The VEMS installation was done by a reputable Canadian VEMS dealer, which I live about 300km from. We've been emailing back and forth and we're trying to troubleshoot one step at a time. I posted here to open up the conversation, and to give us both a reference thread.
I wanted to rule out any possible fuel starvation issues first. I tried another fuel pump relay out of my daily driver, and no difference there. I changed the fuel pump and filter, no difference there. (loaner parts, so Im not throwing money away!) I am indeed getting fuel and have confidence that the issue is not related to anything in the fuel delivery. The pump audibly runs and makes pressure to the fuel rail.
Next I got out my old laptop and ran Megatune (VEMS 1.0.73 version) to look at things on the display like I have done long ago in the past. (I haven't changed any settings or values)
I noticed a few things I hadn't seen in the past, heres what I saw.......
--While in Mega-tune with the car not running, just turned on, Ill see the SPARK ANGLE and PULSE WIDTH displays do sporadic drops in value, then ruturn to normal, then randomly drop again. (I think this may have been an old FW bug, but Im not sure)
--While viewing real time display with the car not running, "VE" is running through random numbers, like in a loop.
--While watching the LCD readout in the car, as soon as the car gets started, the screen freezes and values don't change or update. When the car dies, the screen resets and refreshes the values.
Ive been careful in Mega-tune not to change any values or "Burn to ECU" at all.
Its not my daily driver car, so I'm surviving without it. If worst comes to worst, I'll have the ECU bench tested by mailing it out.