Tune changed after dead battery?

[Grand_87_national]

Hello, all. I was hoping someone could shed some light on an issue I'm having. A few weeks ago, my fans turned on (it uses a caspers harness) while my car was parked in my garage, and killed my battery. I replaced the battery and have since been using my battery shutoff (it is a trunk mounted battery) when parked for prolonged periods of time, even though the fan issue seems to have fixed itself. The issue is, before this happened, at wot, the car was at 10.3:1 afr @ 22psi (e85 on gasoline scale through a wideband) and now I'm at 11.8:1. Is killing the power to the computer bad for it, or does it change the tune? I was under the impression that since the car uses a burned chip, this wouldn't change. Am I wrong? What else would cause my tune to change? Thanks in advance!

 

[psycho6cyl]

It's typical with a chip when power goes down it will go back to default settings aka how it was when you purchased it. If you've changed settings etc they will all be lost. Good idea after you tune it write down the changes so u can put them back in.

 

[Grand_87_national]

It's typical with a chip when power goes down it will go back to default settings aka how it was when you purchased it. If you've changed settings etc they will all be lost. Good idea after you tune it write down the changes so u can put them back in.

Thanks for the reply. I bought it a few months ago and I haven't changed anything, but that doesn't mean the p.o. didn't. He did tell me that he didn't have a data logger, so I'm not sure how or what he would've (or could've) changed. It actually seems to be running great, my only concern is that: now my max boost (without going too lean) is at 22 psi. My chip says 25+ psi on it, so I guess I'm not sure how to get the fuel back in it. It does have a ls1 maf with the "horsepower in a box" translator. Can I add some fuel at wot through this?

 

[psycho6cyl]

That's a turbo tweak chip. Go to turbotweak.com and download instructions for 5.7 chip. Your chip is adjustable and will tell you how. Now I don't know about tuning so I do not know what you will need to do to get it to run at max power

 

[Grand_87_national]

Thank you. It looks like the adjustable chip is only adjustable using a scantool. Since I don't have a powerlogger, can I add fuel through the maf and leave the chip to it's current settings?

 

[psycho6cyl]

Do you have a scanmaster? If so that's the scan tool. Powerlogger is a scan tool of sorts but more a data logger. If you do not have a scanmaster please purchase one. Very valuable for tuning and an absolute necessity. You'll regret it if u don't have one.

 

[Grand_87_national]

Do you have a scanmaster? If so that's the scan tool. Powerlogger is a scan tool of sorts but more a data logger. If you do not have a scanmaster please purchase one. Very valuable for tuning and an absolute necessity. You'll regret it if u don't have one.

I sure do. 2.1. I haven't used it to add fuel, just to watch for knock retard and o2 voltage.

 

[Grand_87_national]

I've been meaning to look into everything g that can be done with a scanmaster 2.1, but, as I said, I didn't have any tuning issues until now. Looks like it's time to download the instruction manual. Thanks for all your help!

 

[Rafs-T-Type]

Even if the chip reset itself would it really go to 11.8:1 WOT? I would think eric's pre-sets would be more on the side of caution. Also I don't think the chip resetting should change the boost level, but I certainly could be wrong about. I'm really wondering if there isn't another issue at play here.

 

[Grand_87_national]

Even if the chip reset itself would it really go to 11.8:1 WOT? I would think eric's pre-sets would be more on the side of caution. Also I don't think the chip resetting should change the boost level, but I certainly could be wrong about. I'm really wondering if there isn't another issue at play here.

I was thinking along the same lines. Since the turbocharger is mechanical, could the computer even limit the boost at all? I mean, I understand pulling timing or fuel if the map sensor picks up some boost level it's not happy with, but I would've seen those changes in the wideband and/or scanmaster numbers. Not sure what happened.

 

[Rafs-T-Type]

I was thinking along the same lines. Since the turbocharger is mechanical, could the computer even limit the boost at all? I mean, I understand pulling timing or fuel if the map sensor picks up some boost level it's not happy with, but I would've seen those changes in the wideband and/or scanmaster numbers. Not sure what happened.

Yes, the computer can adjust the boost via the wastegate solenoid. I would send Eric an email though and ask him if it makes sense for the AFR to go to 11.8 if the chip gets reset and see what he says.

 

[Grand_87_national]

Yes, the computer can adjust the boost via the wastegate solenoid. I would send Eric an email though and ask him if it makes sense for the AFR to go to 11.8 if the chip gets reset and see what he says.

It's a turbonetics 60 series turbo and my wastegate actuator hose comes out of the compressor side, into my manual controller, then into the wastegate actuator. I'm not sure what stock turbos use, but that's the way this one is set up. I'll send that email, good idea!

 

[psycho6cyl]

So in your case the ecm is not controlling boost. Before battery died what were you boosting before? If it was more than 22 what else have you changed since dead battery

 

[Grand_87_national]

So in your case the ecm is not controlling boost. Before battery died what were you boosting before? If it was more than 22 what else have you changed since dead battery

Originally, I had a ball and spring type mbc, and all I would see is 22psi with it screwed all the way in. At this level, the (brand new) wideband was showing 10.1-10.3 (on e85 using gasoline scale). (Fast forward to yesterday) after changing the mbc to a bleed type, screwed about half way out, I took it to an open road and mashed it, but quickly let off when I saw the wideband showing 12+ at 24psi of boost. Turned the controller down, but it was still showing leaner than weeks before, when I set the boost with the ball and spring type. So I switched back to the old mbc, and left it screwed all the way in (which had previously put me at 22psi), now I made a quick wot pull, and saw the boost jump to 28psi and afr @ 14, so I let off immediately. After playing with the mbc, I'm back to 22psi, but instead of the rich afr of 10.2ish, I'm now at 11.8ish. Now, I don't drive the car very often, and when I do, I don't just drive around with the pedal mashed, so I'm not sure when it happened for certain, but I do know that the only thing changed prior to the boost controller was the battery.

 

[Eric Stage I]

If you didn't change any of the parameters originally, then losing power won't make any difference in the tune.

But sometimes the computers memory can be corrupted, so I would look at the WOT fuel parameter to make sure its at default (128), or just disconnect the power to computer (orange wire) for a few seconds to make sure it's at defaults.

The Scanmaster is a scantool, so you can look at and adjust parameters with it.

Eric

 

[Grand_87_national]

If you didn't change any of the parameters originally, then losing power won't make any difference in the tune.

But sometimes the computers memory can be corrupted, so I would look at the WOT fuel parameter to make sure its at default (128), or just disconnect the power to computer (orange wire) for a few seconds to make sure it's at defaults.

The Scanmaster is a scantool, so you can look at and adjust parameters with it.

Eric

Thanks, Eric. It is important to know that I bought the car with this chip/ scanmaster 2.1/ e85 conversion, etc. I didn't change anything (with the exception of the gauges) but the p.o. may have. I've asked him questions in the past, but he's awful flaky and I typically don't hear from him at all. I've given up hope on using him as a reference and will continue to rely on the learn-as-I-go method. This site is an absolute Godsend, however!

 

[Pronto]

Unplug the fan delay relay. They are notorious for doing what happened to your battery.

 

[Grand_87_national]

Unplug the fan delay relay. They are notorious for doing what happened to your battery.

Already gone, my man! It wasn't there when I bought it. It uses a f-body radiator and dual stratus fans with a caspers harness that includes it's own relays and fuses. I'm guessing a relay was sticking?

 

[Grand_87_national]

.

 

[Grand_87_national]

Okay, this may sound silly, (I never would've imagined it would matter) but I did plug in my a/c compressor that had been unplugged for whatever reason. I have been reading up on this issue and ran across a thread where folks were talking about the a/c being related to the scanmaster, or ecu and chip? My a/c doesn't work, so I threw some gas in there and attempted to jump the low pressure switch simply to start the compressor. (It didn't work), but the compressor was unplugged before I started this, would plugging it in have any effect on my tune changing like that?