Long Term EFI Sensor Availability

[rv6ejguy]

A comment was put forth in another thread questioning the long term availability of the sensors commonly used in EFI systems. These would be MAP, temp, TPS and Hall Effect sensors.

We have used the ubiquitous GM MAP and IAT (intake air temp) sensors for over 20 years. These are the most common sensors capable of being used in almost all aftermarket programmable EFI systems worldwide. They are inexpensive, reliable and readily available from multiple sources including the OEM.

Excluding Chinese made ones, there are at least 4 different aftermarket manufacturers of these sensors too. Given the continued demand from the EFI aftermarket, I don't see the supply of these drying up any time soon. Any brand of 3 wire, 0-5V MAP sensor could be substituted if need be.

We currently supply an OEM Bosch TPS used in 2 different production automotive applications. Never had any issues sourcing these either. In any case, you can use any potentiometer type TPS with our system should the PN we use suddenly become unavailable.

The CHT sensor we now supply is built in-house, using commercially available thermistors which have been widely available from multiple sources for decades. Don't see those components going away in my lifetime, ditto with the Hall Effect components used in the crank sensors.

I might add, that we've never seen a Hall Effect sensor fail electrically in millions of hours. Again there are hundreds of these components which could be substituted if the current ones are no longer produced.

As far as the ECUs go, we've made each generation retro-compatible as far as basic wiring goes back to the EM-2 models in 1997. We plan to keep that recipe for the EM-6 under development. We'll just add an additional connector for the new capabilities so existing wiring will not have to be replaced.

We typically only use sensors, injectors and pumps which have an automotive OEM application to insure a long supply window and good quality. These are made by the millions. The Experimental aircraft market hardly registers by comparison on the numbers available.