WTF! Alkycontrol emptied itself when pumping tires up!!!
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2011
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WTF! Alkycontrol emptied itself when pumping tires up!!!
This is some unbelievable sh*t. So I have recorded it and will upload it to YouTube as well as explaining on here...
Alkycontrol kit has been in my car working fine for 6 months.
I’m doing some engine work right now so I had the pipe to the alky nozzles disconnected. The pipe was above fender level so this is not a case of gravity taking hold.
I needed to roll my car forward but the tire pressure was low, so I break out the electric pump and plug it into the Armrest cigarette lighter and put the ignition on.
I start pumping the tires and all of a sudden, floods of pure meth come spraying out the open end of the alky hose!!
I switch the car off and everything stops.
I then put a bucket under the hose and am able to repeat the same thing again.
Ignition on, wait a while, plug in tire pump, pump tires, Alkycontrol goes nuts and starts pumping out tons of meth until my tank is empty!!!!
Thinking it’s maybe triggered by the ignition being on, I run a test with water in the meth tank. Put the ignition on, wait, wait wait, nothing happens.......
So then I plug in the tire pump again and put it on. Within seconds water is flooding out!!!
WTF is going on??? I could have had a full tank of meth pooled in my intake now if I were not doing engine work with the tube disconnected from the spray jets.
Alkycontrol kit has been in my car working fine for 6 months.
I’m doing some engine work right now so I had the pipe to the alky nozzles disconnected. The pipe was above fender level so this is not a case of gravity taking hold.
I needed to roll my car forward but the tire pressure was low, so I break out the electric pump and plug it into the Armrest cigarette lighter and put the ignition on.
I start pumping the tires and all of a sudden, floods of pure meth come spraying out the open end of the alky hose!!
I switch the car off and everything stops.
I then put a bucket under the hose and am able to repeat the same thing again.
Ignition on, wait a while, plug in tire pump, pump tires, Alkycontrol goes nuts and starts pumping out tons of meth until my tank is empty!!!!
Thinking it’s maybe triggered by the ignition being on, I run a test with water in the meth tank. Put the ignition on, wait, wait wait, nothing happens.......
So then I plug in the tire pump again and put it on. Within seconds water is flooding out!!!
WTF is going on??? I could have had a full tank of meth pooled in my intake now if I were not doing engine work with the tube disconnected from the spray jets.
Last edited by jimxms; Jun 21, 2018 at 09:12 AM.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 41,058
Likes: 9,821
From: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)
I suspect your tire pump is generating lots of electrical noise into the car's electrical system and that is affecting the controller. That noise can be caused by a poorly designed/cheap pump motor. Where do you have the controller power lines hooked up? You more than likely need to move where you get your power and ground pick up for the controller so it is isolated from the electrical noise generated by the tire pump. If the pump is located near the controller the interference may be coupled directly into the controller circuits. What happens if you plug the pump into the rear compartment power connector?
Bill
Bill
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 707
Likes: 55
I suspect your tire pump is generating lots of electrical noise into the car's electrical system and that is affecting the controller. That noise can be caused by a poorly designed/cheap pump motor. Where do you have the controller power lines hooked up? You more than likely need to move where you get your power and ground pick up for the controller so it is isolated from the electrical noise generated by the tire pump. If the pump is located near the controller the interference may be coupled directly into the controller circuits. What happens if you plug the pump into the rear compartment power connector?
Bill
Bill
I haven't tried the tire pump in the other cigarette lighter socket yet, but I will give this a try tomorrow morning.
I did wonder if the Alky system performs some sort of priming when it receives ignition power? But if this is the case, it seems to wait a long time after the ignition is powered before it performs the prime, and doesn't seem to do it every time.
I replicated the tire pump scenario 3 times with a fountain of meth, and also tried the ignition twice without the tire pump and got nothing.
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 19,965
Likes: 6,770
From: Bonneville Salt Flats
Yeah, it's a problem, but since your car (meth system, et al.) seems to work fine otherwise, why not just quit trying to do what you know doesn't work (using the tire-pump plugged into the car) and move on... just saying.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2011
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If my meth was hooked up and my engine was started I could have hydrolocked.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
Where are you getting your power for the meth pump? Is there a chance you are tapping into the cigarette lighter circuit? Is so, as Bill mentioned, the electrical "noise" put out by the air pump might be triggering the meth pump.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 707
Likes: 55
Sadly not. The power is coming direct from the trunk. It is however using an add-a-circuit fuse from what I recall, so maybe it is tapped into the rear cigarette lighter which might share wiring with the Center console one.
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