(Maybe) TCL troubles

[c0ldblooded]

Hi guys,
I am having some trouble with accelerating from a stop. It doesn't matter if I do heavy or regular acceleration, most of the time it happens when the car is still cold (if you can call it that - 10-15 min after starting in the morning). The acceleration basically cuts when I reach 2.5-3k rpm and I need to hold the pedal for a few seconds to get back to accelerating, which as you can guess makes things really slow and really annoying. Now the car is supposed to have TCL (I have the switch on the dash and the all-in-one ECU for ABS/AYC/ASC/TCL ), but when I press the switch to OFF position the indication on the dash doesn't come on ever. Tbh I've never actually seen it come on at all. I've talked about it with a friend of mine who has a VR-4 - he was certain that it's a TCL problem and suggested that we disconnect these:

IMG_20150817_142533.jpg

...which we did and the problem went away, BUT I have the amber Engine check and ABS indications on, so I need a more permanent solution. Also when the cables are connected there are no fault codes whatsoever. Any ideas and/or insights are welcome

Some recent history on the car so you can get a better picture - it's a FL Type-S with ASC/TCL, converted to manual (last Jan). After the conversion I've had quite a few things that needed fixing:
- AYC - the pump was rebuilt because of corrosion
- ABS - the actual reason the AYC wasn't working in the first place - a dead RR sensor (because of some idiot who had done a ton of crap with the wheel bearing hub) and the ABS/AYC/ASC/TCL ECU not reading the new one properly, had to do a hack attaching both rear sensors to the same port as per some posts on the Russian VR-4 forum
- the fuel tank had a TON of sand/dirt in it due to a hole in the pipe from the cap to the tank, which made it sluggish to say the least, actually it was more like me pressing the pedal and not getting a response at all when overtaking (felt a lot like the problem I'm having right now, but a lot more dangerous). Got the tank vacuumed and cleaned up, changed the fuel filter and the problem went away. Haven't had the injectors cleaned on a stand, but I've used a Bardahl fuel additive.
- turned out that some idiot replaced my spark plugs with NA V6 ones on the 60k miles service, so I had to replace them too again..

That's pretty much the picture at the moment. From what I've read around here, there are problems associated with converting a TCL car to manual. The way my car was done didn't include changing the ECU or wiring loom, just hardwiring the thing to think it's in neutral and connecting the reverse switch. Could that be causing some trouble?

[Nick Mann]

Yes, tcl cars seem to use auto gearbox info to work out what to do. Without the info the tcl can cut in under hard acceleration.
Is there even a bulb in the tcl warning lamp?
If you turn the tcl off then the problem goes away.

[Davezj]

I have a question, you say your car if a FL model but then say it has traction control. I did not think the FL with the option to fit traction control. I have never ever seen or heard of this possibility, I could be wrong but it is worth checking.

What year is the car and what is the chassis number I will check the ASA database to see what the factory equipment was and what year it was manufactured.

[Nick Mann]

I've heard of the tcl as an option on FL cars. I've never seen one though.

[Davezj]

Interesting

So this guy could have a very very rare FL auto with factory traction control and and it has been converted to a manual and is having the traction control removed.
Price plummets.

but that is the beauty of modifying, the more you do the low the value of the car.

Let's hope it is not a PFL with FL front bumper, and other bits added. Which is more likely and is why I asked for the chassis number. Better to check these things to make sure.

[swinks]

My thoughts exactly. I've never seen FL vehicle with factory fitted TCL.
Anyway, if yours has TCL and all-in-one ecu for traction control gizzmos and a/t (like pfl has) then after converting to manual you need either disable in ecu TCL feature or simply re-flash ecu with manual rom from non-tcl vehicle.
What you experiencing is simply tcl kick-in on every blast seeing too much load on traction. Typical. I had it for few weeks after conversion till I had re-flash ecu. You need temporary live with gentle starts from traffic lights.
BTW, refit all vacuums to a factory standard and connect all solenoids and sensors. No point with messing with them

[c0ldblooded]

Hi guys,
Wow that's a lot of replies, thanks
@Nick Mann- I've actually tried pushing the TCL button to OFF a couple of times today, and it actually worked. I still haven't had the time to check out that bulb but imho it's either burned ot missing.
@Davezj
The chassis number is EC5A-0300647, First registration is 05.05.2000. I could be wrong but I'm not sure if converting to manual is lowering the value of the car - I'm looking at it more as an upgrade. Anyway, I'm keeping the auto trans with all the other needed bits so it most probably can be converted back
@swinks
Yep, I've put everything back the way it was. I think that you missunderstood - the ECU I'm talking about handles ABS, AYC, TCL and ASC. As far as I know if one of those is missing you get separate ECUs for each thing. The annoying bit is that I actually launch really rarely and it doesn't really matter if I'm launching hard or just going off gently at a traffic light. I don't know - at least for me going off at say 1/4-1/3 acceleration at traffic lights and changing gears at 2.5-3k rpm is not pushing it at all.

[galantnight]

Have a look here ? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...hl=en_GB#gid=0

[c0ldblooded]

Thanks for the link, according to the doc:
EC5A 0300647 SYGF 016 A71D 45F 2000021

[galantnight]

Did you work out what they mean ??

[Nick Mann]

It's a facelift. With tcl. A very rare combination!

[Davezj]

i have done my search on ASA and yes you can have a Facelift auto with TCL option, a very rare beast indeed. but not any more.

you lean something new everyday.