JR FPR's Suck A$$

[Holden]

My JR FPR crapped out yesterday in the middle of an auto-x.

1st heat went as normal... Park for an hour or so... Time for the 2nd heat.

So I start up the car, pull into grid and turn on my gauges (I keep them turned off during runs because they distract me) to check that everything's OK. Everything is NOT OK.

FP was stuck at 95psi!!!

I tried revving, tapping on the JR FPR, pulling and re-attaching its' vacuum hose. Nothing worked.

So I tried to make the run anyway with gauges on and an one eye watching them for trouble. Of course I went off course and got a DNF (it was raining too, and all the lines were washed away).

Before my 4th run I try to fix it. Scrounge up a hex key. I tried screwing the FPR all the way tight and releasing it, hoping a spring was stuck. No go. I did find that it will tighten far enough to choke off the engine! Loosening it all the way and continueing to fiddle with it got the pressure to lower to 80psi, but it was still stuck. I tried my fourth run (by the time I started, FP was down to 74psi and stuck there). With one eye on the gauges, again I went off course and DNF'd.

By the time I parked, the FP had dropped to 67psi and was responding/rising a little bit to vacuum changes. I drove it home this way, and later that night was able to get the pressure down to to 63psi.

This is where I am now. 63psi and it doesn't budge for anything!

Stupid piece of $hit JR FPR. At least I laid down the law on my second run and stayed ahead of the entire ST class!)

Needless to say, I'll be on the phone at 9AM PST.

BTW, I got beat by a national driver in a turbo-neon. He had me by 4 seconds, but he had R-compounds and I didn't.

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Greg Holden
96 GSR, JSRC, I/H/E, yada yada yada...
My JRSC Install Site

[EXSC]

Wow, well I guess its time for a cartech fmu, unless Keith talks you into trying another one which he will "put together himself." I already went this route and the bootom line is the fuel setup on the JRSC kits are not meant for autoXing. Good luck. Hey if you get a chance ask him on the progress of the new black-box for our kits. They are supposed to control the timing in certain areas and fuel maps. Later

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94 civic EX, JRSC w/10lb pulley, MSD6BTM, 255 pump, CAI, JG t-body, JG cam gear, CC hdrs, SS exh, and X fingers

[waveoff]

Their working on ANOTHER blackbox? They tried this last year working with MSD and it never went through. They were working on a sparkbox like the one Miata guys have.

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Fred G.
'97 Civic EX supercharged http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/track/4059
Beech 1900D driver...2,558 shp, 10,000+ ft./lbs. tq., top speed 331 mph

[Holden]

Update: I just talked with Keith at JR. He is sending me another FPR, so JR's customer service is still to be appreciated.

However, a few other things he said makes me understand the JR and Keith detractors out there.

First though, here's what he said about my problem:

- Sounds strange that this keeps happening on my car.
- Asked about fuel pump, was happy with answer (regular output Walbro 255lph).
- Suggested there could be contamination happening. (??? Fuel filter has < 3000 miles on it, Teflon???).
- Wants bad FPR returned for tear-down, I agree and want to know the results too.

What he said that was annoying was:

- "Only 5 or 6 of these have been returned". We could double that number from host boarders!
- "I don't care about any bulletin board", after I told him I knew of plenty of JR FPR's going bad.

I really got the feeling that I had been moved into the "Problem Customer" file and should expect less and less co-operation from them. It was also very pleasant to have Keith dismiss the best source of JRSC information (way better than JR for sure) with a gap-toothed "I ain't listenin' to none of that fancy-schamcy internet nonsense" (paraphrased!)

Makes me feel like buying a Cartech FMU and bad-mouthing JR until the cows come home.

Greg

[Holden]

Another update: Driving home just now, I verified its' current condition.

56psi w/22" vac
64psi w/0" vac
83psi w/8psi boost

Plus it reacts very slowly, taking a good 4 seconds to go from 56psi to 83psi.

Worst of all, a punk in a Grand Prix wanted to race me at a stoplight and I had to not race. GRRRRR!

I'm going to install another JR FPR. I don't think JR will learn anything by opening this one up, since like last time, it is an intermittant/erratic problem.

Since 2PM yesterday, every time I drive my car, the FPR behaves differently. How can I ever trust a JR FPR again?

Greg

[Holden]

Beating a dead horse department:

Adjusted FP to 60/70 (lowest it'll go).

For 10 minutes of driving, it maxed out at 83psi. This amazingly still gave me a rich mixture at WOT. I could live with that!

Of course, 10 minutes later, it's at 56/64 and maxxing out over 100psi.

[Mr Rogers]

POS! Get the Cartech and stop fumbling around with that crap. It is so much better and it appears to have tons more work gone into the production. The adjustments are easy to use and very effective. 2 bills is the most you will pay for one so rest your mind know that it won't be jumping all over the place like the JR unit. I don't know if I ever posted this but when I got my first JR FMU replaced, the one they sent me started leaking fuel from the unit itself 1 minute after hooking it up What a hunk of sh*t. I told them about it and then got this, "It was tested b4 it left here" answer, but I answered this with, "must not have been tested with a liquid cause it would have leaked out too". Owell

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98 GS-scR w/ 8psi JRSC, Walbro HO fuel pump, AEM cai, Airmass header, Thermal Exhaust, Skunk Works cam gears, J&S safeguard, Ground Controls and KYB AGX's, and of course to slow down, KVR X-drill F&R rotors and Carbon Kevlar pads and V1 to signal the slowing down and soon to go on a Carbon Fiber diet,RC 310 steriods,and new sticky foot wear of the 555R type

[Holden]

Hmmmm... Javin, you are making me nervous. My garage has been smelling a little gassy since the "incident". My fuel gauge is not dropping strangely, but it's possible the JR FPR developed a leak. I'll check tonight.

Someday I really need to install that fire extinguisher!

Greg

[12SecGSR]

I had a similar problem... I thought my cartech regulator was bad... so I changed it out, and the problem didn't change... turned out to be that the stock regulator had taken a crap... I don't know how common this is, but you might check it out...

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94 GSR drag gen 3 turbo
Benson's built bottom end

[Holden]

Good idea. I was heading to the parts store today anyway.

I'll pick up some barbs to connect the fuel return line together w/o the JR FPR. We'll see what the stock regulator is doing.

I'm pretty confident it's the JR FPR that's gone bad, but you never know...

Greg