Heater strategy on a boat application

Spartan 3 Lite
1

Hi,

I installed a spartan2 with a Bosch LSU4.9 4 years ago at my boat. The boat is changed from carburettor to fully sequentially multipoint injection.

I just connected it as normally (getting current when switching ignition on)

After 2 or 3 years the LSU4.9 gets broken. I saw the problem that the sensor gets heated up at ignition on but I always have to switch on engine bay fan before I am able to crank. So I put a relay in 12V loop, switching lambda controller on when engine is running for 60 seconds. No the next original LSU4.9 sensor is damaged. Just after 3 month with just some hours of using. I will no install a Spartan 3 V2 Lite with a BOSCH LSU ADV. (the only system I have in spare here)

The big question: what would be the right heater strategy? As the manifold of boats is partly cooled with sea water there is more a risk of condensation water as the wall of the manifold is cooler. I think best solution is switching heater on when engine starts running. But will this be the same in my solution? Is there a change in heater strategy between Spartan2 and Spartan3V2? What I see from BOSCH is to start with less heating current and increase it than. Was this done at Spartan2, too? Or do I have a win just by using the Spartan3V2 with the heater strategy? I don’t want to buy new wiseband sensors every 10 hours of using…

Best regards

Tim

2

The logic tells me to first start your engine, wait, maybe 30 seconds until it runs well and then switch on the wide band. About your failing sensors, we have a compareable problem with them. While the old ones, purchased from 14.7 or even Innovate, lasted for years, the formerly bought ones lastet only a few hours, some even quit working after 4 starts. There is a lot of money been made from fake Bosch sensors. Bosch doesn’t care, they are focused on OEM’s, aftermarket is not important to them. They just tell you “buy at a certified Bosch dealer”. You may even buy by such a certified dealer, but Amazon will “pool” the sensors from different sources. So your chance of getting a real Bosch part is maybe 50:1,as most of the stuff on Amazon, if fakes exist, are fakes.

I seriously have no idea where to get a real LSU (of any version), I try my best known car parts dealers with spare ones (there are hundreds of identical sensors with different Bosch numbers, just because of the length of the wire) or get them in origional packaging from private ebay sellers. I had more luck with those than buying from motorsports vendors of O2 sensor stuff. I guess they make extra profit on selling real AEM or innovate products with fake sensors sourced cheap.

Good luck!