Analogue
multi-point fuel injection, 'D' is from meaning pressure. Inlet
manifold vacuum is measured using a pressure sensor located in, or connected to the
intake manifold, in order to calculate the duration of fuel injection pulses. Originally, this system was called Jetronic, but the name D-Jetronic was later created as a
retronym to distinguish it from subsequent Jetronic iterations. D-Jetronic was essentially a further refinement of the
Electrojector fuel delivery system developed by the
Bendix Corporation in the late 1950s. Rather than choosing to eradicate the various reliability issues with the Electrojector system, Bendix instead licensed the design to Bosch. With the role of the Bendix system being largely forgotten D-Jetronic became known as the first widely successful precursor of modern electronic common rail systems; it had constant pressure fuel delivery to the injectors and pulsed injections, albeit grouped (2 groups of injectors pulsed together) rather than sequential (individual injector pulses) as on later systems. As in the Electrojector system, D-Jetronic used
analogue circuitry, with no
microprocessor nor
digital logic. The
electronic control unit (ECU) used about 25
transistors to perform all of the processing. Two important factors that led to the ultimate failure of the Electrojector system: the use of paper-wrapped capacitors unsuited to heat-cycling, and amplitude modulation (tv/ham radio) signals to control the injectors were superseded. The still present lack of processing power and the unavailability of solid-state sensors meant that the vacuum sensor was a rather expensive precision instrument, rather like a
barometer, with brass bellows inside to measure the manifold pressure. Although conceptually similar to most later systems with individual electrically controlled injectors per cylinder, and
pulse-width modulated fuel delivery, the fuel pressure was not modulated by manifold pressure, and the injectors were fired only once per 2 revolutions on the engine (with half of the injectors being fired each revolution). The system was last used (with a
Lucas designed timing mechanism and Lucas labels super-imposed on some components) on the Jaguar V12 engine (
XJ12 and
XJ-S) from 1975 until 1979. ==K-Jetronic (1973–1994)==