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xcal3 question
- Thread starter TxCobrA98
- Start date
AaRoN
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Mike. said:I ordered my xcal tuesday...maybe here by friday
Cool beans :afro:
AaRoN
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What tunes did you get again Mike?
AaRoN
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:thumb: I don't know what tunes I'd get. I don't plan on any F/I..
xsoutherngun89x
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my 3rd one was for spray, just incase. lol
DFG_Pimpin said:[TxCobrA98 said:]
it really doesn't run bad at all. it just doesn't have power.
how does a car not make power and not run bad?? that doesn't make any sense.
what i mean is, it idles fine, is smooth, doesn't run hot or orverheat or anything, gets me from point a to point b with no problems, even when i get on it every now and then, it doesn't hesitate.. my car just doesn't have loads of power. and 260 is only like 8 or 9 hp under what i should be (at least what ive witnessed from other cobras that had the same mods as i did when i got my car dyno'd).
its just i consume lots of gas and lots of oil. i stay on top of the oil factor, i just can't do much for the AFR until i get a bit more money but im trying to fix that.
19mustang95
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xsoutherngun89x said:lmao my GT runs fine and has very little pwoer, haha
this is big boy talk, the ladies section is a couple threads down somewhere. :crazy2:
xsoutherngun89x
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DFG_Pimpin said:xsoutherngun89x said:lmao my GT runs fine and has very little pwoer, haha
this is big boy talk, the ladies section is a couple threads down somewhere. :crazy2:
lmao i never said it wouldnt run the number DFG, haha. so my question to you is...
never mind, lmao.
SnakedMark8
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TxCobrA98, the first thing I would do is pull out the EEC and see if there's a chip in it. Your a/f should not go pig rich like it is. The stock programming would not have you going that rich as soon as you went WOT. Something is causing this, if there's a chip installed then take it out. If not then you need to spend some time and your money on figuring out why you are running that rich and where you fuel mileage has gone. Chances are if you've been running around with it like this for since before your dyno you've already done damage by washing any protective oil film from the cylinder walls. The first thing that comes to my mind is if you are running that rich and no mileage then why don't you have any CELs? Your mods like some one has already suggested will cause you to run lean, not rich. Things that come to mind are bad fuel filter, sticking or slow responding injectors, bad fuel pressure regulator, bad O2 sensors.
The JLT kit will cause you to run lean, a dirty air filter or dirty MAF will cause you to go lean, long tube headers will cause you to go lean. I don't know about your MAF or air filter but with the rest of those mods they should be allowing you to stay above 10 to 1 a/f even at the top end where Ford's stock programming sometimes dips into. If there isn't some bogus programmed chip in the EEC then you have some other mechanical or electrical problem that needs to be take care of first. Have you done a leak down or compression test of each cylinder? By that dyno graph you are making decent power for the mods you have and running that rich. That would lead me to believe that your rings were still good a year ago. But without testing you have no idea what they are now. That would be a lot of blow by and your oil should smell like gas by now and have no lubrication qualities left.
Also dropping in a new engine without knowing what the real problem or cause was, is just inviting more problems. What happens when you have the same problem with the new engine? You going to just drop in another one in a year or two, not likely.
And last, and what I have a real hard time getting through to people that want me to tune their vehicles is "a tune (performance program) will not fix a mechanical or electrical problem". It might mask if for a short time but in the end it comes back and worse. So my suggestion is to find out why the engine is running the way it is and not just presume that it's tired or worn out. Then you can either fix it now or while the engine is out for the rebuild. With everything working properly you should be able to run the engine on the stock programming without any problems. Then once everything is checked out with the new engine you can start thinking about the XCal.
Sort story here, and don't take this the wrong way. A large majority of my mail order programming is from kids just like you and some not so young. We've all been there at one time. Some of these people don't listen to my warning about a performance program won't fix a mechanical or electrical problem. It won't turn back the 175K miles of neglect and abuse. They take their vehicles to the local shops or tuners and are told they need to tune it up first, fix this and that and replace what ever. They leave pissed off and go to another and get the same treatment. Everyone telling them the same thing, " a tune isn't going to fix it". But they won’t listen, they no in their mind that all they need is a good tune and everything will be fine. So they go to a mail order company such as mine and order a programmer or chip. Now unless you are like the mail order whores as we real custom tuners call them, the mail order tuning business is the toughest type of tuning over all. You first have to have years of experience on all the platforms plus dyno time to even attempt to tune a vehicle without seeing it. The whores mostly use off the shelf type programs and if it doesn't work so what, they got your money. And you did pay for what you got. They don’t care about reputation, they are only interested in mass sales. They sell you a product right at or under the Manufactures Authorized Price and to boot they throw in multiple programs. This just devalues the real custom tuner’s programming. This is why the custom tuners charge more. They have their own time in R & D of each of their programs from their years of experience. Where as the others just selected a pre-made file supplied by the brand they are selling and loaded it on or into the device and then sent it off to shipping. Most don't even know how to tune they just sit in an office pulling files and loading them by the order form.
Anyways, the tuner builds the files for these people which by all rights should work without a hitch. But then he gets a call, an email or sees on some forum that his programming sux. More times than not the customer's first recourse is to go on the forums and blast the tuner in hopes that the tuner will see it and drop all he's doing to take care of the situation before the bench tuners have a field day with it instead of contacting the tuner. The customers aren't happy at all with the programming and the vehicle runs just as bad or has developed additional drivability problems. Several conversations and a couple more programs built the problems still exist. Now these people swear up and down that their vehicles are in top condition and insist that it's the programming, when in fact the vehicles were running like crap before the tuner ever attempted to tune it. The tuner has no idea what the condition of the vehicle is since he can’t see it, he has to take the word of the customer. When I get into these situations I make them send me pics and data logs. And when I find a hack job or that I’ve been lied to I become a real jerk. And you’ll find most of the others will too. So buying an XCal now and hoping that it will fix or help out your vehicle is not the right train of thought. It may even finish the car off.
The JLT kit will cause you to run lean, a dirty air filter or dirty MAF will cause you to go lean, long tube headers will cause you to go lean. I don't know about your MAF or air filter but with the rest of those mods they should be allowing you to stay above 10 to 1 a/f even at the top end where Ford's stock programming sometimes dips into. If there isn't some bogus programmed chip in the EEC then you have some other mechanical or electrical problem that needs to be take care of first. Have you done a leak down or compression test of each cylinder? By that dyno graph you are making decent power for the mods you have and running that rich. That would lead me to believe that your rings were still good a year ago. But without testing you have no idea what they are now. That would be a lot of blow by and your oil should smell like gas by now and have no lubrication qualities left.
Also dropping in a new engine without knowing what the real problem or cause was, is just inviting more problems. What happens when you have the same problem with the new engine? You going to just drop in another one in a year or two, not likely.
And last, and what I have a real hard time getting through to people that want me to tune their vehicles is "a tune (performance program) will not fix a mechanical or electrical problem". It might mask if for a short time but in the end it comes back and worse. So my suggestion is to find out why the engine is running the way it is and not just presume that it's tired or worn out. Then you can either fix it now or while the engine is out for the rebuild. With everything working properly you should be able to run the engine on the stock programming without any problems. Then once everything is checked out with the new engine you can start thinking about the XCal.
Sort story here, and don't take this the wrong way. A large majority of my mail order programming is from kids just like you and some not so young. We've all been there at one time. Some of these people don't listen to my warning about a performance program won't fix a mechanical or electrical problem. It won't turn back the 175K miles of neglect and abuse. They take their vehicles to the local shops or tuners and are told they need to tune it up first, fix this and that and replace what ever. They leave pissed off and go to another and get the same treatment. Everyone telling them the same thing, " a tune isn't going to fix it". But they won’t listen, they no in their mind that all they need is a good tune and everything will be fine. So they go to a mail order company such as mine and order a programmer or chip. Now unless you are like the mail order whores as we real custom tuners call them, the mail order tuning business is the toughest type of tuning over all. You first have to have years of experience on all the platforms plus dyno time to even attempt to tune a vehicle without seeing it. The whores mostly use off the shelf type programs and if it doesn't work so what, they got your money. And you did pay for what you got. They don’t care about reputation, they are only interested in mass sales. They sell you a product right at or under the Manufactures Authorized Price and to boot they throw in multiple programs. This just devalues the real custom tuner’s programming. This is why the custom tuners charge more. They have their own time in R & D of each of their programs from their years of experience. Where as the others just selected a pre-made file supplied by the brand they are selling and loaded it on or into the device and then sent it off to shipping. Most don't even know how to tune they just sit in an office pulling files and loading them by the order form.
Anyways, the tuner builds the files for these people which by all rights should work without a hitch. But then he gets a call, an email or sees on some forum that his programming sux. More times than not the customer's first recourse is to go on the forums and blast the tuner in hopes that the tuner will see it and drop all he's doing to take care of the situation before the bench tuners have a field day with it instead of contacting the tuner. The customers aren't happy at all with the programming and the vehicle runs just as bad or has developed additional drivability problems. Several conversations and a couple more programs built the problems still exist. Now these people swear up and down that their vehicles are in top condition and insist that it's the programming, when in fact the vehicles were running like crap before the tuner ever attempted to tune it. The tuner has no idea what the condition of the vehicle is since he can’t see it, he has to take the word of the customer. When I get into these situations I make them send me pics and data logs. And when I find a hack job or that I’ve been lied to I become a real jerk. And you’ll find most of the others will too. So buying an XCal now and hoping that it will fix or help out your vehicle is not the right train of thought. It may even finish the car off.
oh wow awesome info man!
to give some input to what you were saying, i totally took what you said to heart. it didn't loop through one ear and come out the other. i take constructive criticism and i learn from info im givin. im not a little prick or a kid that just gets info off the internet from other forums. I learn my way and read up on cars from reliable sources or contact the pro's that have experience.
I did not know that simply getting my AF ratio fixed was not the way to do things. I figured the reason i was running rich was because the computer was tryinig to compensate for my mods. I dont know much about the tuning side of things so I didn't even know my mods should cause my car to run lean. now that i think about it, it makes since. Suppyling more air, letting it out more quickly. never thought it through.
how would you suggest finding the root of my problems if you dont mind? i go to college full time and i am only 18 so experience in troubleshooting cars is something I dont really have. i wouldn't know where to begin. i will follow your first step in looking at my EEC but how do i know if i have a custom chip? ive never done anything with tuning so im pretty amateur at this.
and you are definitely right, i dont want to drop in my potentially 4500 dollar freshly rebuilt motor and have it go to waste 2 years later..
one last thing, would it be wise to see where my car stands now? like go get it dyno'd again? to see what has changed, if anything. and I have not done a compression/leakdown test. i will see if i can't get that done this next weekend.
to give some input to what you were saying, i totally took what you said to heart. it didn't loop through one ear and come out the other. i take constructive criticism and i learn from info im givin. im not a little prick or a kid that just gets info off the internet from other forums. I learn my way and read up on cars from reliable sources or contact the pro's that have experience.
I did not know that simply getting my AF ratio fixed was not the way to do things. I figured the reason i was running rich was because the computer was tryinig to compensate for my mods. I dont know much about the tuning side of things so I didn't even know my mods should cause my car to run lean. now that i think about it, it makes since. Suppyling more air, letting it out more quickly. never thought it through.
how would you suggest finding the root of my problems if you dont mind? i go to college full time and i am only 18 so experience in troubleshooting cars is something I dont really have. i wouldn't know where to begin. i will follow your first step in looking at my EEC but how do i know if i have a custom chip? ive never done anything with tuning so im pretty amateur at this.
and you are definitely right, i dont want to drop in my potentially 4500 dollar freshly rebuilt motor and have it go to waste 2 years later..
one last thing, would it be wise to see where my car stands now? like go get it dyno'd again? to see what has changed, if anything. and I have not done a compression/leakdown test. i will see if i can't get that done this next weekend.
Jrgunn5150
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Well you eec is located in the passenger side kick panel. It only takes a minute to pop off, I think you may need a screwdriver, it's been awhile. While you are in there get the eec code for when you do get a tuner. On the side of the eec there should be an open port, like for a computer cord. If there is a chip stuck there, then you know. :dancing6: Now if it was flashed, you'll need to unhook the battery for about five-ten minutes, that should reset it back to factory specs.
You can get a fairly inexpensive fuel pressure gauge that will hook to the pressure port on the fuel rail to check your pressure with. It should be in the upper 30's to lower 40's. If it's not after you check for the chip, then start with cheap (fuel filter) and move up to expensive (regulator and O2's)
You can get a fairly inexpensive fuel pressure gauge that will hook to the pressure port on the fuel rail to check your pressure with. It should be in the upper 30's to lower 40's. If it's not after you check for the chip, then start with cheap (fuel filter) and move up to expensive (regulator and O2's)
ok yeah i know where the EEC is i was just afraid i wouldn't know what the chip looked like. would it just look like a normal chip you would see in a computer. sorta like a mini motherboard or something?
also, i replaced the fuel filter about 7 or so months ago.. it should be fine.
also, i replaced the fuel filter about 7 or so months ago.. it should be fine.
Jrgunn5150
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Yep, it would probably be taped on there.
also, where is the port on the fuel rail that i hook the gauge up to? is it the thing with a black twist off cap or w/e on the rail itself? towards the front of the car... i think its actually called the relief valve but is that where I do it..? ive never done this so idk.
:dunno: my car knowledge seems to be going out of the window at this point haha.
:dunno: my car knowledge seems to be going out of the window at this point haha.
Jrgunn5150
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[TxCobrA98 said:]
also, where is the port on the fuel rail that i hook the gauge up to? is it the thing with a black twist off cap or w/e on the rail itself? towards the front of the car... i think its actually called the relief valve but is that where I do it..? ive never done this so idk.
:dunno: my car knowledge seems to be going out of the window at this point haha.
Look's like a valve stem, should have a black cap on it, called a Schrader Valve technically, but yes. I think you can get a little kit at like autozone even now to test it.
SnakedMark8
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http://www.blueovalchips.com/index.php?action=faq#a15 If you still have the black plastic cover on the EEC then there's no chip in it. It's a real pain to come down from it's mount. There's a plastic triangle shaped bracket that holds it in place, 2 metric screws. The connector is a 10 mm bolt. If it was flashed you won't see a chip installed since that process goes through the OBD II port.
I'm going to assume that you don't have all the tools or equipment needed to run a full check on the car. So you don't have any CELs? The fuel pressure is check from the valve you found. You have to check it with the vacuum line connected and then removed. It will run from 39 - 41 with the line removed and 28 - 32 with the line installed. If you don't have an OBD II reader you should invest in one. You can pick up a cheap one like an Actron CP9135 for $60. Or take your car to an Advance Auto or something like that and have them read your codes. You can also purchase the Actron from these places. That's a good starting point. Post up the codes you find.
I'm going to assume that you don't have all the tools or equipment needed to run a full check on the car. So you don't have any CELs? The fuel pressure is check from the valve you found. You have to check it with the vacuum line connected and then removed. It will run from 39 - 41 with the line removed and 28 - 32 with the line installed. If you don't have an OBD II reader you should invest in one. You can pick up a cheap one like an Actron CP9135 for $60. Or take your car to an Advance Auto or something like that and have them read your codes. You can also purchase the Actron from these places. That's a good starting point. Post up the codes you find.
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