Hey phunk, for the record, I tune cars in the mid to low 11:1 AF range. I am just pointing out that having AF at the 12:1 range is not ALWAYS a bad thing.

I too would prefer a tune in the 11's, for a little extra major of safety, especially given the tuning platforms we are using now on most of these cars.

 

right on, everything has its place!

 

Phunk, I just bumped up the fuel pressure from 57-58 at idle(vacuum line off) to 59-60), following you instructions and the A/F actually when down to the 11's. There was mild traffic so I couldn't go through gears but I did notice as the boost build, the A/F started going down from 12's to 11's then rich. However, for some odd reason, I do notice my flywheel chattering like crazy at idle, now. LoL, no big deal, I guess this is a good temporary fix until I can get down to AAM.

BTW, I just checked my coolant(engine cold) and I've lost a third of coolant in the tank. I didn't see any coolant on the floor or residue under the hood. The only thing I found was a faint smell of burnt coolant and a minimum sign of coolant residue around the tank area, but it was dried up.

Big thanks to everyone that contributed information to this newbie
I really appreciate it.

 

Queen, I didnt realize you had the return fuel system in FPR. In that case, all you need to do is raise the FP slightly to get you to 11.5:1 or slightly richer. Sounds like you have already done that....so you should be good to go, without the need for a retune.

 

The state of tune may have changed with the change in weather.Perhaps it was a warmer day when he tuned and the cooler denser air has changed his A/F?I have not read the entire post as I do not know exactly what was done to his car tune wise.However his tune may have changed with atmospheric conditions as the EU has no way of adjusting for air density to the best of my knowledge,perhaps you could clarify. I must say the state of tune Altered gave my car originally never changed one bit and the A/F was within a tenth of a point on any dyno pull I did with A/F.Perhaps something went amiss in his EU install? As far as loosing coolant check the bleeder valve on the back of the engine and make sure its fully closed and check the lines going to the plenum and TB since you mentioned there was coolant on your plenum..If its not a leak,then its a head gasket going.But I doubt that.

 

Queen mentioned that his AF on his wideband gauge is matching his dyno run AF exactly....so ambient temps are likely not a factor.

 

on my recent tune..i made soooooo much more power in sopme spots of the dyno graph (120whp gain in some areas) by adding more fuel...areas that were 12:1, when richened up to say 11.2-11.4:1..it made lots more power

(you know this sharif, obviously just posting this for the masses)

 

But his AA A/F numbers do not match his current A/F #'s? Then perhaps AA wideband sensor is a bit askew?

 

Just a FYI, there are things going on inside our motors that force us to keep a 11.5 AF ratio even on a built motor for a safe tune. even low 12's A/F on a fully built VQ is asking for trouble. You may see a combined A/F at the down pipe of say 12.1,but you 12.1 bay be an average of all 3 cylinders on that bank.You A/F range on that bank may range from 14.1-11.9 (just numbers picked off the top of my head) and the 12.1 you see at the down pipe is an average.Unless you wideband each cylinder on the VQ you just do not know what your getting..IMO an 11.5 is a safe bet that even your leanes cylinder is still running on the safe side...

 

Since he is running an AEM wideband, this would not surprise me, as I have seen too many of the AEM gauges go bad. I am too lazy to reread every post Queen made, but I thought he said his AEM wideband was right around 12:1.

 

Sharif, thats correct, My A/F under WOT never saw anything in the 11's prior to bumping up the fuel pressure as Phunk told me to try. It would stay in the low 12's and occasionaly see high 11's for just a quick second. After bumping up the fuel pressure 2 PSI, the A/F now reads in the 11's and going rich as the RPM reaches to redline. I havn't really got a chance to drive the car since there was a little rush hour traffic before. I just turned down 1 PSI making the previous bump in PSI to only 1 instead of 2. Let's hope this will be the right amount to get the A/F in the 11.5-11.0 range. I'm going to test it out in a little to see. Wish me luck guys

BTW, How would I know if the sensor on the wideband is going bad or IS bad?
I've only had the turbo kit and the gauges installed for approximately 2000 miles. But I've heard that the sensor can go bad in a few hundred miles if I was running too rich, which was the case prior to the AAM tune.

 

59-60psi at idle? Isn't that kinda high? If that's normal then I need to turn my chit up. I am between 41-42psi at idle.

 

59psi with the line disconnected...probably puts at 51psi with the line attached at idle. He is running smaller injetors, but probably higher duty cycle, since he is making good power.

Each car needs the fuel pressure dialed in seperately, as its hard to make a pressure based comparo. Some cars need more fuel pressure, some less, depending on injector size, other mods, etc.