Uh Oh: ...No Wideband?!

One sunny day,
I was cruising along,
with the wind in my hair,
doing nothing wrong....

At the corner of my eye,
I just don't understand..
I know that I'm not high...
..but what happened to my wideband?!

It seems my wideband readings are stuck. Whether I accelerate or decelerate, it seems I'm at a AFR of 10 LOL.

As I drove home the readings slowly went down until the gauge began to flash; which meant the AFR was lean at 0.. or there was no signal.

The first thing I checked was that the sensor was still physically in the bung at the exhaust, which it was. The next thing was to see whether the gauge was broken. I connected up the AEM FIC to my laptop and brought up the gauges. In my setup, I had another sensor feed from the Innovate LC-1 to the the AEM FIC, providing it wideband info for the Universal Exhaust Gas Oxygen (UEGO) readings. Yup, looks like the sensor or the LC-1 was buggered.

So I took the Bosch sensor out of the bung and proceeded to calibrate the LC-1. I held the button to begin calibration but the LED never lit up. Weird. I connected up the LC-1 to the laptop to see what is going on and... Fail. It wouldn't connect. After several attempts the LC-1 continously would not connect the computer...

Looks like the LC-1 has failed.

Well, not a bad run. I ran the LC-1 for nearly two years. But still, I didn't expect that component to fail...

Ah well, so it is time to get a new wideband computer... But which one? This unfortunately has happened during trying times so I can't blow away moneys away for an expensive solution, so I need a cheaper alternative. After looking around I found the PLX Devices SM-AFR!

Let's see how it goes!

Theory: MAF Sensor Placement!

One of the major contributors to abnormal and erratic fuel trims, I believe, is Mass Air Flow (MAF) Sensor placement!

So let's have a look at this interesting topic!

Tuning: Re-tuning with a Temporary MAP Sensor - Part 2

So after rewiring the AEM FIC and adjusted the maps, it's time to test the map.

Tuning: Re-tuning with a Temporary MAP Sensor - Part 1

Alright! Now that the wiring is complete and the signal from the Boost sender was successfully identified, now comes tuning.

Tuning: Fuel Trims!

Following on from Closed Loop Tuning, here's a bit of a spill about fuel trims! Modern factory computers are pretty clever and can automatically adjust the motor's tune in response to an array of environmental variables. There are a number of articles out on the interwebs about fuel trims but I'll have a whack at explaining it!

Let's have a closer look at fuel trims, what affects it and what can you do to help smooth it out on your tune!

Modification: Re-wiring a Temporary MAP Sensor

Well, as the inbuilt MAP sensor in the AEM FIC decided it would go and eat some cookies, I'll need a new reference load to tune the FIC.

Uh-Oh: AEM FIC MAP Sensor Died..

I decided to go for a nice drive to grab some groceries and after returning to the car with my rations it wouldn't start.

Uh-oh.

Tuning: Closed Loop Tuning with O2 Maps

Oh the bane of piggybacks.... Closed loop tuning using the O2 map. The most finicky of settings! I can't promise to solve all your problems, but hopefully give you some insight and some 'gambatte' with regards to this challenging issue.

Uh-Oh: Suddenly Lean!

It was a cold winter morning and surprisingly the car took a bit of time to start. After a few cranking attempts it started the car up and I went on my merry way in search for foods. After hearing the BOV whoosh a few times I started to notice something flashing in my peripheral vision... It was the AFR gauge..

Uh-Oh: Stalling on Deceleration!

 Uh oh! I swapped out the included Zage BOV with a fresh GFB Deceptor Pro BOV! But during deceleration, the little monster sometimes stalls..!

What the heck is happening here?!