No pinches, all easy bends. The pump is nearly the lowest point, the outlet on it is probably a couple inches higher than the two barbs on the bottom of the HX.

Pretty sure the polarity is correct; I'm lining up the slot in the connector with the tab on the pump's connector. But the pump shouldn't run if the + and - are reversed, right?

 

The poles on the pump should be marked...it will run if hooked up incorrectly...backwards...did you put any fluid in the lines or just fill up the resovoir?

 

Did you use that fuse tap? Had I seen this thread sooner I would have advised against it. Years ago I had a shop do a stereo install on my truck (I'm the best at breaking panel clips, let the pros do it...) and they used one of those fuse taps for the amp on signal. It's been nothing but nightmares ever since. They tapped into my fuse that runs the injector driver, so every so often the injectors don't work at all...

 

Good advice, thanks. I'll check the bottom of the pump tomorrow and check for polarity. I was just trying to line up the tab on the harness connector to the slot on the pump connector, but it wouldn't surprise me if the relay harness connector was wired backwards; there's been enough surprises with this relay so far.

It would also make sense if the impeller is spinning backwards because there's no water coming out the outlet side of the pump

I used the fuse tap first, then decided to take it out and use an Add-a-circuit instead. As soon as I put the add-a-circuit I could hear the relay opening and closing, whereas with the fuse tap I never heard it, so I totally agree it's a vastly inferior design and I won't be using any going forward.

 

Looked at the bottom of the pump, and polarity is correct. I tried taking some pics that I'll upload after but + and - corresponded to the correct wires in the connector of the wiring harness, so I'm not really sure where to go from here. I guess the next step is to drain the tank, pull the pump and bench test it, and take the impeller apart if needed.

But before I do that I think I'm going to pull the maggie and try to once and for all find and solve this vacuum leak. I don't hear any characteristic whistling of a leak when I try to listen up top, but to be honest you don't hear very much with the engine running. I've gone over all the vac lines/hoses about a dozen times and can't find anything. I've siliconed the fittings on the catchcan. Really all I can think to do now is the job I want to do the least, and that's pull the maggie and check the intake spacer plates and o-rings on the lower manifold. It's the only area I can't see to make sure it's mated correctly.

I do remember feeling with my hand and there was space between the bottom of the maggie and the small nub that comes up from the front of the valley cover to vent it, but that could be an area that's not letting the maggie sit completely level.

Justin (blackbear) got back to me and sent me a tune with the sensitivity threshold raised at idle for the misfire tables, so I'm hoping this eliminates the p0300 code I only seem to get at idle. Even he commented that he thinks there's a vac leak, which I'm assuming he was looking at STFTs, because he said the PCM was making "a significant amount of correction at closed throttle."

What seems odd to me is while driving, the lean codes appear and rapidly clear themselves. So is this directly proportional to the vac leak? i.e., the vac leak comes and goes, almost like if a flex coupling on the intake tube bends a certain way, there's a leak, but then if I get back on the gas it closes up and the leak goes away? If one of the o-rings on the intake manifold rolled over, or came out of it's channel, wouldn't I have a constant vac leak? so in theory the lean codes should stay on the whole time the car is running?

And could the MAF be responsible for these codes? I know the feeling towards unscreened MAFs, but I'm a little stubborn to stick this one out and [try to] make this one work. If I unhook the MAF and drive around in SD, would that rule out a vac leak if I never see the lean codes? Or would driving around with inaccurate VE tables just throw more problems at me?

I have a new found respect for anyone that tunes these vehicles themselves, either as a hobby or a business, because this stuff is complicated when you first get into it!

 

Well the pump works on the bench, and also when I put it down near the crank shaft and straighten out the feed line from the reservoir tank. Seems as though the loop I had in it was just making the pump suck air, so I ordered a 90° Female to female AN adapter, a -12 AN to hose barb straight fitting, and I'm just going to run some rubber hose straight down into the pump. Hopefully have these things by the end of the week.

 

I was going over to a buddy's for dinner, and decided last minute to take the truck, so I thrashed for a bit to come up with a pretty durable and effective interim solution for the water pump until I got the proper AN fittings, so I took one of the molded 90° 3/4" hose from the maggie kit and just pressed that over the threaded -12 male end on the water reservoir and secured it with a hose clamp. Not ideal, but there's no pressure in the system, so I wasn't worried about blowing the line out.

I had to turn the adel clamp around, so that the pump was positioned closer to the front of the truck, and tilt it slightly so that the feed line from the reservoir was as close to a negative slope, kink free connection as I could make, clamped every connection together and turned the key to run and...the pump works! Coolant started coming out of the return line very quickly, so I added about a gallon and a half back to the tank and was satisfied the feed wouldn't run dry. I was basing all my theory on running the lines to the pump from my experience with submerged sump pumps, so it was my own fault for not cluing in sooner the feed line needs gravity and the pressure of its own weight to feed the pump sufficiently.

So happy there were no leaks with the intercooler piping, I started the truck using the latest tune from Justin with higher misfire sensitivity tables at idle, and I never once got the p0300 code at idle, or throughout the entire trip, so that's one problem off my list.

I drove it about 26 miles, bringing the total since this build to around 56 (I'm keeping a tab here of the mileage, because I keep forgetting to reset the trip odometer and I want to change oil around 100). I was really surprised because I almost made it to my buddy's house (about 11 miles from mine) without throwing a code, but sure enough I saw the quick-appearing and quick disappearing "Traction control/Stabilitrak Off" lights come on a couple times before making it to his place. Coming home was worse, got the codes a lot, and also saw a new code very early into the drive back home (about a mile from when I restarted it, after it sat for about 3 hours):

Which is weird, I wasn't expecting that. I cleared it and it never came back, but I'm not sure where to begin or how to diagnose that code. The TPS is down at the pedal, right, not in the TB anymore? I mean, all I can do is check to see if it's getting 5V reference voltage, but maybe this code is symptomatic of another tuning related problem I'm having, so I'll have to spend some time googling to learn whatever I can about it tomorrow.

Another thing I've noticed, is that these rapidly clearing lean codes only pop up when I'm decelerating (i.e., coasting) with the throttle completely closed. I drove most of the trip at a steady pace of 40-50MPH, and never see a code pop up until I slowly decel to a stop light. Then as soon as I give it even a small amount of part throttle, the code goes away. This was also consistent with the drive through my neighborhood to get to my house; I inched along at <20MPH, and the DIC message didn't clear itself, so I'm assuming any sort of throttle input will clear the code. They also pop up when I'm braking, but which is also synonymous with being out of the gas completely. What's strange is that if it is a vac leak, does it make sense that I'm seeing the highest vacuum of the whole drive while coasting? I hit close to 20inHG while coasting, and when idling in park closer to 15. Or, could it be that when I get completely out of the gas, the air that's already in the intake tube has no where to go, so it creates turbulence around the MAF, which signals a lean code? I really need to look at some fuel trims to see if I can draw some kind of parallel, because the more I think about it, the more I think the problem could be MAF-related, rather than some mysterious vacuum leak I can't seem to find. All I think Justin as done with respect to tuning the MAF is to apply the frequency tables I sent him which I got from Lingenfelter's website. So those tables are probably just a good starting point, and now I've asked him about tuning the VE tables, in order to get those in line, so that we can hopefully nail down the MAF tuning.

A couple last things; I nailed the gas in a couple spots, not close to WOT, just enough to get into some boost, and according to the Aeroforce, hit somewhere in the 6 PSI range and it sounded ******* mean and really hauled ***! I'm using the 3-bar MAP to extrapolate boost, so I don't know if this is accurate, because the pulley isn't that big (3.4") and headers and cam should make me lose some boost, so I may just have to get a mech boost gauge to compare figures. the 6 PSI surprised me because I thought I was going to get 6 PSI MAX out of this setup. Going off these part throttle figures, I'll be closer to 8 at WOT

Second observation of the night: Since the wideband reading is somewhat useless to me so far, I looked for a fuel pressure reading to monitor, and there's a few in the Aeroforce's menu. I settled on one called "Rail pressure", which was the only one that displayed usable figures. What I don't get is the fuel system is regulated at the tank/pump on returnless fuel systems, right? So if this were true, how or what is it trying to read at the rail? Is there another fuel pressure sender near the fuel rail, or is this reading showing the fuel pressure at the regulator? Because the reading hovered between 40-46 at idle, and throughout the whole drive. Only once did I see it hit I think 55, and that was when I was into the gas on that one pass, which also doesn't make any sense to me. I was a bit nervous seeing only 40-46 (I'm assuming PSI) because the standard on Gen IVs is closer to 58, right? So I was paying real close attention while I was getting after it, assuming pressure would drop when I got into the gas, but to see it climb still has me scratching my head.

I realize this post is rambling on, but the last thing I can't make sense of is the Aeroforce won't turn off with the key anymore. I know there's a shutdown delay, but I got home, changed and drank some water, came back out and it was still lit, so twice tonight I've resorted to pulling the connector out of the OBD port to kill it. Something else I'll have to look into I suppose!

 

Just a suggestion, stop being stubborn about the MAF. I'm currently reading Greg Banishs book and in it he points out that the main function of the MAF screen is to "straighten" air flow across the MAF wire. When the airflow is turbulent there is usually more air getting by the sensor than is being accounted for, and unless your tune has been calibrated to compensate for the change you wind up lean in many cases.

For the gains vs headaches involved in descreening/porting a MAF my opinion is ALWAYS leave the damned things alone. If you truly beleive that it is a restriction in your system get a bigger one, then calibrate your tune for it. Just my opinions and food for thought.

Awesome build by the way!

Oh, and the throttle position sensor is still on the the throttle body. The sensor under your right foot sends a "torque demand" to your ECM, and then it decides how to adjust throttle, timing, etc. to supply the torque.

 

Okay, Justin (blackbear) still believes there is a vac leak because he's saying that when out of the throttle, there's a large amount of correction going on with respect to the fuel trims. And this is going hand in hand with my own experience of SES lights coming on only when coasting (i.e., out of the throttle).

So does this makes sense or can it help track down where this assumed vacuum leak could be? Why would it only be when I'm out of the gas? At first I thought maybe the break booster vac line, because braking was doing the same thing as coasting, but then I realized it does it when just coasting or when I let off completely on the pedal.

I don't want to pull the blower off but I'm running out of ideas. The way I have the catch can routed seems sound to me, and the petcock on the bottom is closed (extended fully). I could try taking the valve covers off again and see if the gaskets are okay, but I've done that once already and didn't come up with anything. I'm running out of obvious things to check. Can catch cans cause this sort of problem? The volume of air within the can is obviously more voluminous than just a straight hose from valve cover to intake manifold, so would this extra air be enough to introduce excessive unmetered air into the engine? And do you lose vacuum by having a can inline of the pcv system? I have no breather on the engine, so it should (in theory) be a closed system.

Ugh, driving me nuts!

 

Are you thinking there might be a vacuum leak under the blower or manifold? I have personaly found vacuum leaks on many cars at my work coming from the intake manifold gaskets and intake manifold flap actuator seal by either smoking the intake with a smoke machine and looking for a leak around the intake, or also by running the engine and spraying carb cleaner/or brake clean around areas i may suspect a vacuum leak from, you will hear the engine change when some carb cleaner finds your vacuum leak.