Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Well if anyone remebers from my last post I got a new PFC and it wasn't working for me. So I sent it back to Japan only to find I was missing a power feed in my ECU connectors.

Now I got it back today and hooked it up. Car fired up with the check engine light illuminated. I went to the setup menu and turned off the boost controllers option. First thing I noticed is the idle was funny. It sounds like a miss but after monitering the Ing timming I see it goes from 18-20 BTDC and drops to 3-9 BTDC. It's like the ECU is retarding timing maybee to get the idle down? I did adjust the idle screw up to keep the car from stalling when it comes down from a high rev. Maybe the idle control valve is shut all the way but the ECU is trying to get the idle down by retarding the timing?

Also what kinda timing do I want to see under boost? When crusing around I see 30-38 BTDC. I haven't gotten on the car much yet for I want to get it to a dyno ASAP. I also find that when crusing under light throttle the throttle feels like an on/off switch and if I get it just right the car will bog off and on. Should I look at My TPS voltage? What should it be at closed throttle?

Where can I find a manuel in English?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/47218-new-power-fc-installed/
Share on other sites

Well if anyone remebers from my last post I got a new PFC and it wasn't working for me. So I sent it back to Japan only to find I was missing a power feed in my ECU connectors.

Now I got it back today and hooked it up. Car fired up with the check engine light illuminated. I went to the setup menu and turned off the boost controllers option. First thing I noticed is the idle was funny. It sounds like a miss but after monitering the Ing timming I see it goes from 18-20 BTDC and drops to 3-9 BTDC. It's like the ECU is retarding timing maybee to get the idle down? I did adjust the idle screw up to keep the car from stalling when it comes down from a high rev. Maybe the idle control valve is shut all the way but the ECU is trying to get the idle down by retarding the timing?  

Also what kinda timing do I want to see under boost? When crusing around I see 30-38 BTDC. I haven't gotten on the car much yet for I want to get it to a dyno ASAP. I also find that when crusing under light throttle the throttle feels like an on/off switch and if I get it just right the car will bog off and on. Should I look at My TPS voltage? What should it be at closed throttle?

Where can I find a manuel in English?

Hi, try

www.apexi-usa.com

30 degrees is OK in some conditions, but 38 is not. Monitor the knock levels on the Commander, that will tell you if there is too much timing. The Power FC takes some time to "learn" the engine characteristics. Lastly don't drive it too hard with the "out of the box" tuning, get it onto a dyno and, if you do nothing else, check the A/F ratios.

Hope that helps :)

Just for a bit of info ...

We were having idly and low rpm problems associated with our stock ECU a while ago.... Took it to autotech and they diagnosed it as missing a power feed or two. I believe there are meant to be 4 total, ours had 2? We had half what was required anyway. All the problems were fixed up when they repaired this.

I dont know how relevant this is, what with our problems being pre-existing and on a stock ECU, but anyway.

Idle right now is better. I set the idle to 1100 and it holds it steady. It will still shut off if you let the revs drop to quick but it did the same with the stock ECU.

Now the weird crusing problem is pretty bad. It's very hard to go down the highway at a constant speed. The car surges on/off a bit. It's not sudden but very noticalbe to me. I don't think my passangers can tell but with my foot on the throttle at a constant speed the car will feel like the brakes are being lightly applied and then released. It's the feels the worst around 3000 RPM's which is highway speed in 5th gear. One idea I have is it may have somthing to do with going between open/closed loop. Is there anything on the PFC to control it or moniter it.

My timing maps where as high as 42 BTDC. I set them back to 30 degrees for now. With the knock moniters on I didn't get much of a reading. But I turned the timing back just to be safe. The A/F's look good. 11.5:1 and richer under boost.

Idle right now is better. I set the idle to 1100 and it holds it steady. It will still shut off if you let the revs drop to quick but it did the same with the stock ECU.  

Now the weird crusing problem is pretty bad. It's very hard to go down the highway at a constant speed. The car surges on/off a bit. It's not sudden but very noticalbe to me. I don't think my passangers can tell but with my foot on the throttle at a constant speed the car will feel like the brakes are being lightly applied and then released. It's the feels the worst around 3000 RPM's which is highway speed in 5th gear. One idea I have is it may have somthing to do with going between open/closed loop. Is there anything on the PFC to control it or moniter it.

My timing maps where as high as 42 BTDC. I set them back to 30 degrees for now. With the knock moniters on I didn't get much of a reading. But I turned the timing back just to be safe. The A/F's look good. 11.5:1 and richer under boost.

I don't know enough about your mods to comment too much, other than 3,000rpm is where you get a boost ramp up. It is past the normal point of swap from closed loop to open. RB's are very sensitive to A/F ratios and ignition timing at that time. It is easy to pick on the dyno with part throttle loadings, spend a little time and you can easily tune it out.

Hope that helps :)

Well My setup doesn't make full boost till after 4,000 RPM's. I am running a 56 Trim T3/T4 with a stage 5 exhaust wheel .63 housing. So at 3K there isn't any boost. What kinda A/F's should I target while crusing? Right now it's 14.2-15.1 and it goes back and fourth.

As for the manuel Apexi-USA doesn't have a manuel to navitgate the Comander menu. It just shows how to hook it up.

Well My setup doesn't make full boost till after 4,000 RPM's. I am running a 56 Trim T3/T4 with a stage 5 exhaust wheel .63 housing. So at 3K there isn't any boost. What kinda A/F's should I target while crusing? Right now it's 14.2-15.1 and it goes back and fourth.

As for the manuel Apexi-USA doesn't have a manuel to navitgate the Comander menu. It just shows how to hook it up.

PM me your email address and I will email it to you, it is in Acrobat format. :)

Is your turbo plain bearing or ball bearing?

You got PM

I was out doing some test pulls at lunch. First thing I checked was my A/F ratio. It was nice and rich compaired to the stock ECU. With the stock ECU I was seeing 11.5-11.1. Now with the PFC in place I see 10.8-10.5 So I got plenty of fuel. I also saw that the knock wasn't going above 13 on the PFC display. So I layed into it in 3rd gear till about 7K. Knock was still below 13 and car felt pretty strong. Injector pulse max was 85.8% with my A/F ratio in the mid 10's. I did another pull and looked at the moniter. It showed knock at 83!! I guess the stock SMIC must be getting heat soaked or my timing is a little bit advanced? I am only running 10 PSI BTW.

So could somone explain the #'s for the injectors on the map? I assume lowering the # will lower the amount of fuel in that cell. Sorry for all the questions it's just being in the US there isn't anyone here who would have a clue of how to tune this setup. But I do have my own resources as to tuning myself (Wideband, Ears, and a good friend to ride with me to moniter things)

I still haven't taken care of the weird surging problem at cruising. My TPS voltage is constant, Air flow isn't jumping. The only thing I can say that is wierd is the A/F goes from 13.8:1-16:1 while crusing which I think it a bit much. I think with the Stock ECU it was going from 14:1-15:1. I don't know how I can adjust that though since it's in closed loop. Any ideas?

PM me your email address and I will email it to you, it is in Acrobat format. :(

Hi SK

sorry to be presumptuous, but if you have instructions for the commander could you please also email them to me as I have absolutely no idea. Thanks mate

Regards Alan

[email protected]

I still haven't taken care of the weird surging problem at cruising. My TPS voltage is constant, Air flow isn't jumping. The only thing I can say that is wierd is the A/F goes from 13.8:1-16:1 while crusing which I think it a bit much. I think with the Stock ECU it was going from 14:1-15:1. I don't know how I can adjust that though since it's in closed loop. Any ideas?

It's not closed loop, put the Commander in Monitor mode and note the map location. Then adjust (Setings) that point on the map. Simple. :rofl:

What is the F/B control O2 in the function menu? When I turn it off the car doesn't surge as much but it won't idle at all. Also what does the little Jappens writing mean next to the different functions? Is it on/off? I know when I first started the car the check engine light was on and when I went in and turned the Boost option to what I think is off then the light went out. I left the other things alone (Knock, injector warening) But funny thing is I have never seen the knock turn on the check engine light. At what point is that supose to happen?

BlueRB240: I am using 94 Oct fuel. Gotta love living in PA.

closed loop for O2, the characters are on/off - if you dont have the boost control fitted, then you would have to turn it off for the engine to work.

the car should idle with the O2 feedback on or off. You should turn the O2 feedback off for tuning. the O2 sensor could need replacing.

previous question, the TPS should read around 0.48 - o.5v closed. 0.4 to 0.6 indicates throttle shut. The AAC valve, I found, works best when left as open as possible, until the idle starts going above where you have it set. You should be able to get a good idle below 1100rpm, mine is fine with 256/264 cams at 900rpm, and there are people around running larger than that and still getting a good idle.

the adjustments in the fuel map are correction to the base power fc fuel map, so as you guessed raising the number means more fuel. To adjust the base map you need the power excel software only available throught Apexi authorised dealers

I think that just about covers the questions.

Ya that covers most questions I have soo far. Thanks

Now as for the stalling problem when the engine revs down. I have an HKS SSQ BOV on the car and ever since I put my larger turbo on it stalls. I can't get the BOV back into the intake because I made my own intake and my external wastegate gets in the way of the recirculation pipe.

Ok I turned off the F/B control and the car feels much better at crusing. I guess there isn't any way to control what the ECU does in Closed Loop mode? The O2 sensor seems to be working properly. The voltage goes up and down like it should while driving in closed loop.

I changed my O2 sensor, and the car was alot smoother at cruise. Voltage was doing what it was supposed to, but what made me suspect was that the voltage came down during cold start, to 0.02-0.00V. Once I fitted the new sensor, the voltage stayed at around 0.92-1.00V during cold start - so the old one was obviously knackered.

It will make a difference to economy, as the car goes into closed loop at idle and cruise - if you arent worried about that, then not much point in changing it I guess.

Another thing I found with a bigger turbo, is that reversion out of the AFM was greater - probably due to a larger inducer and more air flow, but anyway, I fixed that by replacing the mesh on the AFM. If you have both meshes, another thing to try would be perhaps to tension up the BOV a little.

Also, not sure where you have fuel cut recovery rpm set, but mine is 1200 and 1250 - might make a difference.

good luck.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • The average previous owner for these cars were basically S-chassis owners in the US. Teenagers or teenager-adjacent. I often tell people that neglect is easier to fix than something that was actively "repaired" by previous owners.
    • Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
    • No those pads are DBA too  but they have colors too. I look at the and imo the green "street" are the best.
    • I’m not sure what happened I told them about sonic tunes free OTS tune and the next the I know .. I was booted..   To funny 
×
×
  • Create New...