A/F Ratio with narrowband

[nicholasramos]

New to the forums! You folks are great! So in Cali I'm probably going to stick with my narrowband for smog reasons, but is an A/F gauge still useful at all? Are there any alternate sensors that would give me more useful info than a normal a/f connected to ECU?

I ask because I'm getting 16 mpg and got a check engine light for idle (when the idle feels perfect). Take it easy on me because I'm new, but one last stupid question, does the idle adjustment screw actually adjust a/f ratios?

Thanks for the help, sorry for the long questions

 

[92AWDHX40]

Well first idle doesnt do anything with af another thing i had one got rid of it did nothing but bliok, smog and a narrow band never heard of that. Get a wideband when you want to know exactly what your af are, its a must for accurate ratios.

 

[nicholasramos]

anything modified between the blockand cat would be illegal in CA..including wideband on DP. Is there any useful gauge or sensor from the cat back?

 

[jtmcinder]

This thread is not going well.

Of course idle does something to A/F. Anyone with any knowledge or any kind of A/F gauge (whether it be useful or a something hooked up to a narrow-band) knows that A/F cycles at idle, which means the ECU is updating fuel trims. They might not be the fuel trims that you care about for power, but A/F is still being tracked and adjusted.

CA might be a tad anal about mods, but I've never heard of someone failing for adding a gauge.

To the OP: do not waste you money on a narrow-band gauge. The first thing you get when it comes to tuning is a method for actually tuning, such as ECM-Link (aka DSM-Link). Then you might start adding gauges or making other changes. But just having a blinky light - while, to some people, this is cool - is really delaying making real mods, because it uses up money on something that, later on, you'll just throw away.

 

[nicholasramos]

To the OP: do not waste you money on a narrow-band gauge. The first thing you get when it comes to tuning is a method for actually tuning, such as ECM-Link (aka DSM-Link). Then you might start adding gauges or making other changes. But just having a blinky light - while, to some people, this is cool - is really delaying making real mods, because it uses up money on something that, later on, you'll just throw away.

So do you think if i have, CAI, FMIC, BOV (recirc), catback exhaust, Boost,oil pressure gauges, and all the maintenance done, that the next logical thing is to start tuning?

I'm not looking for an autocross or dragstrip gst, but i want it to run at its full potential.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Well yes thats what tuning is about getting it ready to have the full potential, with your car safely.

 

[LOVEBOOOST]

Do not use a narrowband...spend ## money right and buy a wideband!!!

 

[91stocker]

The gauge itself has nothing to do with anything. Its all about the sensor. The narrowband reads out in voltage. While the wideband reads in afr's.

The wb will give you an accurate easy to read reading. You will still need some type of tuning to adjust the afr's though.

 

[nicholasramos]

Alright, thanks for the help. Basically what I'm getting is that the wideband needs a tuning program to be useful and a tuning program needs a wideband to get accurate figures. So they basically go hand in hand

 

[turbodeclipse]

not really you can have a wide band in a car without any tuning programs but want to kno afrs in real time but if your tuning a car you need the wide band for tuning purposes either installed in the car or one connected to which ever dyno used for tuning ... narrow bands are def a waste of money in my opinion tho

 

[jtmcinder]

So do you think if i have, CAI, FMIC, BOV (recirc), catback exhaust, Boost,oil pressure gauges, and all the maintenance done, that the next logical thing is to start tuning?

Yes. If you've done most of the standard bolt-ons, it's time to choose a method of tuning (such as DSM-Link), buy the parts, and get to it. This might require more sensors and gauges, such as EGT and wideband, if you are planning to take it to the edge, but never spend money on stuff that will be thrown away later and pretty close to the top of the list of such worthless mods is a blinky-light, narrow-band, AFR gauge.