Switching AEM FIC to EMS - Lovefab tuned from sputter to butter

[Cozmo]

Cody was in town today delivering a car and I had him tune my EMS. He did the entire tune in less than 4 hours, with only 1 hour of that being on the dyno. 4 dyno pulls later and some street tuning and the car is running much better than before. It went from Sputter to Butter! :biggrin:

If it wasn't for the loss of traction control and the slightly slower engine start I would never know I don't have the stock ECU any more.

The car did 400.65rwhp/302.67tq corrected @ 8psi on a dynojet so I'm very happy. I have another graph that shows all the pulls which has a better AFR graph and this is actually below 11.5, it just doesn't look like it. I also have a boost graph, finally!

Cody obviously knows what he's doing, he had the fuel map almost perfect on the first pull. If you have the chance to get him to tune your car I highly recommend it!

 

[E-Nough Logic]

For the slightly slower engine start i usually let the fuel pump completely prime then start the car, it usually fires up quickly when i did that on my AEM EMS(not an NSX). A lot of people don't realize even on a standalone that the car should run like a stock car with stock or better gas mileage, if it doesnt drive like smooth and like an OEM vehicle then something is wrong.

was there a specific problem that you were having that made you switch to the EMS from the FIC?

 

[SFDreamer]

That is great news! Glad to hear you'll finally truly enjoy the potential of your turbo :biggrin:. As stated above, I do the same. Click the key until I hear the fuel pump prime for about 2-3 seconds and then fire up. Fires up stock as to compared when I would just hop in and turn the key.

 

[NetViper]

Great news! Glad to hear your car is finally running correctly.

 

[Myaddiction]

Glad to hear it. I know how good it must feel to finally get that resolved.

 

[kookoo4nsx]

Coz,

Great to know that things are smoothed out for you. I am supposed to tune near Jacksonville, Fl tomorrow.

 

[Cozmo]

For the slightly slower engine start i usually let the fuel pump completely prime then start the car, it usually fires up quickly when i did that on my AEM EMS(not an NSX). A lot of people don't realize even on a standalone that the car should run like a stock car with stock or better gas mileage, if it doesnt drive like smooth and like an OEM vehicle then something is wrong.

was there a specific problem that you were having that made you switch to the EMS from the FIC?

Here's my other thread where I discuss my FIC issues. http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140082

To be fair I only started the car once after the tuning was done, so maybe I didn't wait long enough. It took an extra second or so to fire up than it usually does.

 

[E-Nough Logic]

Here's my other thread where I discuss my FIC issues. http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140082

To be fair I only started the car once after the tuning was done, so maybe I didn't wait long enough. It took an extra second or so to fire up than it usually does.

usually if you go straight to start it seems to crank over and over then start but if you wait a couple seconds before turning it over it usually starts right up, im not sure if its a fuel pressure thing or i know the AEM ECU checks a few things before attemping to fire like voltage etc. i know it wont even attempt to start if the voltage is too low i think below 11 volts or so.

 

[angus]

The EMS inherently requires more cranking to start, every car I have had the EMS in has been this way. It is a matter of how many revolutions it sees before firing, it's really apparent on B and D series cars since they start up so fast on the factory ECU but require a few revolutions with AEM.

 

[Cozmo]

The guy at carb connection and Cody both said that the EMS has to see the crank sensor go by twice or something before it'll start.

 

[tnguyen]

Yup, AEM EMS doesn't know where the motor stops, same goes with the idle stepper motor, that's why it takes a few seconds to start, cause it has to find out where the crank trigger wheel is.

But a number of EMS are the same way.

 

[angus]

It gets annoying to me sometimes but that's how it is.

 

[Cozmo]

I tested the car when I got home from work today. It had been sitting for 24 hours. I let the pump prime until it stopped and the car fired right up. Almost as fast as the factory ECU. Looks like the cold start settings are all good too.

 

[E-Nough Logic]

The EMS inherently requires more cranking to start, every car I have had the EMS in has been this way. It is a matter of how many revolutions it sees before firing, it's really apparent on B and D series cars since they start up so fast on the factory ECU but require a few revolutions with AEM.

im not sure sure that it requires that many more revolutions but more so that it doesnt even attempt to look for the first 1-2 seconds. i just use priming the pump as a frame of reference time wise, by the time the pump has primed the ECU would be ready to fire up. not saying it always works, but it definitely fired up quicker on my turbo B this way.

 

[Cozmo]

im not sure sure that it requires that many more revolutions but more so that it doesnt even attempt to look for the first 1-2 seconds. i just use priming the pump as a frame of reference time wise, by the time the pump has primed the ECU would be ready to fire up. not saying it always works, but it definitely fired up quicker on my turbo B this way.

That might be what it is. Maybe the ECU isn't "booted" yet if you try too fast. I was actually surprised how fast it started when I let it power up and build fuel pressure first.

 

[hardcore-nsx]

I just turn the key to the on position for a couple seconds. Then it fires right up, with out cranking for 4 seconds.

 

[Speedfab]

Yup, AEM EMS doesn't know where the motor stops, same goes with the idle stepper motor, that's why it takes a few seconds to start, cause it has to find out where the crank trigger wheel is.

But a number of EMS are the same way.

The AEM EMS DOES have a "park position" for the IAC stepper motor that is adjustable. Regarding the crank position from which the engine starts turning, it doesn't matter, your engine will crank at ~300rpm (one revolution every 200ms)... if you open the "advanced engine start" parameters and watch them, as soon as the "stat sync'd" hits, your engine should fire if your tuner did what you paid him to do.

If it doesn't, first make sure that the "crank inject all" box is checked. Then check that you have sufficient fuel pump prime time, that the crank injector time and initial crank pulse vs temp is correct, and that the crank advance timing is a reasonable number.

Above all, if any of this doesn't make sense to you, there is no shame in taking your car to someone who understands it. I've done this for a living for 30 years, I feel reasonably competent... but I would never attempt brain surgery on myself just based on stuff I read on the internet... I'd leave that to a professional in THAT field. Make sense?

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

The AEM EMS DOES have a "park position" for the IAC stepper motor that is adjustable. Regarding the crank position from which the engine starts turning, it doesn't matter, your engine will crank at ~300rpm (one revolution every 200ms)... if you open the "advanced engine start" parameters and watch them, as soon as the "stat sync'd" hits, your engine should fire if your tuner did what you paid him to do.

If it doesn't, first make sure that the "crank inject all" box is checked. Then check that you have sufficient fuel pump prime time, that the crank injector time and initial crank pulse vs temp is correct, and that the crank advance timing is a reasonable number.

Above all, if any of this doesn't make sense to you, there is no shame in taking your car to someone who understands it. I've done this for a living for 30 years, I feel reasonably competent... but I would never attempt brain surgery on myself just based on stuff I read on the internet... I'd leave that to a professional in THAT field. Make sense?

So what you're saying is there IS a way to safely setup your aem ems to start the first second?

Stephen

 

[OddJob]

I just turn the key to the on position for a couple seconds. Then it fires right up, with out cranking for 4 seconds.

Ha, fantastic tip, thanks. I have an AEM EMS, never thought to let it prime before cranking, starts sooo much easier now.