Trying to get my car running right
29 December 2003, 03:52 PM
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Hi Folks,
Just wondered if anyone knew someone over the festive period who could set up my air/fuel and idle settings. Tried Subaru and they weren't any use (believe it or not).
I'm in process of trying to run in my rebuilt engine, but I'm worried about possible damage so early on.
Cheers,
Mark
Just wondered if anyone knew someone over the festive period who could set up my air/fuel and idle settings. Tried Subaru and they weren't any use (believe it or not).
I'm in process of trying to run in my rebuilt engine, but I'm worried about possible damage so early on.
Cheers,
Mark
29 December 2003, 04:49 PM
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Hi mate,
Are you sure there is any adjustment possible on these engines? I don't know that much about them TBH but most modern engines with fully electronic control can't be adjusted correctly for mixture and idle settings. Generally if all the sensors are working properly and the ECU is mapped right it should sort itself out automatically compensating for wear, tolerances etc to keep the idle and AFRs within an acceptable range AFAIK.
That's why some cars run like $hit when you reset the ECU - it goes back to the base maps until it can relearn the adjustments necessary to compensate for that particular engine's requirements (which will change over time as components wear etc).
Good luck with getting everything sorted - it'll be good to see the beast back on the road (the car not yourself
).
Are you sure there is any adjustment possible on these engines? I don't know that much about them TBH but most modern engines with fully electronic control can't be adjusted correctly for mixture and idle settings. Generally if all the sensors are working properly and the ECU is mapped right it should sort itself out automatically compensating for wear, tolerances etc to keep the idle and AFRs within an acceptable range AFAIK.
That's why some cars run like $hit when you reset the ECU - it goes back to the base maps until it can relearn the adjustments necessary to compensate for that particular engine's requirements (which will change over time as components wear etc).
Good luck with getting everything sorted - it'll be good to see the beast back on the road (the car not yourself
).
29 December 2003, 05:27 PM
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cheers for reply Paul.
The guy who did the rebuild was adjusting the sensor to try and compensate for poor starting, which I never had before - so he increased the idle speed up to 1000, and now it blips every so often (say every 30 seconds). The guy at subaru just reset the ECU and it made no difference to previous.
The rebuild guy was talking about the tolerance for one of the sensors - fuelling I think, say it had a wide range, but needed to be in a small band width.
I've driven the car 400 odd miles since rebuild and its not different, infact the idle goes up a bit once its warm.
Just want someone to tell me what it is, and get the thing working properly. The snow is a coming and I need to do doughnuts - but first I need a decent working car
Take care mate - have a good new year if dont hear from you!
Marky-San
The guy who did the rebuild was adjusting the sensor to try and compensate for poor starting, which I never had before - so he increased the idle speed up to 1000, and now it blips every so often (say every 30 seconds). The guy at subaru just reset the ECU and it made no difference to previous.
The rebuild guy was talking about the tolerance for one of the sensors - fuelling I think, say it had a wide range, but needed to be in a small band width.
I've driven the car 400 odd miles since rebuild and its not different, infact the idle goes up a bit once its warm.
Just want someone to tell me what it is, and get the thing working properly. The snow is a coming and I need to do doughnuts - but first I need a decent working car
Take care mate - have a good new year if dont hear from you!
Marky-San
29 December 2003, 09:22 PM
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Marky,
When I rebuilt my engine, we just pluged everything in and turned the key, started 1st time, left running for a good 1/2 hour to heat up and car idle was groggy to begin with but it soon cleared.
I didn't need to adjust anything on mine. I only made changes to the fuelling on the new ECU.
Hope this helps you.
When I rebuilt my engine, we just pluged everything in and turned the key, started 1st time, left running for a good 1/2 hour to heat up and car idle was groggy to begin with but it soon cleared.
I didn't need to adjust anything on mine. I only made changes to the fuelling on the new ECU.
Hope this helps you.
29 December 2003, 10:29 PM
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Hi Marky-San,
Could you expand as to what the exact sensor the engine rebuilder was tweaking? On a lot of modern cars with engine management systems a lot of the general sensors, such as Coolant temperature, exhaust gas temperature sensor etc all work within pre-defined parameters and are non adjustable. Those sensors which are adjustable require a dedicated scan tool so as to retrieve live data. For example you can not simply screw up the idle screw to adjust the throttle position sensor value on a badly starting or rough idle engine. If anything this will throw the ECU right off base completley. The scan tool is needed to set the base idle value and to ensure the sensor is working correctly across its working range. ONce this is done the real culprit can be tracked down and sorted.
Does the Engine malfunction lamp work on your car and if so does it illuminate?
Whats the exact year and model of your car? With this info can start to look into this with a bit more insight.
As for the narrow band and wide band stuff, sounds like your getting some speal about O2 sensors. FWIW the ECU ignores the O2 sensor on cold start so a faulty unit would not cause cold start/running problems.
regards
Could you expand as to what the exact sensor the engine rebuilder was tweaking? On a lot of modern cars with engine management systems a lot of the general sensors, such as Coolant temperature, exhaust gas temperature sensor etc all work within pre-defined parameters and are non adjustable. Those sensors which are adjustable require a dedicated scan tool so as to retrieve live data. For example you can not simply screw up the idle screw to adjust the throttle position sensor value on a badly starting or rough idle engine. If anything this will throw the ECU right off base completley. The scan tool is needed to set the base idle value and to ensure the sensor is working correctly across its working range. ONce this is done the real culprit can be tracked down and sorted.
Does the Engine malfunction lamp work on your car and if so does it illuminate?
Whats the exact year and model of your car? With this info can start to look into this with a bit more insight.
As for the narrow band and wide band stuff, sounds like your getting some speal about O2 sensors. FWIW the ECU ignores the O2 sensor on cold start so a faulty unit would not cause cold start/running problems.
regards
29 December 2003, 11:11 PM
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Hi eobd,
I'll try contacting the guy tomorrow for some detailed info. To be honest he bombarded me a bit with technical info as I was collecting car. The scan tool definately rings a bell.
My car is a 94 WRX STI Version 1 jap import. No engine lights come on at all when driving etc.
The idle adjustment was definately altered as it was sluggish to start and the revs dropped when you dipped the accelerator. He changed two sensors over with another car and it made no difference, so he said they were ok. As I said I'll get more info tomorrow as to what he did.
Cheers,
Mark
I'll try contacting the guy tomorrow for some detailed info. To be honest he bombarded me a bit with technical info as I was collecting car. The scan tool definately rings a bell.
My car is a 94 WRX STI Version 1 jap import. No engine lights come on at all when driving etc.
The idle adjustment was definately altered as it was sluggish to start and the revs dropped when you dipped the accelerator. He changed two sensors over with another car and it made no difference, so he said they were ok. As I said I'll get more info tomorrow as to what he did.
Cheers,
Mark
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30 December 2003, 02:51 PM
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Spoke to the guy and he said the car wasnt idling right, so they tinkered with the adjustment to get the car home for me.
The advice given was to have the car plugged into the select monitor to reset the range and that would even out the idling.
The diagnostics were checked after the build and there were no faults evident, hence hes quite sure it can be sorted via the select monitor.
Does that make anymore sense than the first post?
Cheers,
Marky-San
The advice given was to have the car plugged into the select monitor to reset the range and that would even out the idling.
The diagnostics were checked after the build and there were no faults evident, hence hes quite sure it can be sorted via the select monitor.
Does that make anymore sense than the first post?
Cheers,
Marky-San
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