ECMlink Car started sputtering and running really rich - Please Help

[ZubUchiha]

Hello all,

So yesterday was the first time in six months where I decided to get some gas for the car after having it sit for a long time. I went to my local gas station and put 91 gas into it. The car was running fine the whole way through and the AEM AFR gauge was cycling between 14.7 so everything was running good.

After putting gas into it and pulling out into the street, the car bogged and sputtered and died. I was able to start it right back up and drive it onto a side street, and a check engine came on for two things: P1500 (Generator FR Terminal Circuit Malfunction) and P0505 (Idle Control System Malfunction).

I took it to my local park next to my house to investigate what had happened and a couple times randomly there was a grinding noise (while idling) coming from the engine bay side so I was not sure what that was. The car started to run very badly and would sputter under any load even while it was in idle. I have ECMLink so I was keeping track of the logs and I will post them here, but the car seems to be running very rich as per the AFRatioEst sensor, but my AEM AFR shows that it is lean. My combined fuel trim is high around 20%. I tried to adjust the fuel and MAF comp tables to account for this strange occurrence, but no luck. I even tried to go back to an old log from when I first got the car in hopes that maybe I had selected a setting or changed something and forgot about it, but still no luck.

The last time something like this happened was when one of the intercooler couplers popped off and it killed the car instantly, but now I can't find any couplers that are popped off or loose. Maybe to the naked eye it's like that, but there is actually a huge leak that just started happening. I am hoping it's just a really bad case of a boost leak and nothing internal.

This morning I went back to the car to grab something and noticed there was a plug hanging below the alternator and realized it was the plug for the alternator, so I plugged it back in. There is also another plug in that area hanging unplugged but I don't know what that is for. After plugging in the alternator plug I went to turn the car on to see if it made any changes, but the belts started screeching like crazy, so I am not sure why that was.

ECMLink also showed the battery voltage around 12 volts while the car was idling so I think that may have been the issue with that.

My mods:
- 650cc injectors
- Ebay 16g turbo
- FMIC
- FP exhaust manifold
- BPR7ES plugs (gapped to its appropriate size, I think. I forgot what I gapped them to).
- 3 inch exhaust
- ECMLink V3
The rest of the mods are on my profile in case I forgot about it.

I have attached all the logs from yesterday when all of this happened. You don't need to look at all of them, they're pretty much all the same, so you can look at the latest one (log.2024.08.03-16) since that's how the car is currently running. I would appreciate any kind of help. I haven't gotten the chance to do a proper boost leak test because I don't have an air compressor nor the space to keep it. I will try to get it done asap.

 

[Justin DuBois]

Without looking at the logs, based on the history you provided - sputtering and poor spark performance is typical when running on battery, which is probably what you have been doing while the alt was unplugged. the DTC code for the Alt should go away when it is plugged in.

The squealing is a belt tension issue, and since you are having issues with the Alt, that is the first belt I would check. The grinding noise might be a belt rubbing on the timing belt covers. The threads in the alt strip often, so a longer bolt and a backup lock nut is recommended.

If you continue to get ECU DTC codes - that would be the next thing to look at.

 

[ZubUchiha]

Without looking at the logs, based on the history you provided - sputtering and poor spark performance is typical when running on battery, which is probably what you have been doing while the alt was unplugged. the DTC code for the Alt should go away when it is plugged in.

The squealing is a belt tension issue, and since you are having issues with the Alt, that is the first belt I would check. The threads in the alt strip often, so a longer bolt and a backup lock nut is recommended.

If you continue to get ECU DTC codes - that would be the next thing to look at.

The car was running perfectly fine before this so I think the alternator plug got unplugged somewhere along the way to the gas station. On top of that, there is no tensioner on the alternator. When I did a timing belt job on the car, the previous owner never put the tensioner on there, so I definitely need one of that. For now, all I can think of is to put pressure on the alternator and torque it down.

I am confused of which bolt you are speaking of. Are you talking about the bolt that holds the alternator down?

 

[Justin DuBois]

The car was running perfectly fine before this so I think the alternator plug got unplugged somewhere along the way to the gas station. On top of that, there is no tensioner on the alternator. When I did a timing belt job on the car, the previous owner never put the tensioner on there, so I definitely need one of that. For now, all I can think of is to put pressure on the alternator and torque it down.

I am confused of which bolt you are speaking of. Are you talking about the bolt that holds the alternator down?

The bolt that goes through the slot in the arm, threads into the alternator. The aluminum threads strip cause everybody cranks this bolt down max tight. The tension is based on where in the slot you make the bolt tight. 12v is not good if the engine is running. You should see 13.5-14.5v

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[ZubUchiha]

Update!

Went to look at my car and I started it. The belt squealed as usual at first but as the car reached operating temperature, it didn't squeak anymore unless I put load on it while in neutral.

I have attached a copy of my log from today. Everything is looking decent for the most part except a few things:

- The timing at idle is too high, it's 11-16 degrees at idle when it should be 5 degrees +/- 3 degrees. I don't know what to do about that.
- I am also showing -14.6 -inHg/+psi for my BoostEst when it should be at -20 -inHg/+psi. So it seems as if there is load on the car because Load Factor shows 0.55 while in idle. I am not sure what's causing load.
- Lastly, the battery voltage at idle is showing a high 12v to low 13v when it should be around 14v. I think this is because of a bad ground that I will be replacing as well as the alternator not having its tensioner which I will be ordering soon.

Please help me out with any knowledge, advice, and anything else that will benefit me. Thanks. Please look at the log, it will help me out tremendously.

 

[Justin DuBois]

Note - the slotted Alt tensioner bracket bolts to the water pump - and removing the bolt and putting it back in with the bracket might cause a leak at the pump gasket until you have the bolt tight again. The bolt length is expecting the bracket to be there - you should look if the previous owner used a spacer or a shorter bolt to install the water pump without one. When you put the bracket on the pump, be sure you are using the right length bolt.

 

[Justin DuBois]

Ok, here is my list of observations.
1. Vent to atmosphere BOV is a NO NO when running MAF - you will bog rich every time you let off the gas, can stall the engine. Plumb the BOV vent back to the intake. Additionally, heat shields are your friend, find some stock shields to install on your exhaust and o2 manifold.

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ECM Link settings: (in no particular order)
Fuel. You have stuff setup in your settings that should not be needed. Most of these adjustments are legacy tools from the original implementation of DSM Link that we have learned to avoid. There are a couple key features to calibrate your fuel setup for the pump and injectors. When used correctly, the stock tables will work without a bunch of slider adjustments.

2. Your MAP sensor is not configured - according to this you are using a GM 3 Bar on the MDP sensor input, but you need to define that sensor here, highlighted in RED.

Additional notes: If you are using the MDP input for MAP, enable the "Lock manifold differential pressure (MDP)" control so the ECU ignores the MDP sensor during emissions checks.

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3.Timing sliders - Don't use these. Zero these out. There are timing tables in Direct Access that are the targets the ECU is trying to achieve. If you don't like your timing, adjust the targets in Direct Access instead - but don't adjust timing until you have a good understanding of the DA tables.

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3.Fuel setup - Zero out the sliders. There are better ways. The two controls you need to understand are the Global fuel and Global dead time adjustments here instead.

Global Fuel will be used to setup the injector output - with the most impact at the Max boost WOT area of your setup. You will adjust the global fuel on a properly configured engine until the Max Boost WOT air fuel ratio on your AEM wideband reads the same as the AFR target in your Direct Access tables. You want AFR (wide band) and AFRest data to match. When you start - use the measurements from 5000-5500K RPM at WOT to set the global fuel. A stock AFR target at WOT is going to be quite rich - ~9.8-10.0:1. Start here, but eventually you will choose different targets in the DA table. (by the way - most Wideband are blind measureing richer than 10:1 - so it is more practical to set richest values in your DA table to somthing safe like 10.5:1) Most of us target higher than that (11:1) - fuel type depending. 91 pump gas is better off rich, cause it knocks quite easy as soon as you get over 1.0 bar of boost.

The Global dead time is the adjustment you will use to affect the Combined FT (Fuel trims) when idling. You are looking for +/- 0% combined fuel trims. Be sure to use the "reset" fuel trims function to remove the automatic adjustments from the long term trims before you start, and again after you have finished the adjustments. You can do this in real time while the engine is running.

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4. MAF comp - zero this out and use deadtime to dial in the idle area, and Global Fuel to adjust AFR alignment at 5000-5500rpm. Once idle and 5k WOT are set correctly, you use this curve to tweak AFR to ARFest alignment everywhere else. (until you switch to Speed Density)

Not marked - but also interesting - "Disable MAF compensation with SD operation" could be enabled for the future. Running MAF this has no effect, but you can enable this now in prep for SD.

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5. Your profile pic shows a 97+ type cam angle sensor. You should enable the non-95/96 check box. This will set the correct injector sequence so you are injecting fuel when the intake valves are open. The engine will run without the injector sequence synced, but its not as smooth.

Also - for MAF the "disable airflow smoothing with SD" does nothing running MAF mode, but you will want it enabled if (and when) you switch to SD (speed density) mode.

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6. Misc - disable Automatic Transmission on a manual trans car. Use the clear all and update all buttons to see if you can clear the o2 heater coil failure. As you are running a wide band o2 with a simulated narrow band, the 02 values for the fuel trims are OK, but the heater circut check is still looking for a factory sensor. There are ways to "fake" a heater coil with wiring to eliminate this DTC error.

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[Justin DuBois]

Have you looked at your factory o2 sensors setup?
What o2 sensors do you have installed and where?
How is the wiring for these connected? Stock? Modified?

 

[ZubUchiha]

Ok, here is my list of observations.
1. Vent to atmosphere BOV is a NO NO when running MAF - you will bog rich every time you let off the gas, can stall the engine. Plumb the BOV vent back to the intake. Additionally, heat shields are your friend, find some stock shields to install on your exhaust and o2 manifold.

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ECM Link settings: (in no particular order)
Fuel. You have stuff setup in your settings that should not be needed. Most of these adjustments are legacy tools from the original implementation of DSM Link that we have learned to avoid. There are a couple key features to calibrate your fuel setup for the pump and injectors. When used correctly, the stock tables will work without a bunch of slider adjustments.

2. Your MAP sensor is not configured - according to this you are using a GM 3 Bar on the MDP sensor input, but you need to define that sensor here, highlighted in RED.

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3.Timing sliders - Don't use these. Zero these out. There are timing tables in Direct Access that are the targets the ECU is trying to achieve. If you don't like your timing, adjust the targets in Direct Access instead - but don't adjust timing until you have a good understanding of the DA tables.

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3.Fuel setup - Zero out the sliders. There are better ways. The two controls you need to understand are the Global fuel and Global dead time adjustments here instead.

Global Fuel will be used to setup the injector output - with the most impact at the Max boost WOT area of your setup. You will adjust the global fuel on a properly configured engine until the Max Boost WOT air fuel ratio on your AEM wideband reads the same as the AFR target in your Direct Access tables. You want AFR (wide band) and AFRest data to match. When you start - use the measurements from 5000-5500K RPM at WOT to set the global fuel. A stock AFR target at WOT is going to be quite rich - ~9.8-10.0:1. Start here, but eventually you will choose different targets in the DA table. (by the way - most Wideband are blind measureing richer than 10:1 - so it is more practical to set richest values in your DA table to somthing safe like 10.5:1) Most of us target higher than that (11:1) - fuel type depending. 91 pump gas is better off rich, cause it knocks quite easy as soon as you get over 1.0 bar of boost.

The Global dead time is the adjustment you will use to affect the Combined FT (Fuel trims) when idling. You are looking for +/- 0% combined fuel trims. Be sure to use the "reset" fuel trims function so remove the automatic adjustments from the long term trims before you start, and again after you have finished the adjustments. You can do this in real time while the engine is running.

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4. MAF comp - zero this out and use deadtime to dial in the idle area, and Global Fuel to adjust AFR alignment at 5000-5500rpm. Once idle and 5k WOT are set correctly, you use this curve to tweak AFR to ARFest alignment everywhere else. (until you switch to Speed Density)

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5. Your profile pic shows a 97+ type cam angle sensor. You should enable the non-95/96 check box. This will set the correct injector sequence so you are injecting fuel when the intake valves are open. The engine will run without the injector sequence synced, but its not as smooth.

Also - for MAF the disable airflow with SD does nothing running MAF mode, but you will want it enabled if (and when) youswitch to SD (speed density) mode.

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6. Misc - disable Automatic Transmission on a manual trans car. Use the clear all and update all buttons to see if you can clear the o2 heater coil failure. As you are running a wide band o2 with a simulated narrow band, the 02 values for the fuel trims are OK, but the heatuer circut check is still looking for a factory sensor. There are ways to "fake" a heater coil with wiring to eliminate this DTC error.

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First off, I would like to thank you for helping me as this is very beneficial to my learning and basically everything else. I am going to address each point of yours in the order you did so that you are up to date with the latest version of my car.

1. This was an old engine bay picture from when I first got the car. Here is the new engine bay picture. I found a recirculating tube for it and also replaced my exhaust manifold with an FP exhaust manifold.

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2. For my MAP sensor, I am using the stock original sensor and not an aftermarket one. With this in mind, what do I put for the Manifold pressure (MAP): setting? Should I select MDP, undefined, etc? I do not see a stock option. I assumed the stock map sensor was the GM 3 Bar sensor.

3. For timing sliders, I have never touched these and do not know what the appropriate settings are. I am afraid to mess with this setting so that I do not mess up my timing and blow the motor. When you say zero these out, what exactly do you mean? Are you suggesting I take all the RPMs that have a -2 or -1 and change it to 0 degrees? How will this affect my engine, could it mess up timing? I am very fearful of this page in DSMLink so I want to be sure before I make any changes.

4. Fuel Setup: Once again, for this part, when I take the highlighted portion in RED to 0%, what and how will this affect the way my engine runs? Also, with these, I have never touched the sliders on this page either as to not mess with anything. I do not know what the base stock 2g map is since I got this car from someone else who did not care much for it. The Global fuel and the Global deadtime are the only adjustments I have made changes to and that's based off the "Calculate" button. I inputted 650cc injectors, 42.6 fuel pressure, and 14.7 stoich value and this is what I got.

I am not sure what you mean by use the measurements from the 5000-5500 RPM range at WOT to set my global fuel? How do I go about that? What are the steps to do this correctly?

For the Global dead time, I will click "reset" at the bottom right to reset my LTFTs.

5. MAF comp: So once again, just to confirm, do you want me to move all sliders to the 0% position? I am very worried as zeroing everything will cause knock or some other kind of damage.

6. My profile pic shows a 97+ type cam angle sensor probably because I owned a 97 convertible. This car is a 1995 Eclipse GST hardtop. So let me know if I still need to set this or if you are looking at a different part in my profile.

Since I am not on speed density, I will not worry about the "Disable airflow smoothing w/ SD operation" but once I get SD, I will be sure to enable it. I do have a speed density kit for this car, I just have not installed it as I wanted to dial in everything and make sure the engine is running properly before adding upgrades.

7. I will disable Automatic Transmission when I get to it. I will clear the check engine for P0135. I am running the wideband with a simulated narrowband on my front O2 sensor. For this code, I typically check off the Cat/efficiency/O2 DTC so I do not get the check engine light for this.

Thank you again for your help, when I get off work today, I will get to all of these settings and change them to what you suggested for me to do. I am extremely worried about changing anything in timing as to not mess it up, but I would definitely like to fix the high timing on idle issue.

Have you looked at your factory o2 sensors setup?
What o2 sensors do you have installed and where?
How is the wiring for these connected? Stock? Modified?

- I have looked at my upstream factory O2 sensor. I forgot what my downstream is like or if it is even there since the exhaust is aftermarket.

- I have a Bosch 17025 O2 sensor installed in my upstream port and it is connected to my wideband gauge. I will check to see if I have a downstream sensor.

- The wiring everywhere is left as is except for the Wideband AEM gauge where its power and ground wires are connected to its appropriate pins in the ECU.

 

[Justin DuBois]

It's better to learn why I am suggesting changes, than to make the changes without thinking - so I'll give you that. I can also respond to those points if you are good to continue.

 

[steve]

2. For my MAP sensor, I am using the stock original sensor and not an aftermarket one. With this in mind, what do I put for the Manifold pressure (MAP): setting? Should I select MDP, undefined, etc? I do not see a stock option. I assumed the stock map sensor was the GM 3 Bar sensor.

6. My profile pic shows a 97+ type cam angle sensor probably because I owned a 97 convertible. This car is a 1995 Eclipse GST hardtop. So let me know if I still need to set this or if you are looking at a different part in my profile.

I did not look at any of your logs so I can't comment but it sounds like saving a log (so you have what you started from as a fall back) and then resetting everything back to factory and then starting over would be a good place to work from.

You don't have a MAP sensor, the factory sensor is a MDP (Manifold Differential Pressure), so you would used undefined. The MDP is only used for EGR function originally.

Your picture shows a late 2g style Cam Angle Sensor on the rear of the intake camshaft.

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[ZubUchiha]

It's better to learn why I am suggesting changes, than to make the changes without thinking - so I'll give you that. I can also respond to those points if you are good to continue.

Thank you for clarifying that. I was hoping I was not too redundant in my questions, so this does make it easy for me to ask any question I have. Yes, please respond to those points, I am good to continue.

I would like to give a status update:

I went to my car, did lots of extra research on the pointers you gave me in ECMLink, and I slowly made changes to each slider, slowly bringing it down to the zero mark. I did so for the Fuel, MAFComp, and Timing. I turned the car off, reset the fuel trims (I did not know this was in the drop down category at the top, instead I thought you were referring to the "reset" button on the Fuel tab).

After resetting fuel trims, I also made some switches: I disabled automatic transmission in DTC checks, I changed the Manifold pressure (MAP) to undefined, I unclicked "enable idle switch operation" I believe this was originally left unchecked, but let me know if this is something I need to turn back on as it does not make much sense to me.

When I tried to turn the car back on, it was not powerful enough to keep running. It would start and idle at 300-400 RPM range, and then soon die after. I also got a check engine code for P0203 (Injector circuit malfunction - Cylinder 3). I got this code once the other day too, but never before that. The engine runs as if it is on 3 cylinders, so I am assuming something is up with the injectors because the day these issues all started is when I went to get gas, and used the Lucas fuel injector cleaner before filling up so I think it caused dirt and debris to get clogged into the injector. I am still unsure.

Below I have attached four logs:

Log.2024.08.05-01 - This illustrates when I zeroed all the sliders so my CombinedFT was around 20% during idle. This is where I also made the changes in the ECU Inputs tab and RPM/TPS tab.

Log.2024.08.05-02 - This illustrates when I reset the fuel trims and let the car idle to see how it is running and the CombinedFT and STFT went up to 5.1%. Here everything seem to be good (even battery voltage: ~13.9v) except for a couple things. The timing during idle is still high, the Wideband factor is around 40%, and my AEM AFR (~19.0:1) does not match my AFRatioEst value (~14.0:1).

Log.2024.08.05-03 AND Log.2024.08.05-04 - This illustrates how the car was struggling to run. You could see the RPMs were low, the AEM AFR was high (19.0:1) while the AFRatioEst was low (~14.0:1). The battery voltage was also low (~12.5v). I did reset the fuel trims like you suggested I do so after Log-02 which is why the fuel trims here are back to 0%. In these logs is also where the P0203 code appeared.

While it was running good for the most part on ECMLink in Log-02, that sputter/hesitation was still there as if there was a massive boost leak, misfire, or something else of some sorts where you could hear the choppiness of the exhaust. I hope to figure something out soon. I have waited 6+ months to finally drive this thing, and it was running perfectly fine up until the other day. Makes me regret using that fuel injector cleaner , if that was the cause.

 

[ZubUchiha]

I did not look at any of your logs so I can't comment but it sounds like saving a log (so you have what you started from as a fall back) and then resetting everything back to factory and then starting over would be a good place to work from.

You don't have a MAP sensor, the factory sensor is a MDP (Manifold Differential Pressure), so you would used undefined. The MDP is only used for EGR function originally.

Your picture shows a late 2g style Cam Angle Sensor on the rear of the intake camshaft.

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Thank you very much Steve! You clarified many things.

I definitely have logs saved from previous times with all these past settings in case I need to go back. For the MAP sensor, that is exactly what I did, I left it undefined, thank you for the clarification.

For the CAS, thank you, I did not know there was a difference. I thought it was all the same. I did some research and came across the ECMLink website for this (https://www.ecmtuning.com/wiki/swapplugwires). So this is a 97+ CAS on a 95' car. This option has never been selected before and the car was running good. How would this change things? Now that the car is running bad, did the ECU recognize that it has this type of CAS rather than the older version? I will definitely select the "Use non-95/96 style cam angle sensor" when I get the chance, but please do explain how it would affect the timing or the car since this was never checked before so I am wondering what kind of difference it would make.

Thank you again!

 

[Justin DuBois]

First off, I would like to thank you for helping me as this is very beneficial to my learning and basically everything else. I am going to address each point of yours in the order you did so that you are up to date with the latest version of my car.

1. This was an old engine bay picture from when I first got the car. Here is the new engine bay picture. I found a recirculating tube for it and also replaced my exhaust manifold with an FP exhaust manifold.

Brilliant - good to know that is back to stock venting setup. MAF based Air Fuel is dependent on metered air going to the engine. escaped air = lots of extra fuel :-(

..
2. For my MAP sensor, I am using the stock original sensor and not an aftermarket one. With this in mind, what do I put for the Manifold pressure (MAP): setting? Should I select MDP, undefined, etc? I do not see a stock option. I assumed the stock map sensor was the GM 3 Bar sensor.

Copy - No - a GM 3 Bar is an after market item, not stock. MDP, is Manifold Differential Pressure, vs MAP - Manifold Absolute Pressure. They are different, the (stock) ECU has no idea what to do with 0-5v linear Manifold Absolute Pressure signal. ECM Link can modify the sensor input logic so a MAP sensor can be used, but it replaces the function that the input was originally being used for.

The MDP is used in a stock ECU to comply with an OBD2 emissions requirement to verify the EGR valve was having an expected impact to the manifold pressure.

If you replace the MDP with something else, your car won't be OBD2 emissions compliant - but this may not matter and it can be made reversible if needed.

It is desirable to log actual MAP data to compare with BoostEst. You don't have to re-purpose the MDP sensor channel. You could choose another.

3. For timing sliders, I have never touched these and do not know what the appropriate settings are. I am afraid to mess with this setting so that I do not mess up my timing and blow the motor. When you say zero these out, what exactly do you mean? Are you suggesting I take all the RPMs that have a -2 or -1 and change it to 0 degrees? How will this affect my engine, could it mess up timing? I am very fearful of this page in DSMLink so I want to be sure before I make any changes.

Yes on the pages I indicated, to return the ECU to stock, set 0's at all the data points. Whoever set this up before does not understand ECM Link.

4. Fuel Setup: Once again, for this part, when I take the highlighted portion in RED to 0%, what and how will this affect the way my engine runs? Also, with these, I have never touched the sliders on this page either as to not mess with anything. I do not know what the base stock 2g map is since I got this car from someone else who did not care much for it. The Global fuel and the Global deadtime are the only adjustments I have made changes to and that's based off the "Calculate" button. I inputted 650cc injectors, 42.6 fuel pressure, and 14.7 stoich value and this is what I got.

The Fuel calculator is handy to ball park the setup in a way that makes a logical guess, but the actual AFR result measured with a Wideband will tell you how much to change it after a rough guess.

I am not sure what you mean by use the measurements from the 5000-5500 RPM range at WOT to set my global fuel? How do I go about that? What are the steps to do this correctly?

In order to audit your engine performance, you will log "pulls" and analize the data . A "pull" is captured by driving and logging in ECM Link, Use 3rd gear, start low in RPM (like 2K) then go full throttle and hold it until you get above 6000k. If your start to get knock, (CEL flashes) let off and abort the pull.

https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/itflys-1gina2g.532766/post-153899535

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What you are looking for is how well AFRatioEst aligns with th AEM wideband. AFRatioEst is a calculated AFR that the ECU is expecting to achieve, and the widband tells you what AFR you actually achieved. You calculate the % difference between the two and add or remove global fuel to move the calibration into alignment at 5000-5500k. ECM Link can calculate and log this % difference for you if you enable "WB Factor"

For the Global dead time, I will click "reset" at the bottom right to reset my LTFTs.

No - the reset button here only resets the last changes before sending the data to the ECU, you need a reset fuel trims function in the ECU menu.

5. MAF comp: So once again, just to confirm, do you want me to move all sliders to the 0% position? I am very worried as zeroing everything will cause knock or some other kind of damage.

Yes - 0 is stock.

6. My profile pic shows a 97+ type cam angle sensor probably because I owned a 97 convertible. This car is a 1995 Eclipse GST hardtop. So let me know if I still need to set this or if you are looking at a different part in my profile.

Since I am not on speed density, I will not worry about the "Disable airflow smoothing w/ SD operation" but once I get SD, I will be sure to enable it. I do have a speed density kit for this car, I just have not installed it as I wanted to dial in everything and make sure the engine is running properly before adding upgrades.

You need to set the checkbox for the CAS you have. 95/96 sensor signal are inverted square wave signal compared to 97+

7. I will disable Automatic Transmission when I get to it. I will clear the check engine for P0135. I am running the wideband with a simulated narrowband on my front O2 sensor. For this code, I typically check off the Cat/efficiency/O2 DTC so I do not get the check engine light for this.

Thank you again for your help, when I get off work today, I will get to all of these settings and change them to what you suggested for me to do. I am extremely worried about changing anything in timing as to not mess it up, but I would definitely like to fix the high timing on idle issue.

The changes I'm suggesting are safer than leaving it the way it is. Whoever set those does not understand ECM Link

- I have looked at my upstream factory O2 sensor. I forgot what my downstream is like or if it is even there since the exhaust is aftermarket.

- I have a Bosch 17025 O2 sensor installed in my upstream port and it is connected to my wideband gauge. I will check to see if I have a downstream sensor.

- The wiring everywhere is left as is except for the Wideband AEM gauge where its power and ground wires are connected to its appropriate pins in the ECU.

Got it - A factory 02 sensor has 4 wires. Signal, Ground, and Heater coil + and -. To fake the ECU into thinking a factory 02 is installed, you need to put a load on the heater circuit.

 

[Justin DuBois]

After resetting fuel trims, I also made some switches: I disabled automatic transmission in DTC checks, I changed the Manifold pressure (MAP) to undefined, I unclicked "enable idle switch operation" I believe this was originally left unchecked, but let me know if this is something I need to turn back on as it does not make much sense to me.

Turn on the idle switch, you need that. This tells the ECU that the throttle is closed, and to control the idle with the ISC

When I tried to turn the car back on, it was not powerful enough to keep running. It would start and idle at 300-400 RPM range, and then soon die after. I also got a check engine code for P0203 (Injector circuit malfunction - Cylinder 3). I got this code once the other day too, but never before that. The engine runs as if it is on 3 cylinders, so I am assuming something is up with the injectors because the day these issues all started is when I went to get gas, and used the Lucas fuel injector cleaner before filling up so I think it caused dirt and debris to get clogged into the injector. I am still unsure.

Try again with the idle switch enabled. I'll take a look at these logs - but it looks like you are figuring it out.

WB Factor is only for wide open throttle eval, not idle.

The STFT and LTFT together (Combined FT) at idle are where you should start. Its a little chicken and egg at first. Global fuel needs to be roughed in before you can use deadtime to tune idle. Combined FT is the only number to care about when adjusting Global fuel and Global Deadtime for idle. You need Idle to be stable in the +/- 10% range in your Combined FT so you can drive without stalling, and then get some WOT data to know if you are global rich or global lean.

Below I have attached four logs:

Log.2024.08.05-01 - This illustrates when I zeroed all the sliders so my CombinedFT was around 20% during idle. This is where I also made the changes in the ECU Inputs tab and RPM/TPS tab.

Log.2024.08.05-02 - This illustrates when I reset the fuel trims and let the car idle to see how it is running and the CombinedFT and STFT went up to 5.1%. Here everything seem to be good (even battery voltage: ~13.9v) except for a couple things. The timing during idle is still high, the Wideband factor is around 40%, and my AEM AFR (~19.0:1) does not match my AFRatioEst value (~14.0:1).

Log.2024.08.05-03 AND Log.2024.08.05-04 - This illustrates how the car was struggling to run. You could see the RPMs were low, the AEM AFR was high (19.0:1) while the AFRatioEst was low (~14.0:1). The battery voltage was also low (~12.5v). I did reset the fuel trims like you suggested I do so after Log-02 which is why the fuel trims here are back to 0%. In these logs is also where the P0203 code appeared.

While it was running good for the most part on ECMLink in Log-02, that sputter/hesitation was still there as if there was a massive boost leak, misfire, or something else of some sorts where you could hear the choppiness of the exhaust. I hope to figure something out soon. I have waited 6+ months to finally drive this thing, and it was running perfectly fine up until the other day. Makes me regret using that fuel injector cleaner , if that was the cause.

 

[Justin DuBois]

I just noticed this - Global Scalar 50% in your MAF Comp. This is adding 50% more airflow across the board. (Yikes)

Put that to 0% to reset it.

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[ZubUchiha]

I just noticed this - Global Scalar 50% in your MAF Comp. This is adding 50% more airflow across the board. (Yikes)

Put that to 0% to reset it.

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I was going to ask what that was for since it has always been at 50. I also turned that to 0%. Check my most recent logs

I am also going to pull my spark plugs out and check the gap and clean them. They are new BPR7ES, but I think in light of recent events with how rich it is running, the plugs are probably fouled.

 

[Justin DuBois]

I was going to ask what that was for since it has always been at 50. I also turned that to 0%. Check my most recent logs

I am also going to pull my spark plugs out and check the gap and clean them. They are new BPR7ES, but I think in light of recent events with how rich it is running, the plugs are probably fouled.

I'm assuming you are using a stock 2G MAF. Global scalar would be for something really non-stock like a GM MAF.

Regards injectors - Professional cleaning is highly recommended, as they will typically give you the ACTUAL injector flow numbers (CC/min) so you will know what you have. At the same time replace your fuel filter.

 

[ZubUchiha]

I'm assuming you are using a stock 2G MAF. Global scalar would be for something really non-stock like a GM MAF.

Regards injectors - Professional cleaning is highly recommended, as they will typically give you the ACTUAL injector flow numbers (CC/min) so you will know what you have. At the same time replace your fuel filter.

Ahh I understand, I thought that 50 was a base setting. Whoever touched ECMLink definitely did not know how to use this software.

I will get the injectors cleaned this week. What part/brand do you recommend for the fuel filter apart from OEM? I tried one last time on another Eclipse and it would leak fuel so I replaced it with another off brand one. Thanks again Justin

 

[Justin DuBois]

Ahh I understand, I thought that 50 was a base setting. Whoever touched ECMLink definitely did not know how to use this software.

I will get the injectors cleaned this week. What part/brand do you recommend for the fuel filter apart from OEM? I tried one last time on another Eclipse and it would leak fuel so I replaced it with another off brand one. Thanks again Justin

OEM Fuel filters are good. There are plenty of local auto parts stores that have similar and compatible filters, but quality is a crap shoot. Good question for the forum - what OEM style fuel filter to use. There is a cascade of mods in this area, where the OEM fuel lines are not available, and most of us build new ones from 6-an components, and end up looking for adapters or different filters that will connect up.

 

[ZubUchiha]

Update 08.24.2024:

I replaced the IAC valve, PCV valve, fuel rail with another oem fuel rail that had an AN line welded to it with an AFPR. I hooked up the AFPR as well.

I did a compression test and got 180 across the board. However, when I pulled my plugs, the tips were covered in oil, and the top of the piston was wet too (not sure if this affects the compression incorrectly). I checked the gap on the spark plugs and it was around 0.024-0.026, so I regapped it to 0.025. I noticed in my coil pack, in the number one hole, there was carbon build up and I used carb cleaner to clean the inside of the all four coil packs.

I reconnected my spark plug wires. I tried to follow the normal wiring procedure, but that was incorrect. Then I tried the non-95-96 CAS with 95 ECU and it was also incorrect, the car would not fire up. I switched the 1/4 wires to the 2/3 coil pack and the 2/3 wires to the 1/4 coil pack position and the car was able to turn on, but I am not sure what the correct firing order is. I would like help on this.

In ECMLink, I checked the Idle switch button back on like you told me to. I also checked the use non-95/96 CAS button too. I also ordered the alternator tensioner and put that on, and tightened it so no more belt squeal. I got my injectors tested and they are Bosch 650ccs and the guy said they are practically brand new and did not need cleaning at all. I put on new o-rings and seals with it. I played a capture on ECMLink, but accidentally hit the wrong button and did not get the chance to save it, but here are some of my results as follows:

- Idle is extremely rough. When I turn it on, it runs for like 10 seconds at around 100-400 RPMs then dies. Even if I try to rev it, it is not responsive on time and responds like 1-3 seconds late and does not rev high.

- Battery voltage is 11.9v with the car running. I just got the battery, so it should be in good condition, and now with the tensioner, it should be charging, but it is not charging it and the car runs at incredibly low voltage.

- The combined fuel trims show 0.0 with the car running that bad.

- The AFPR showed around 50 psi when I first connected it, but then I turned it down to 42 psi, then down to 40 psi (as instructed by a friend). Still no luck with anything. I could not change the fuel filter as I don't have a the correct tool for it (14mm line wrench), and I do not have a car readily available to buy the tool so I left it as is, but the AFPR would tell me if there is low pressure, which it is not so pressure seems to be good and it does not seem to be clogged.

- I noticed the 97-97 CAS connector is covered in oil when I took it out. Not sure if this is useful, but the inside is covered in oil.


I really do not know what to do, I am stressed and on a time crunch to figure this out because I am moving soon within a couple weeks. I really need help as soon as possible. I am just super worried that it might be an engine problem, but I am not sure.

 

[JG63]

I did not look at any of your logs so I can't comment but it sounds like saving a log (so you have what you started from as a fall back) and then resetting everything back to factory and then starting over would be a good place to work from.

You don't have a MAP sensor, the factory sensor is a MDP (Manifold Differential Pressure), so you would used undefined. The MDP is only used for EGR function originally.

Your picture shows a late 2g style Cam Angle Sensor on the rear of the intake camshaft

+1 on this comment (didn’t look at logs)

Your setup is pretty straight forward. It seems like you should be able to:
*Save your current Tune.
*Reset all ECMlink Settings.
*Set your AFPR with the Vacuum line disconnected to stock PSI. (43.5 PSI)
*Set the Global Fuel according to your Injectors
*Set whatever settings you needed for the CAS
*Then check all your vacuum lines and random wires in the engine bay, maybe something random got disconnected?

Apologize if I missed anything in the thread but a reset might not be a bad idea.

 

[ZubUchiha]

+1 on this comment (didn’t look at logs)

Your setup is pretty straight forward. It seems like you should be able to:
*Save your current Tune.
*Reset all ECMlink Settings.
*Set your AFPR with the Vacuum line disconnected to stock PSI. (43.5 PSI)
*Set the Global Fuel according to your Injectors
*Set whatever settings you needed for the CAS
*Then check all your vacuum lines and random wires in the engine bay, maybe something random got disconnected?

Apologize if I missed anything in the thread but a reset might not be a bad idea.

Hi. Thank you for replying. I always like to go back and make sure I refresh as much as possible. I will check all these things today, but I am pretty sure I got all these set in accordance with what the Steve and you are saying. To be clear, this is what I have done regarding that:

- I saved my current tune from an old log and still have it.
- I reset all setting and put it at zero except for the maf clamp, I don't have it enable so I have not touched it. I will update will a fresh log and please tell me if I need to reset or correct anything
- I set my global fuel to 650ccs and 42.6 psi and 14.7 stoich.
- For the CAS, I have a 97-99 CAS as they said, and I selected that option on dsmlink. For the firing order, I do not know what is correct to be honest
- I checked all my vacuum lines and when I did all the work I said up there, i saw a couple lines unplugged so I plug it in in the back by the battery.

I will check if anything is disconnected, but I basically tried it all. I will get another updated picture of my engine bay.

 

[Justin DuBois]

Reminder, the CAS checkbox is for the injector sequence, it won’t affect the spark. It won’t prevent engine start.

Spark is simple enough to set right. Always connect 1&4 to one coil, and 2&3 to the other.
If it does not start, switch the coils.

 

[ZubUchiha]

Update:

I replaced the welded AN fuel rail back to the stock set up and ran the stock fpr. I was going to replace both coil packs with a set of old ones I had, but one of the old ones thread for the wire in the back snapped off so I could not use it, but I did replace one of them. I cleaned the spark plugs and gapped it to 0.030. I turned on the car and it was running rough, but running. I disconnected the IAC valve and it was still a little rough and the rpm would go down and up. I decided to disconnect the TPS and it started running mostly right. There is a responsiveness to the pedal whereas before, when I would tap the pedal, the rpms would drop and the car would want to die. I plugged the IAC back in since it is a new part, and the idle decreased to around 1500 rpm. Now it is idling at a set point and when I blip the throttle, it is responsive and goes up, however it has a misfire which I can still hear while it is idling. My guess is three things: spark plug gap, coil pack that was not replaced, wires. It has to be one of these and not something else. I took a log too of what happened and will attach it. I have a spare MAF which I am going to replace because that one is off of a lower mileage DSM so it may be in better condition.

The battery voltage is still 11.9v. I got a code for P1500 Generator FR Terminal Circuit Malfunction. I looked at the 100 amp alternator fuse choke in the fuse box, and the fuse looks a little burnt and brown. Not sure if this is the issue. I may warranty out my battery or get it charged to see if it is a battery issue, but I do not believe it is, because the battery starts the car up just fine, and no lights flicker. Although my dash lights went out randomly when I turned it on last night so I don't know if that is related to any fuse.

Right now my issues are:

- constant misfire in idle. What I am going to try next: put on a set of Duralast spark plug wires (never used), gap spark plugs to 0.028 and slowly go down if this increases engine performance, replace the TPS sensor with a new one I bought, and get a fresh new set of OEM coil packs from somewhere (I am taking suggestions).
- battery voltage is low, 11.9v. Going to recharge the battery, make sure all might connections are secure although I already did that today, get my alternator tested if the car can make it down the road (unlikely).

Please let me know based off my story, what the issue could possibly be, I really need the help. (Also, my wire order is as follows: wires 1/4 go into 2/3 coil pack, wires 2/3 go into 1/4. Might pull the wires one by one to see if it is the other coil pack, but it is running better than before, yay)