Maintenance, Engine & Driveline Tech This forum is brought to you by The Speed Syndicate (TSS) in Burnaby.
Discussion of maintaining your engine, transmission, differentails, rear ends, and mods associated with "driveline" parts..
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02-25-2009, 01:13 PM
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#1 | | Proud to be called a RS Regular!
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| AEM wideband A/F Controller
Is it a good or bad idea to install this ? and is it EASY to install yourself or do you need to take it to a shop? what would the cost be if so !?  | 
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02-25-2009, 04:17 PM
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#2 | | RS Veteran
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Do you have a standalone ECU? If not, don't bother.
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02-25-2009, 04:23 PM
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#3 | | Everyone wants a piece of R S...
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why cant u run a wideband without a standalone ecu?
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02-25-2009, 04:27 PM
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#4 | | Head Moderator
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by bcrdukes  Do you have a standalone ECU? If not, don't bother. | ^^
What he said.
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02-25-2009, 04:28 PM
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#5 | | Head Moderator
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by yadoh why cant u run a wideband without a standalone ecu? | It's not that you can't; rather, it's pretty pointless. All you're doing is watching the numbers dance around as you drive, but otherwise it's merely that. A/F gauges/controllers are pretty much intended for proper tuning, not for looking cool.  | |
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02-25-2009, 04:32 PM
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#6 | | Everyone wants a piece of R S...
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it's better to say it's useless unless u have a tuning device
not everyone needs a standalone ECU
a lot of people get by with piggyback ECU's
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02-25-2009, 05:14 PM
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#7 | | RS Veteran
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I think the term "standalone ECU" would also cover piggybacks but I'm not going to get detailed nor technical about it so I'm going to leave it open for interpretation.
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02-25-2009, 06:04 PM
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#8 | | Everyone wants a piece of R S...
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If you have a turbo charged engine I would always say it might be an idea to have. Though you may not be able to tune, but if your pushin the engine and you see that the A/F Is leaning out, you can let off and save the engine. Without one (or an EGT) you may not know that theres a problem till your picking parts up off the road.
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02-25-2009, 07:06 PM
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#9 | | My homepage has been set to RS
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It's a gauge you should have if you're boosted. Plus most boosted cars should have some sort of engine management whether it's standalone or piggyback.
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02-25-2009, 07:12 PM
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#10 | | Proud to be called a RS Regular!
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I just bought the car and do not know if it is a stand alone ECU or not...how do I figure that out
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02-25-2009, 07:19 PM
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#11 | | Head Moderator
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Originally Posted by SamJ5 I just bought the car and do not know if it is a stand alone ECU or not...how do I figure that out | A good indication of whether you're running an EMS or not is if your car is stock or not. Is the engine stock? Are there any modifications apart from maybe an axle-back muffler? If there aren't, chances are pretty damn good you're running a stock ECU.
Here's a question none of us have asked yet: Why do you want an A/F controller?
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02-25-2009, 07:59 PM
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#12 | | Proud to be called a RS Regular!
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I jsut want it to see if the car is running lean or rich..its a 96 civic with a 01 sir engine in it. and the ecu is chipped
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02-25-2009, 08:06 PM
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#13 | | Everyone wants a piece of R S...
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u want to put a wideband on a n/a engine? lol... does it have full n/a bolt ons?
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02-25-2009, 08:11 PM
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#14 | | Proud to be called a RS Regular!
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hmm explain
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02-25-2009, 08:31 PM
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#15 | | RS Veteran
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Originally Posted by SamJ5 I jsut want it to see if the car is running lean or rich..its a 96 civic with a 01 sir engine in it. and the ecu is chipped | Chipped? With what?
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02-25-2009, 11:05 PM
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#16 | | Douchebag Lover
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Originally Posted by SamJ5 hmm explain | Does your car have a full exhaust from the engine's exhaust ports to the tip of the exhaust (header, test pipes, cat back, etc)?
Does your car have an aftermarket intake?
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02-26-2009, 10:20 AM
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#17 | | Proud to be called a RS Regular!
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it doesnt have headers but the rest is aftermarket..and yes AEM cold air intake
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02-26-2009, 10:21 AM
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#18 | | Proud to be called a RS Regular!
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chipped so that vtec hits at 4500...I couldnt tell ya what kind though :S
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02-26-2009, 10:34 AM
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#19 | | RS Veteran
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I would just not bother with it. Save yourself the money and buy your friends some pizza and beer or something.
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02-26-2009, 01:06 PM
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#20 | | Head Moderator
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Originally Posted by yadoh u want to put a wideband on a n/a engine? lol... does it have full n/a bolt ons? | You can still run a wideband on an N/A engine, especially if you start running more agressive cams, etc. I ran one on my last car which was an N/A build, but it was more in part because I was running a full standalone system and had to tune it from scratch.
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02-27-2009, 09:43 AM
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#21 | | I STILL don't get it
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Originally Posted by SamJ5 it doesnt have headers but the rest is aftermarket..and yes AEM cold air intake | It's likely that any changes to your A/F resulting from those mods are still within the ability of your ECU to compensate. I'm going with BCRDukes on this on, save your money. It's nice to see and can keep your from blowing up your engine but there's a couple things that might keep you from wanting to use it too.
1. If you have a stock narrowband and that's what the ECU expects then you'd have to run the controller in narrowband mode anyway.
2. Some controllers can have multiple outputs, narrowband for the ECU and wideband for a gauge. Once again though if you can change the tuning on the ECU or don't want to then this is pointless. I think the LC-1 supports this but it's 2-300 shipped.
3. You can put an extra bung in your exhaust for the new sensor but again, money++
If it ain't broked....
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02-27-2009, 09:47 AM
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#22 | | RS Veteran
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Originally Posted by DragonsMaw It's likely that any changes to your A/F resulting from those mods are still within the ability of your ECU to compensate. | 
The stock ECU is capable of doing what's best for your car until you know you've modified the motor beyond what it was designed to handle. If you push your motor beyond these boundaries, you'll need to run a standalone in which you can then make good use of the wideband O2.  | |
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03-01-2009, 09:50 AM
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#23 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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What you have sir is probably just a Vtec controller. to make it hit the crossover point sooner.
i would go with everyone else and say you don't need it. an intake and an exhaust should learn your engine out, but no significantly.
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