We've put together a complete MegaSquirt guide to the 2nd generation Probe GT. You can access the most up to date, unabridged version here:
How to MegaSquirt your 2nd gen Probe GT
Here's what you need to run MS2/Extra on your Probe with the stock distributor. The link above also includes notes on MS1/Extra, coil packs, the differences in wiring between an MX-6 and a Probe, and more.
Application(s): This article covers the 1993-1997 Ford Probe GT, Mazda MX-6, and Mazda 626 equipped with the KL-DE, KL-03, or KL-ZE engines (2.5 liter V6), with a manual tranmsission. See notes about automatic transmissions under "Other Things the ECU Controls." The first generation Probe LX used a 3.0 pushrod V6 with electronics very similar to the 5.0 Mustang, and can be MegaSquirted using the same mods as in our Mustang article.
Level of control: Full Standalone EMS-- Fuel and Ignition Control
There have been several ways to install MegaSquirt on these engines, but we've worked out a method of using the stock crank trigger wheel and the one tooth wheel in the distributor to get the accuracy of a crank trigger, without having to file any teeth off the pulley or make any other changes to the engine wiring. This works on both OBD-I and OBD-II motors, so if you have a later car, there's no need to swap in an early distributor.
Using the MS-II PCBv3 or V3.57 ECU
with MS2/Extra 2.0.1 or later code
* Build the ECU up to trigger from the VR Input. Jumper TachSelect to VRIN and TSEL to VROUT.
* We will need a 5 volt pull up on the ignition input.
* For a V3.0 board, run a 270 ohm resistor from the 5 volt source in the proto area or the right side of R24 to the top (negative) lead of D14, and run a jumper wire from the negative lead of D14 to IGN.
* For a V3.57 board, run a jumper from PAD1 to the center hole of the Q16 slot, remove Q16 if fitted, and run a 330 ohm resistor from PAD4 to PAD1.
* We'll also need a second trigger input. Solder a 1K resistor onto a length of wire, and cover the resistor with heat shrink tubing. Connect this resistor-on-a-wire combination from JS10 to SPR1 (for a V3.0 board) or PAD7 (for a V3.57 board).
* Solder a 470 ohm resistor onto a length of wire and cover with heat shrink tubing. Run this resistor-on-a-wire from the 5 volt terminal in the proto area to the same input pin (SPR1 or PAD7) used in the previous step.
* Connect a 0.1 uF capacitor from JS10 to SG or the proto area ground.
The wiring color chart is not easy to post on this forum, but it's available in the article.
Idle Air Control
These engines use a pulse width modulated (PWM) idle air control motor. A V3.57 board can control this directly. With a V3.0 board, you will need to add our PWM idle control mod kit to control this valve.
Other Things the ECU Controls
The stock ECU controls a couple other devices in these cars besides the injectors, ignition, and IAC valve. Here's what to do about the ones you will need to control.
Fuel pump: This is a standard output on the Megasquirt. Wire the Megasquirt pin 37 to the fuel pump relay wire that went to the stock ECU.
Air conditioning: While the stock ECU controls the air conditioner, you don't need a computer to make this work. Wiring the A/C request wire running to the ECU to the A/C compressor relay should make this work, although we have not tested this one for ourselves.
VRIS: The Variable Resonance Induction System uses two separate solenoids to operate a set of butterflies in the intake manifold to change the intake characteristics. You can leave both open, but it is possible to control them with the MegaSquirt. The factory settings have VRIS valve 1 open at 3250 RPM and valve 2 open at 4250 RPM. You can drive the solenoids from the MegaSquirt using our relay control mod kits.
Cooling fans: There are two relays for the cooling fans in these cars, one of which turns on the fan in low speed mode and the other turns on the fan in high speed mode. You can either maintain the two stage mode by using one output to turn the low speed fan on and a second output to turn on the high speed fan at a higher temperature, or simply run the fan off at low temperatures and at high speed when the engine gets hot. Use our relay control mod kits for fan control.
For more information about the relay outputs, see our Common MegaSquirt Modifications page. Note that the MS1 has only four such outputs, and using them all will keep you from being able to also run boost control. With the MS2, there are enough general purpose outputs to run all four VRIS and fan outputs and have one left over.
Automatic transmission: On OBD-II cars, this is controlled by the ECU directly, so if you have a '96 or later car with an automatic, you'll need to do a parallel installation. (See this link for more information on how to do this.) On '95 and earlier cars, the transmission ahs a separate controller and it looks like this can work without the stock ECU, although we have not confirmed that at this point.
Gauges: These are not controlled by the ECU, so if you're using the stock distributor you have nothing to worry about here.
MegaTune Configuration for MS2/Extra
Set the following under Tach Input / Ignition Settings.
* Spark mode: Toothed Wheel
* Trigger Angle / Offset: 0
* Ignition Input Capture: Rising Edge
* Spark Output: Going Low / Normal It is critical to get the Spark Output Inverted setting correct, as setting this wrong can result in damage to the ignition module or coil.
* Number of coils: Single Coil
* Spark A output pin: D14
Dwell settings will depend on the coil used; 2.5 to 3.0 msec is a safe starting point. A typical rule of thumb is to back off the dwell until you can just barely detect a misfire under lean cruising conditions, then add 0.2 ms of dwell time.
Use these trigger wheel settings.
* Trigger wheel arrangement: Dual Wheel
* Trigger wheel teeth: 6
* Missing teeth: 0
* Tooth #1 Angle: 60 (this may need to be adjusted slightly due to production tolerances)
* Wheel speed: Crank Wheel
* Second trigger active on: Rising and Falling
* and every rotation of: Crank
If you use someone else's .msq file we do recommend you check the firmware version the .msq file was built on as you cannot always use a file built on one firmware version with an ECU running a different version or a different ignition setup-- it's best to use the .msq files with the same version of the firmware that the file was built on. Alternately you can manually copy the settings over from the borrowed file.
We can build MegaSquirts with the mods listed in the article if you're interested - email us at websales@diyautotune.com to go over your options and get a complete quote.
How to MegaSquirt your 2nd gen Probe GT
Here's what you need to run MS2/Extra on your Probe with the stock distributor. The link above also includes notes on MS1/Extra, coil packs, the differences in wiring between an MX-6 and a Probe, and more.
Application(s): This article covers the 1993-1997 Ford Probe GT, Mazda MX-6, and Mazda 626 equipped with the KL-DE, KL-03, or KL-ZE engines (2.5 liter V6), with a manual tranmsission. See notes about automatic transmissions under "Other Things the ECU Controls." The first generation Probe LX used a 3.0 pushrod V6 with electronics very similar to the 5.0 Mustang, and can be MegaSquirted using the same mods as in our Mustang article.
Level of control: Full Standalone EMS-- Fuel and Ignition Control
There have been several ways to install MegaSquirt on these engines, but we've worked out a method of using the stock crank trigger wheel and the one tooth wheel in the distributor to get the accuracy of a crank trigger, without having to file any teeth off the pulley or make any other changes to the engine wiring. This works on both OBD-I and OBD-II motors, so if you have a later car, there's no need to swap in an early distributor.
Using the MS-II PCBv3 or V3.57 ECU
with MS2/Extra 2.0.1 or later code
* Build the ECU up to trigger from the VR Input. Jumper TachSelect to VRIN and TSEL to VROUT.
* We will need a 5 volt pull up on the ignition input.
* For a V3.0 board, run a 270 ohm resistor from the 5 volt source in the proto area or the right side of R24 to the top (negative) lead of D14, and run a jumper wire from the negative lead of D14 to IGN.
* For a V3.57 board, run a jumper from PAD1 to the center hole of the Q16 slot, remove Q16 if fitted, and run a 330 ohm resistor from PAD4 to PAD1.
* We'll also need a second trigger input. Solder a 1K resistor onto a length of wire, and cover the resistor with heat shrink tubing. Connect this resistor-on-a-wire combination from JS10 to SPR1 (for a V3.0 board) or PAD7 (for a V3.57 board).
* Solder a 470 ohm resistor onto a length of wire and cover with heat shrink tubing. Run this resistor-on-a-wire from the 5 volt terminal in the proto area to the same input pin (SPR1 or PAD7) used in the previous step.
* Connect a 0.1 uF capacitor from JS10 to SG or the proto area ground.
The wiring color chart is not easy to post on this forum, but it's available in the article.
Idle Air Control
These engines use a pulse width modulated (PWM) idle air control motor. A V3.57 board can control this directly. With a V3.0 board, you will need to add our PWM idle control mod kit to control this valve.
Other Things the ECU Controls
The stock ECU controls a couple other devices in these cars besides the injectors, ignition, and IAC valve. Here's what to do about the ones you will need to control.
Fuel pump: This is a standard output on the Megasquirt. Wire the Megasquirt pin 37 to the fuel pump relay wire that went to the stock ECU.
Air conditioning: While the stock ECU controls the air conditioner, you don't need a computer to make this work. Wiring the A/C request wire running to the ECU to the A/C compressor relay should make this work, although we have not tested this one for ourselves.
VRIS: The Variable Resonance Induction System uses two separate solenoids to operate a set of butterflies in the intake manifold to change the intake characteristics. You can leave both open, but it is possible to control them with the MegaSquirt. The factory settings have VRIS valve 1 open at 3250 RPM and valve 2 open at 4250 RPM. You can drive the solenoids from the MegaSquirt using our relay control mod kits.
Cooling fans: There are two relays for the cooling fans in these cars, one of which turns on the fan in low speed mode and the other turns on the fan in high speed mode. You can either maintain the two stage mode by using one output to turn the low speed fan on and a second output to turn on the high speed fan at a higher temperature, or simply run the fan off at low temperatures and at high speed when the engine gets hot. Use our relay control mod kits for fan control.
For more information about the relay outputs, see our Common MegaSquirt Modifications page. Note that the MS1 has only four such outputs, and using them all will keep you from being able to also run boost control. With the MS2, there are enough general purpose outputs to run all four VRIS and fan outputs and have one left over.
Automatic transmission: On OBD-II cars, this is controlled by the ECU directly, so if you have a '96 or later car with an automatic, you'll need to do a parallel installation. (See this link for more information on how to do this.) On '95 and earlier cars, the transmission ahs a separate controller and it looks like this can work without the stock ECU, although we have not confirmed that at this point.
Gauges: These are not controlled by the ECU, so if you're using the stock distributor you have nothing to worry about here.
MegaTune Configuration for MS2/Extra
Set the following under Tach Input / Ignition Settings.
* Spark mode: Toothed Wheel
* Trigger Angle / Offset: 0
* Ignition Input Capture: Rising Edge
* Spark Output: Going Low / Normal It is critical to get the Spark Output Inverted setting correct, as setting this wrong can result in damage to the ignition module or coil.
* Number of coils: Single Coil
* Spark A output pin: D14
Dwell settings will depend on the coil used; 2.5 to 3.0 msec is a safe starting point. A typical rule of thumb is to back off the dwell until you can just barely detect a misfire under lean cruising conditions, then add 0.2 ms of dwell time.
Use these trigger wheel settings.
* Trigger wheel arrangement: Dual Wheel
* Trigger wheel teeth: 6
* Missing teeth: 0
* Tooth #1 Angle: 60 (this may need to be adjusted slightly due to production tolerances)
* Wheel speed: Crank Wheel
* Second trigger active on: Rising and Falling
* and every rotation of: Crank
If you use someone else's .msq file we do recommend you check the firmware version the .msq file was built on as you cannot always use a file built on one firmware version with an ECU running a different version or a different ignition setup-- it's best to use the .msq files with the same version of the firmware that the file was built on. Alternately you can manually copy the settings over from the borrowed file.
We can build MegaSquirts with the mods listed in the article if you're interested - email us at websales@diyautotune.com to go over your options and get a complete quote.
Comment