Motorola fuel pressure sensors (IPS)

[Chris Conlon]

So a little while back Tom Sharpe posted about some Motorola specialty
sensors, one of which measured fuel pressure relative to MAP:

http://www.mot.com/AECS/General/AIEGSensors/Graphics/IPS.html

Today I finally wound my way thru the Moto-maze and talked to someone
(very polite and helpful, considering) about these units. In short,
everybody who's not GM or almost that big, sit down.

Essentially an OEM comes to them and pays $$$ to have the chip put
into a custom housing, something convenient for the OE, say that
bolts right where they want it to. Since the OE paid for the tooling,
Moto won't sell you or me any of those units, and, at least for the
IPS, there is no "generic" version. (There were other devices mentioned
in that web site but the story is similar for most or all of them.)

Not to say you can't get 1 or 2 from your fave Moto brownnose, if you
have one, but it's unwise to design in on that basis.

I asked about the MPX (air) pressure sensors, they're made by another
division and are not really related. Also there was apparently quite
a bit of R&D to make the units work in contact with hot pressurized
fuel or oil, just a word to the wiser DIY'ers who might be having what
we call Thoughts. ;)

The good news is, at least the IPS is apparently used in the '99
Mustang, some '99 Escorts, and perhaps some other Ford apps. So you
should be able to get one from yer friendly Ford parts counter, if
you don't mind that it only fits (conveniently) onto a certain fuel
rail and (perhaps) intake manifold.

The situation is similar with some or all of the other devices mentioned,
i.e. they're used in various high volume domestic OE apps, so if you
can find out who uses one where, you can buy one.

So that's what I know 'bout those.

...

The better news, for me, is the variety of fuel-rated pressure sensors
that people have posted about in the past few days. That's all I needed,
really. I can already measure MAP, and I can subtract - so PWM fuel
pressure system, here I come!

   Chris C.

p.s. if someone finds out how much Ford wants for one of these toys,
please let us know...