Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Banks Otto Mind

[Herman8r]

I just experienced engine misfire. The engine would cut in & out during acceleration. Of course my first thought is the vp44---again! Then I thought about disconnecting the Banks System via the MAP sensor plug. After the test drive the surge/misfire went away.



Has anyone else had this experience??



My conclusion is to trash the Banks ( I guess it already is!)& go with a different power enhancement. Any suggestions??



Thanks to TDR for all the great forums!!

Herman

 

[pgleavitt]

I had the same problem with my truck and thought it was the apps or trottle position sensor. Came to find out that the ground from the Otto mind in the engine bay had broken off and would get partial contact. It was the black wire that was hooked to one of the intake manifold cover bolts.

 

[GFrance]

I had the same problem 2 yrs ago. Bad ground & I moved it to the battery & havn't had a problem with it since.

 

[darkhorse]

Bad grounds are a common plage of fueling boxes by all the manufacturers. I had weird trouble with my brand new Blue Chip APB that cleared right up with a second ground bolted directly to the engine. I hope your problem is that simple.

 

[Herman8r]

Bad grounds are a common plage of fueling boxes by all the manufacturers. I had weird trouble with my brand new Blue Chip APB that cleared right up with a second ground bolted directly to the engine. I hope your problem is that simple.

I will have to check this out. After disconnecting the Banks sys. I sure do miss the power!!



I just took a quick look (very quick) & did not see a ground wire on the engine for the Banks Sys. I will take a closer look under the dash tommarrow.



Thanks for the info, Herman

 

[GFrance]

I had my Banks put on by a distributor & they grounded it to a bolt ontop of the intake horn as per banks inst. It was fine for awhile until it got bumped a few times changing fuel filters & doing other things under the hood. Like I said just gound it dirrectly to the battery ground.

 

[Herman8r]

Gfrance--now I see it--black wire coupled with the yellow wire to the pump. It is grounded to the fuel filter housing. I will re-do the ground to the battery. Test tomarrow.



Thanks, Herman

 

[Herman8r]

Got off work early so I changed the ground location,plugged the Banks Sys back in & did the test drive. Test drive proved that nothing changed. Still misses during WOT. So off comes the Banks again.

HJR

 

[Southern Ram]

otto mind

I had a similar problem of when I went to try to get up to speed the truck would stumble. I took the banks sys off and went with bigger and better mods. I still have the repaired otto mind box and wiring if want to try it because I have no use for it.



Todd

 

[GFrance]

What kind of egt's are you seeing at wot? What turbo do you have? I had to change out my hy35/9 for Piers hx35/40/14 to get my temps down. The otto mind will defuel at around 1275* if held there to long. Built in saftey factor. Are you running stock sticks?

 

[Herman8r]

I had a similar problem of when I went to try to get up to speed the truck would stumble. I took the banks sys off and went with bigger and better mods. I still have the repaired otto mind box and wiring if want to try it because I have no use for it.



Todd

Southern Ram--did you send the unit to Banks for Repair? What went wrong? Actually I am thinking of a different fuel box.



GFrance- I did not take note of the egt's--I do know they are not out of the norm. The turbo is stock except for the banks housing upgrade & waste gate. I have kept an eye on the egt's pulling a load at WOT & did not have any high readings. If the"sticks" are the injectors--I have the 275's. I did not think of the defueling factor that Bank's has built in. I will check it (egt's) out in the AM on the way to work.

Thanks again for the support guy's, HJR

 

[RWatson]

I also experienced the same issue for over a year on and off. I tried relocating my ground direct to the battery, cleaned the connectors and used dielectric grease and could never seem to rid myself of the problem until I completely removed the OttoMind. I spoke with Banks on several occasions and they were unable to provide any answers so I final removed the box.



Banks has recently asked to look at my OttoMind, but I am not sure that I am comfortable with reinstalling the OttoMind. I experienced so many other issues while I had it connected ranging from EGT's that would never get down to 300, Transmission temps that would reach up to 300, surging and extreme missing as well as error codes.



Since I removed the OttoMind almost a year ago, I have experienced none of the previous issues, but sure due miss the extra power so I been looking at replacing it with an EZ and a set of DDII injectors.



Randy

 

[GFrance]

If you replace your otto mind with a different box & have the banks gauges, I believe you will have to get different gauges. Don't quote me on this. , but thats what I've heard.

 

[pgleavitt]

That is true about the gauges. I replaced mine with Isspro gauges and had to add another pyro . The Ottomind needed one for the EGTand fueling limits and the new gauge needed one. Banks gauges also use the Map sensor for the boost numbers. What if your map sensor goes bad I don't know what would happen.

 

[hpyman123]

Banks miss

I had the same problem with my Ottomind. Sent it back to Banks and they reprogrammed it. Solved the problem but I took it off anyway for a TST Powermax 3 with an Edge EZ. Also upgraded to the HX-35 hybrid turbo but my EGTs are still high. Am looking to upgrade the turbo again but can't decide on a big single or add another for twins. Take it from me Banks doesn't make near the power other products do.

 

[Eric Lee]

Banks makes a good box

I have had nothing but the Banks Ottomind in my truck so I can't talk about others - I believe there is a lot of good boxes out, we all know the 'Hot' sellers. Banks gets trashed alot, Piers (I believe) told me they are basically a TST designed product. I'm sure all brands have send backs, malfunction - whatever but Banks is held to a much higher standard. Why? because overall its top quality shat.



What I do know about my Ottomind-



It makes good power - enough to fry the stock transmission in about 2 seconds.

It's a set and forget system - no reaching for the magic combo.

I've never had a problem with it - 15 -20k miles

It 'softly' cuts fuel at 1250 - 1275 egt's - dyno graphs show a smooth, shallow cut and return. Some boxes are pretty drastic I'm told.



The problems I find are usually things that can happen to any brand.



-My2c - Eric

 

[RWatson]

Eric,

I would tend to agree with your comments. I personally am not out to bash Banks as I do think they do produce quality products and like any manufacture, have returns or unsatisfied customers, this is a given for any manufacture. I should know as I manage a global support organization and people don't call my department because they want to thank us for producing a quality product. There are few companies who could use the Maytag commercial claim.



Yes it will take out a stock transmission, mine lasted less than 1. 5K after installing the Ottomind. what is worse is I made it a point to ask Banks 5 times when I was speaking with them before purchasing the Power Pack Kit, if I needed to make any modifications to my trans such as changing the torque convertor to deal with the added power, I was told NO PROBLEM. Quote "The Ottomind modual is designed to monitor your transmission and the added power and will make all nessesary adjustments to prevent damage to your transmission. You do not need to modify your transmission". BS!!



Regarding the guage issue, I also was not aware of this and might have chosen another product knowing this when I was purchasing.



I ran my Ottomind for approx 25k before I finnally had reached my personal limits with all of the BS I had expereinced. I regret that I was not aware of TDR when I purchased my CTD and the Banks kit. The banks sales team did thier job and sold me.



Randy

 

[Eric Lee]

I personally have never needed Banks customer service but I have heard alot of negative feedback here on TDR concerning it. Hopefully I will have a better experience than some if the need arises. ----



Concerning the Ottomind in question here, is this an issue of faulty product, faulty install or the egt limiter doing what it's suppose to do?



I would hate to be the person warranting these self installed systems. I had a problem with my FASS and DTT told me how to fix it - I made a half axx attempt to diagnose and started causing a fuss over it - come to find out they were exactly right and my ineptitude almost had a perfectly good unit going back to them and a new unit on their dime coming to me.



For me, I'm happy with the whole Banks package. And I'm not ashamed to say so here or anywhere else for that matter.



-Eric

 

[Herman8r]

I had the same problem with my Ottomind. Sent it back to Banks and they reprogrammed it. Solved the problem but I took it off anyway for a TST Powermax 3 with an Edge EZ. Also upgraded to the HX-35 hybrid turbo but my EGTs are still high. Am looking to upgrade the turbo again but can't decide on a big single or add another for twins. Take it from me Banks doesn't make near the power other products do.

hpy--I-too think i will go with the Edge. Do you have the TST AND the Edge? Where did you purchase?



I do know for a fact that the gauges will have to be replaced-as I had mechanical gauges on prior to the bANKS. Glad I kept them.



(oh & by the why--my conversations with Banks were not very positive. I had to replace my vp44 a while back. Bosch technician said the Banks unit caused the unit to fail. This may or may not be true but I called Banks & they said NO WAY can the Banks unit cause a IP failure! No support!)



I was asked about the egt's--around 950-1050 at WOT.



Anyways--The Edge Box or something simular is in my sights.



HJR

 

[Herman8r]

Eric-I had my banks sys installed by a certified installer. He did a great job. The process is simple but for the price he charged I could not have done a better job any cheaper. As for as product reliability the banks sys lasted about 4 years. I don't know if that is long or short--but I replace my office PC's about every 3-4 years as that's when they seem to start to deteriorate. So I guess it is time to recycle.



HJR