oxygen (O2) Sensor Historic Fault Code Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL)
Primary Sensor Current Fault Code User Mode
Secondary Sensor Hot Idle Dealer Mode
CKP Cold Idle Codeless Faults
CMP Relief Mode

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Introduction to Fuel Injection

The Evolution of Fuel Injection

Fuel injection first appeared on diesel engines. Automotive systems pioneer Robert Bosch is

credited with much of modern fuel injection’s development. He created a gasoline injection

system as early as 1932. Bosch technology defines much of what fuel injection looks like today.

Why Fuel Injection?

The carburetor is a clumsy device. It adjusts air/fuel ratios based on air pressure differences.

Supplemental and driveability systems are added to help it do its job. These devices testify to the

carburetor’s limitations. Fuel injection works completely electronically. Sensors detect operating

conditions. Fuel arrives when and where it is needed. This results in increased performance. At

the same time, fuel injection is less wasteful, which reduces exhaust emissions.

Mechanical Fuel Injection

The earliest form of fuel injection was mechanical fuel injection. Mechanical fuel injection

had springs and valves that sent fuel to continuously vibrating nozzles. A venturi controlled fuel

quantity, by linking the throttle to a return valve. Larger throttle openings sent less fuel back to

the tank, richening the output, Figure 15-1. However, fuel volume that increased with rpm didn’t

match the rich-lean-rich “fishhook” described in Chapter 14. The system was redeveloped many

times in attempts to accommodate the engine’s actual fuel needs. These innovations, though

helpful, were only partial solutions. They ultimately proved the need for completely electronic

control.

Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI)

The venturi was eventually discarded and electronic sensors used instead. This resulted in

the first mass-produced electronic fuel injection (EFI) system, Figure 15-2. These systems are

called EFI to distinguish them from their mechanical ancestors.

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Fuel Injection Operation

EFI operation may be divided into three stages. First is the input stage. In the middle is the

control stage. The final stage is the output stage.

Input

The fuel injection system’s input stage centers on the throttle body. The throttle body takes

the physical place of the carburetor. It even retains the carburetor’s throttle, Figure 15-3. Think

of the throttle body as a carburetor without any circuits or float bowl attached. The throttle admits

more air into the engine, just as a carburetor’s throttle does. It takes care of the air half of the fuel

injection system’s input stage. However, the throttle body has no fuel circuits. It can’t respond to

conditions and then supply appropriate amounts of fuel. Fulfilling that role are electronic parts

called sensors, Figure 15-4. Sensors simply convert physical conditions into electrical signals.

Fuel injection systems have several sensors. A handful of them measure the makeup of the air

entering the engine. One monitors throttle opening to gauge the intake air’s quantity. Another

counts crankshaft revolutions to determine engine rpm. These two measurements approximate

the electronic equivalent of the intake air’s speed. A third sensor records the temperature of this

air, and a fourth detects its pressure. These last two signals combine to communicate the air’s

density. Now the EFI system has all the information it needs to deliver the right amount of fuel,

Figure 15-5. It has in electronic form the same information that the carburetor supplied through

pressure differences.

Control

Once this speed/density information is gathered, the system enters the control stage. EFI’s

control component is called the electronic control module (ECM). This is simply a computer,

Figure 15-6. The ECM is programmed at the factory with instructions called maps. The maps are

records of the engine’s mixture requirements for every foreseeable speed/density combination.

The ECM has several of them stored inside. Based on the sensor’s input, the ECM picks one of

these pre-programmed maps, Figure 15-7. It will be the one providing the best air/fuel mixture for

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the air quantity communicated by the system’s sensors. The ECM “reads” the map and outputs a

voltage pulse.

Output

The system’s output stage begins when this pulse is sent to an electronic valve. This valve, or

fuel injector, normally holds back fuel pressurized by a fuel pump. When pulsed, the fuel

injector opens completely and the fuel escapes in a fog-like spray, Figure 15-8. The ECM makes

the pulse long or short in duration, depending on the mixture needs of the engine. If the pulse is

long, a lot of fuel is released. If short, less fuel is sprayed out. The time is called the injector’s

open time, or pulse width, Figure 15-9. The ECM also outputs to the ignition coils, fuel pump,

and instruments.

All Together

Let’s observe the whole thing working together, Figure 15-10. At startup, throttle position,

temperature and pressure sensors work with the ECM. Together, they determine the correct

injector pulse width. As the crankshaft turns over, crankshaft and camshaft sensors communicate

piston position. From this, the ECM calculates the correct injector timing. The ECM then pulses

the injector. The engine starts and idles. Either a servo motor props the throttle open, or an air

bypass passage is introduced. Either way, the idle is increased temporarily. As the engine

warms up, the ECM shortens the injector’s pulse width. From this point onward, the ECM uses its

many built-in maps. With these, the system determines the injector pulse widths suitable for

riding conditions.

Fuel Injection’s Advantages

This whole process takes very little time. In most systems, it is repeated thousands of times

each second. This speed is just the first of fuel injection’s many advantages over carburetion,

Figure 15-11.

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Atomization

Fuel injection also offers much more consistent atomization. The carburetor discharges large

fuel droplets, relying on intake vacuum to break them up further. Fuel injection forces high-

pressure fuel through tiny holes. This results in fuel atomization much finer than that from a

carburetor. Atomization directly affects combustion. The result is improved throttle response and

increased power and torque.

Compensation

The fuel injection system is much better informed than the carburetor. Several of the inputs

that create EFI’s air/fuel mixtures never affect the carburetor’s mixture ratio. The carburetor relies

on wind whistling over holes in an aluminum casting. Fuel injection’s maps plot desired mixture

ratios electronically. Every rpm and engine load is taken into account. The carburetor cannot

adjust for temperature changes. EFI on the other hand constantly monitors temperatures. It

adjusts mixture strength accordingly to compensate.

Integration

Fuel delivery isn’t the only thing that by operating conditions. The ignition also needs to adjust

for these conditions. EFI connects the two together, controlling both from the same sensors and

ECM maps. Even exhaust system powervalves come under ECM control on many of today’s

powersports vehicles.

Special Motorcycle Benefits

Motorcycle engines benefit significantly from fuel injection. V-twins, which typically share a

single carburetor, don’t carburet as well as they should. The uneven, widely-spaced intake

pulses create confused pressures which interfere with fuel delivery. Electronic fuel injection

compensates for the difficult intake rhythms of the traditional motorcycle engine. The result is fuel

accuracy unavailable with carburetion.

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EFI Basics

Speed/Density vs. Mass-Flow

The amount of incoming air is determined electronically in all fuel injection systems. There are

however two ways motorcycle fuel injection systems make this determination.

Speed/Density

The system we’ve just looked at is known as the speed/density fuel injection system. This is

presently the most common. The speed density system relies primarily on the combined inputs of

throttle position, rpm, air temperature, and air pressure. These inputs calculate the air’s speed

and its density. The ECM determines from this the amount of that air. The speed/density air

sensing system is both accurate and simple.

Mass-Flow

However, some systems measure the air by first measuring its force. A sensor placed in the

airflow path senses this energy. Two variations of this mass-flow sensor exist -- the pivoting

vane and the hot wire. The pivoting vane is pushed open by the force of the airflow, Figure 15-

12. This changes the resistance of a variable resistor. The resistance gives the ECM its airflow

information. The other type, the hot wire system, consists of a wire stretched across the flow

path. It is heated by the vehicle’s electrical system. Air flowing across the wire cools it. The

electrical energy needed to maintain a steady temperature is converted into airflow information.

Closed Loop vs. Open Loop

There are also two ways in which fuel injection systems make mixture decisions. These are

the closed loop system and the open loop system. The difference between these two systems

is found in a single part, an additional sensor.

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Closed Loop

Most EFI systems are closed loop. Closed loop EFI systems use an oxygen (O2) sensor,

Figure 15-13. This sensor compares the amount of oxygen in the exhaust with the amount in the

outside air. The O2 sensor then sends a signal to the computer telling it to adjust the air/fuel

mixture. Thus the system provides feedback to itself, giving it the name, closed loop. The closed

loop system relies heavily on the O2 sensor, Figure 15-14.

Open Loop

An open loop fuel injection system is one that doesn’t have an O2 sensor. Most early

powersports fuel injection systems were open loop. Without an oxygen sensor, the open loop

system relies heavily on the ECM’s maps, Figure 15-15. They therefore have more maps than do

closed loop systems. They may have as many as sixteen, compared with closed loop’s four or

five. Interestingly, even closed loop systems run in open loop mode until their O2 sensors warm

up.

Sensors

The fuel injection system’s sensors are the system’s “eyes and ears.” They detect conditions

and electronically inform the ECM of those conditions, Figure 15-16.

Primary and Secondary

There are primary and secondary sensors. A primary sensor is one whose data is so critical

that the failure of the sensor will result in the engine not starting. In most fuel injection systems,

the sensor which determines piston position is a primary sensor. Secondary sensors are those

sensors for which the ECM has default values stored. Should a secondary sensor fail, the ECM

reverts to that sensor’s default value. This will keep the engine running.

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Combined Sensor Function

The sensors’ information depends on the physical conditions the sensors are measuring.

This information takes the form of voltages sent to the ECM. The ECM in turn compares these

voltages with reference levels. Most sensors work together, Figure 15-17. That is, their inputs

are combined inside the ECM. This helps the ECM form electronic “pictures” that aren’t possible

with just one sensor. For example, the throttle position sensor (TPS) tells the ECM how far the

throttle is open. However, the crankshaft position sensor (CKP), which also usually senses

rpm, adds to this. It communicates whether or not the large throttle opening is accompanied by

high rpm. The engine may instead be ascending a hill, a low-rpm condition requiring torque. In

this way, the system “knows” the engine’s load. CKP is also combined with the camshaft

position sensor (CMP). Inputs from these two sensors determine piston position. A four-stroke

engine remember has two TDCs. The combined inputs of these two sensors prevents the system

from injecting fuel at TDC overlap. Combined sensor input is critical for the intelligent rendering

of conditions.

Other Sensors

The atmospheric pressure sensor (AP) informs the ECM of the vehicle’s altitude above sea

level. The ECM converts resultantly lower voltages into shorter injector pulse widths. The correct

mixture is maintained despite the reduced oxygen, Figure 15-18. The intake air temperature

sensor (IAT) changes resistance with temperature. Intake air temperature is part of the

speed/density mix. The intake air pressure sensor (IAP) or manifold absolute pressure

sensor (MAP) add to that calculation, Figure 15-19. The engine coolant temperature sensor

(ECT) informs the system of engine temperature. This is mostly for the purpose of cold starting.

ECT also signals engine overheating. The O2 sensor is a kind of ceramic battery positioned in the

exhaust system, Figure 15-20. The sensor develops a tiny voltage. This voltage changes in

proportion to the amount of oxygen left in the exhaust after combustion.