Link G4 Link G4x PnP (1g and VR4)

[cjkiii]

Link G4x PnP VR4 is only a plug and play ECU for 1G and VR4

I won't be going into too much detail on the wiring in aftermarket sensors (Wideband, Intake Air Temp, Pressure etc.) This will be geared to the software side of things. Some information from this thread is taken directly from
lglracer https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/linkecu-g4-guide.533820/#post-153909327 thread back in 2021

• Ordering ECU
• Additional Sensors
• Initial Setup
• Limits/Safeties
• Fuel Map
• Ignition Map
• Idle Tuning
• Open Loop Boost Control
• Mixture Map
• STFT Closed Loop
• Launch Control

 

[cjkiii]

Ordering ECU
​

• Before making your purchase contact the seller and make sure they can have the ECU modified for Knock Control ​
• VR4Link -VR4X (P/N SKU 223-4000​
• XS Expansion Loom(XSL) (P/N SKU 101-0106)​

 

[cjkiii]

Additional Sensors​

• Wideband O2 (I've only used AEM so I can't recommend anything else at this moment but any modern wideband O2 with a controller should work)
  AEM (Part # 30-0300)
• Pressure Sensors
  AEM 150psi (# 30-2130-150)
  Lowdoller 100psi (# 7990100)
• Flex Fuel Sensor
  GM (# 13577379)
  ACDelco (#13507129)
  [*]IAT Sensor
  GM (# 25036751)
  [*]Boost gauge
  Whatever gauge you like

 

[cjkiii]

Initial Setup​

• Turn the key to power on the car.
• Hit F3 or click on the Offline Button to connect to the ECU
• Click on unlock ECU and enter the Code you received from the dealer
• Now it is unlocked.
• Verify you have the latest firmware for your ecu.
  • ECU Controls > Update Firmware
• TPS Setup
  1. • Go to ECU Control > TPS Setup
     • It will say fully depress pedal press ok
     • Release pedal and press ok
     • TPS Sensor Calibrated
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  2. MAP Sensor Setup
     • MAP Sensor (On Board)
       • Go to ECU Control > Map sensor Calibration
       • It will calibrate and say its good.
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  3. IAT Setup
     • Go to ECU Settings > Analog Input > IAT – Inlet Air Temp
     • Source (This will be whatever Analog Temp you wired your sensor to)
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     • if you have the GM sensor, I just use the Std Bosch NTC Settings. Verify that your IAT temp is about the same temp as ambient air where the car is.
  4. Wideband Setup
     • If your using the stock O2 sensor location which is Pin 4 (You can wire it to any Analog Volt)
     • Go to ECU Setting > Analog Inputs > Lambda 1
     • Lambda Sensor Control > An Volt(x) (x = Whatever Analog Volt pin used)
     • Click on Calibration and select your WB if available.
     • If not available, select one of the Cal 4-6 options. Verify the Cal tables are not used by another parameter. Then go to that table and enter the values from the manual of the WB sensor. Adjust the values once running to get the WB to match the gauge.
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  5. Fuel Setup:
     • ECU Settings > Fuel > Fuel Setup > Fuel Main
     • Fuel Equation Mode = Modeled
     • Base fuel pressure = Your base fuel pressure
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  6. Injector Setup:
     • ECU Settings > Fuel > Fuel Setup > Injector Setup
     • This is where you will input data from your injectors.
     • Fudge factor leave at 1.0
     • Short pulse width adder LEAVE BLANK IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE DATA
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[cjkiii]

Limits/Safety​

• ECU setting > Engine Protection > ​

• RPM Limit (Cut type to limit RPM)
• MAP Limit (Cut type to limit MAP)
• RPM Limit Table (Actual RPM limit, X and Y are configurable)
• MAP Limit Table (Actual MAP limit, X and Y are configurable)
  
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[cjkiii]

Fuel Map​

• ECU settings > Fuel > Fuel Table 1​
  • This is where all your fuel will be tuned (Get familiar with this table)​
  • X and Y are configurable (I use MGP instead of MAP)

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    ​

 

[cjkiii]

Ignition Map​

• ECU settings > Ignition > Ignition Table 1​
  • This is where all your Timing will be tuned (Get familiar with this table)​
  • X and Y are configurable (I use MGP instead of MAP)
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[cjkiii]

Idle​

• ECU settings > Idle speed control
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[cjkiii]

Boost Control​

• ECU Settings > Boost Control​
  • I like to setup my boost tables (X=Rpm Y=Gear) this lets you adjust boost per gear without having to mess around with boost trim per gear.​
  • For PWM Frequency I've found at 60hz with a 3port Mac valve gives me great boost control.​
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    ​

 

[cjkiii]

Mixture Map​

• Top Tool Bar > Tuning > Mixture Map​
  • Mixture map will show the difference in actual Lambda/AFR from Requested AFR.​
  • You will need to have datalog to populate the Mixture Map​
    • Good idea to disable CLL (Closed Loop Lambda) as Mixture Map wont take into account fuel being added or subtracted by CLL​
    • 
      

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      ​
  • Mixture Map allows you to quickly tune areas where your fuel is off​
    • Every cell will have to be edited individually (No highlighting the whole map) ​
  • Target AFR vs Actual AFR = Error​
    • Target AFR 14.8 but actual AFR is 13.2 That makes a 1.6 Error​
    • Hover over cell, right click and select "Correct Fuel Table" to adjust the cell​

 

[cjkiii]

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[cjkiii]

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[cjkiii]

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[cjkiii]

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[cjkiii]

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[donniekak]

Honest question, I have a buddy that works at linkecu.

Why did you choose their product out of several options?

 

[cjkiii]

Honest question, I have a buddy that works at linkecu.

Why did you choose their product out of several options?

It's plug and play and extremely simple and easy to use. I didn't like DSMlink software at all.

 

[donniekak]

It's plug and play and extremely simple and easy to use. I didn't like DSMlink software at all.

The fact that you don’t need to make or have made a harness seems to be one of their best selling points.

 

[Elpizer2]

Hi guys. I think ECMLink is over priced and it's the same old ECU. You can't have new features or resolution.

 

[donniekak]

I think ECMLink is over priced and it's the same old ECU. You can't have new features or resolution.

I wouldn’t go that far. Plenty of us have run DSMLink in pretty high powered cars. It does have a limited number of programmable ins and outs, but it does have them. DSMLink is less than 1/3 the cost of most aftermarket ECU’s. It isn’t 1/3 as functional though, probably around 1/2 to 3/4 the functionality.

I do understand people wanting a newer tech ECU with more features. But DSMLink is far from overpriced junk that doesn’t work well.

 

[cjkiii]

Is there a reason as to why i can no longer edit my post on here? Was hoping to get things updated

 

[Victorjf]

Great topic. I'm about to buy a link g4x for my DSM and I found a seller saying on the product description KNOCK with "Windowing" what does it mean ? Does it mean ecu is already modified for knock sensor ? I couldn't find any info on Google.
Cheers

 

[cjkiii]

Great topic. I'm about to buy a link g4x for my DSM and I found a seller saying on the product description KNOCK with "Windowing" what does it mean ? Does it mean ecu is already modified for knock sensor ? I couldn't find any info on Google.
Cheers

Yes sounds like he already has it modified for a knock sensor. Use the BOSCH wideband knock sensor as the stock DSM knock sensors are almost useless.

 

[We're on Boost]

Great topic. I'm about to buy a link g4x for my DSM and I found a seller saying on the product description KNOCK with "Windowing" what does it mean ? Does it mean ecu is already modified for knock sensor ? I couldn't find any info on Google.
Cheers

You should really ask him because maybe he's saying that the circuit board is "windowed" so you can pass a wire through it, or maybe he is referring to the "Knock Audio Window" which is a feature in the software that you use to figure out how to filter your knock sensor if you are using a wideband knock sensor like the Bosch which will just spill noise all over the spectrum. Or "Knock Windowing" as it is mentioned on another page that I'll show in a screen shot at the bottom.

If you haven't already installed the software on like a desktop computer, you could do that, and open up the Help, Contents, and search for stuff you want to read.

Here after searching on "knock" I'm looking at the "Knock Audio" topic where they show a narrow band sensor first, then a wideband sensor. In the wideband one they tell you 2 ways that you can sort of know what frequency to filter for. The formula method is super easy but I think you'd have to verify that it's giving you the right result.
If you are using a narrow band sensor, it's just right out there and not all surrounded with rubbish so maybe filtering would not be required.
I'd like to know if our stock sensors are narrow band and what this waterfall chart looks like with one of them. The 2g sensors put out a lot stronger signal than the 1g sensors do. If they are narrow band, maybe that would be one easy way to do it. They might be electrically non-compatible with the Link though. I think the Bosch sensors are "balanced" like a studio microphone (3 wires: plus, minus, and ground basically). Our stock sensors are only 2-wire, so are unbalanced. Maybe they would work anyway? I don't know.

Anyway, here's a partial shot of that Knock Audio topic:

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Shot of a reference to "Knock Windowing"

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And here they have a short list of suggested filter settings for various engines. Interesting that some of them are shown with the factory sensor rather than the Bosch. It's also interesting that they suggest the same frequency for almost every engine! Not too surprising though because the formula is based only on cylinder bore.

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Here searching "Knock Window", opened the "Knock Control Settings" topic, and finding some references here for Start and Length of the knock window. This section has most of the good stuff in it anyway:

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[cjkiii]

You should really ask him because maybe he's saying that the circuit board is "windowed" so you can pass a wire through it, or maybe he is referring to the "Knock Audio Window" which is a feature in the software that you use to figure out how to filter your knock sensor if you are using a wideband knock sensor like the Bosch which will just spill noise all over the spectrum. Or "Knock Windowing" as it is mentioned on another page that I'll show in a screen shot at the bottom.

If you haven't already installed the software on like a desktop computer, you could do that, and open up the Help, Contents, and search for stuff you want to read.

Here after searching on "knock" I'm looking at the "Knock Audio" topic where they show a narrow band sensor first, then a wideband sensor. In the wideband one they tell you 2 ways that you can sort of know what frequency to filter for. The formula method is super easy but I think you'd have to verify that it's giving you the right result.
If you are using a narrow band sensor, it's just right out there and not all surrounded with rubbish so maybe filtering would not be required.
I'd like to know if our stock sensors are narrow band and what this waterfall chart looks like with one of them. The 2g sensors put out a lot stronger signal than the 1g sensors do. If they are narrow band, maybe that would be one easy way to do it. They might be electrically non-compatible with the Link though. I think the Bosch sensors are "balanced" like a studio microphone (3 wires: plus, minus, and ground basically). Our stock sensors are only 2-wire, so are unbalanced. Maybe they would work anyway? I don't know.

Anyway, here's a partial shot of that Knock Audio topic:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Shot of a reference to "Knock Windowing"

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

And here they have a short list of suggested filter settings for various engines. Interesting that some of them are shown with the factory sensor rather than the Bosch. It's also interesting that they suggest the same frequency for almost every engine! Not too surprising though because the formula is based only on cylinder bore.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Here searching "Knock Window", opened the "Knock Control Settings" topic, and finding some references here for Start and Length of the knock window. This section has most of the good stuff in it anyway:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

I've tried using the stock 1g knock sensor and couldn't get a reliable consistent reading no matter how much I tweaked the settings. With the bosh wideband I had it all setup and reading correct with a hour or so of tuning.