After An Engine Tune Up

[ThunderBolt]

Hi all

I have Ford laser 2001 model car. It has done 114000 km. I recently got a engine tune up done from “Asnu Lanka” ( baththaramulla). Now when I start my car in the morning I get the petrol smell. I want to know whether it’s normal. When they cleaned my injectors there was a small variation and they said that its ok, do I have to replace the injectors?

Shivanka

[nira74]

Hi all

I have Ford laser 2001 model car. It has done 114000 km. I recently got a engine tune up done from “Asnu Lanka” ( baththaramulla). Now when I start my car in the morning I get the petrol smell. I want to know whether it’s normal. When they cleaned my injectors there was a small variation and they said that its ok, do I have to replace the injectors?

Shivanka

Is you car a EFI or Carburettor model ? Usually there is a separate Injector / Jet for cold starts which feeds a fairly rich fuel air mixture to the engine until normal operating temperature is reached.

Either way, first check whether there is an increase in fuel consumption to decide whether something needs to be fixed or not.

[GearHead]

well according the thunderbolts comments the car should be EFI one.the thing is machan in a very cold morning its normal that you get some petrol smell outta the exhaust but it shouldnt be a very strong smell.hows the fuel comsumption and pulling power of the car after the tuneup?

[ThunderBolt]

well according the thunderbolts comments the car should be EFI one.the thing is machan in a very cold morning its normal that you get some petrol smell outta the exhaust but it shouldnt be a very strong smell.hows the fuel comsumption and pulling power of the car after the tuneup?

I didn’t check the petrol consumption after the tune up. Vehicle does accelerate well after the tune up, but I feel that it consumes more petrol than before.

Is there a good way to check the petrol consumption?

[GearHead]

I didn’t check the petrol consumption after the tune up. Vehicle does accelerate well after the tune up, but I feel that it consumes more petrol than before.

Is there a good way to check the petrol consumption?

the easiest thing that you can do is to pump full tank petrol and set the odometer/trip meter to zero and then after you have done,say100KM, pump full tank petrol again and check the number of litres that it had taken to tavel that particular distance and then distance travelled devided by no. of litres would give you the KM per litre figure.

if the car is consuming more fuel after the tuneup then it could be due to some fault by mechanics..normally its suppose to do better on fuel after an engine tuneup provided that you drove the car the same way as before and in the same level of traffic.

whats the old KM/L figure and the new one?

[Bugatti]

Hi all

I have Ford laser 2001 model car. It has done 114000 km. I recently got a engine tune up done from “Asnu Lanka” ( baththaramulla). Now when I start my car in the morning I get the petrol smell. I want to know whether it’s normal. When they cleaned my injectors there was a small variation and they said that its ok, do I have to replace the injectors?

Shivanka

I think, I know what your problem is....

I had a similar issue and fixed mine yesterday. I have the Ford variant (Mazda 2001). If my assumptions are correct, it is a small adjustment.

drop a line to <[email protected]>

[The Don]

I think, I know what your problem is....

I had a similar issue and fixed mine yesterday. I have the Ford variant (Mazda 2001). If my assumptions are correct, it is a small adjustment.

drop a line to <[email protected]>

Hi Bugatti, why don't you share it on the public forum, others might have the same problem and not realise it, and I myself am really curious ...

[Bugatti]

Hi Bugatti, why don't you share it on the public forum, others might have the same problem and not realise it, and I myself am really curious ...

Ok, then here goes,

In my car, It was an adjustment of the fuel flow on the throttle body, right next to the point where you adjust the air flow. Didn't take more than 5 minutes to do it. but suggest you have it done by a pro (recommended)

Once it is fixed and running normal, you can judge by the emissions.. hold your hand to the exhaust, you should feel moisture rather than petrol smoke.

In my case I took it to Rasika.

[6208]

Ok, then here goes,

In my car, It was an adjustment of the fuel flow on the throttle body, right next to the point where you adjust the air flow. Didn't take more than 5 minutes to do it. but suggest you have it done by a pro (recommended)

Once it is fixed and running normal, you can judge by the emissions.. hold your hand to the exhaust, you should feel moisture rather than petrol smoke.

In my case I took it to Rasika.

Hi

What do you mean by the 'adjustment of the fuel flow on the throttle body'. As far as I know there are two adjustments on the throttle body. One for the idle (air adjustment) and the throttle stop adjustment. The throttle stop adjustment is set in the factory and they do not recomend changing it.

Do any of you suspect the O2 sensors. I have read on the net that the O2 sensors have a life time of around 70k-100k Km. And when I asked the agents they didn't have replacements, just because this was an expensive part and they said that only a few people had replaced it.

My thought was that when you clean the intake parts, half of the circuits works in good conditions but not the rest. Therefore when the intake parts are cleaned don't you have to clean the EGR valve and the O2 sensors? Any experts, your comments are appreciated.

[Axela]

I am pretty ignorant when it comes to motor mecahnics,So please explain this to me?

What do you mean by an Egine tune up for an EFI engine?

My understanding is that all you can do is replacing spark plugs.

I know that you can run the engine diagnostics tools and setup the engine for default levels.However this is not what we refer to as the engine tuneup in day today life.

[6208]

I am pretty ignorant when it comes to motor mecahnics,So please explain this to me?

What do you mean by an Egine tune up for an EFI engine?

My understanding is that all you can do is replacing spark plugs.

I know that you can run the engine diagnostics tools and setup the engine for default levels.However this is not what we refer to as the engine tuneup in day today life.

Agree with you. the newer cars do not need a tuneup. You will rather do a cleanup and/or replacement of parts. The parameter tables cannot be modified in most of the small inexpensive cars like corollas, sunnys. so basically the dialgnostic tools can read the current/running parameters and reset them to factory defaults.

[Bugatti]

Hi

What do you mean by the 'adjustment of the fuel flow on the throttle body'. As far as I know there are two adjustments on the throttle body. One for the idle (air adjustment) and the throttle stop adjustment. The throttle stop adjustment is set in the factory and they do not recomend changing it.

Do any of you suspect the O2 sensors. I have read on the net that the O2 sensors have a life time of around 70k-100k Km. And when I asked the agents they didn't have replacements, just because this was an expensive part and they said that only a few people had replaced it.

My thought was that when you clean the intake parts, half of the circuits works in good conditions but not the rest. Therefore when the intake parts are cleaned don't you have to clean the EGR valve and the O2 sensors? Any experts, your comments are appreciated.

Though manufacturer recommends not to change factory setting.... some do it, end result is what this thread is all about. Unless done by a professional, you end up with a few issues, which can be fixed.

I agree with your point on O2 sensors, but in this case I doubt it. I've not heard of such an issue in Ford/Mazda. On the other hand, in a Nissan it is quite possible.

however, My recommendation is get a second opinion...

[GearHead]

I am pretty ignorant when it comes to motor mecahnics,So please explain this to me?

What do you mean by an Egine tune up for an EFI engine?

My understanding is that all you can do is replacing spark plugs.

I know that you can run the engine diagnostics tools and setup the engine for default levels.However this is not what we refer to as the engine tuneup in day today life.

well replacing the plugs is just the part of the tuneup...an EFI tune up would include the following

1.Injector cleaning

2.cleaning the throttle body

3.Tappet adjustments

apart from the stuff mentioned above its also possible carry out ignition timing checks and adjustment,sensor checking,etc..

Edited September 5, 2007 by GearHead

[Axela]

well replacing the plugs is just the part of the tuneup...an EFI tune up would include the following

1.Injector cleaning

2.cleaning the throttle body

3.Tappet adjustments

apart from the stuff mentioned above its also possible carry out ignition timing checks and adjustment,sensor checking,etc..

Thanks GearHead.Good info

[Rastima]

Agree with you. the newer cars do not need a tuneup. You will rather do a cleanup and/or replacement of parts. The parameter tables cannot be modified in most of the small inexpensive cars like corollas, sunnys. so basically the dialgnostic tools can read the current/running parameters and reset them to factory defaults.

I heard another story;

If you remove the Battry cable for 15min and re-connect and then start your car, and by keeping the engine running for 15 min could reset you ECU settings. Is this a true statement? will that reset all the ECU settings to factory defaults?

If there is a way of doing it, what is the time duration that needs the battry cable to be disconnected and how long i should keep the engine started?

[maliths]

I heard another story;

If you remove the Battry cable for 15min and re-connect and then start your car, and by keeping the engine running for 15 min could reset you ECU settings. Is this a true statement? will that reset all the ECU settings to factory defaults?

If there is a way of doing it, what is the time duration that needs the battry cable to be disconnected and how long i should keep the engine started?

Yes if you disconnect the battery and keep for about 20 mins or so the ecu will go back to all the default settings. Once you start it up it will be on all the factory settings and some ecu's have a learning function where it will 'learn' and set some of the settings once you start it. So all you need to do is disconnect the battery for about 15-20 mins and it should clean everything off the ecu including any error codes.

[maithri]

Guys,

It appears that a lot of you think re setting the fault codes by removing the battery will make your car run better. The ecu's on most older cars do not have self learning parameters that adopt to the driving style of the usual driver. The factory settings are basic parameters only then adopted to the style of the driver to optimise economy. This facility requires more than the battery disconnection to re set to basic setting, some diagnostic tools have this ability, The theory is sooner it learns your driving style the better but like everything else the parameters have to begin somewhere.

Most mapped ecu managed cars have no adjustments with screws etc, the older ones sometimes allow basic ignition timing to be carried out and the very old ones allow limited adjustment of idle rpm and co.

Before you "tune" the engine try some new plugs, air filter, fuel filter and give it a good run to clear the combustion chambers if possible using a fuel system cleaner in the tank.

Maithri

[Rastima]

Once you start it up it will be on all the factory settings and some ecu's have a learning function where it will 'learn' and set some of the settings once you start it.

Machan Maliths, Thank you for the clarification.

Mine is 2001 FB 15 ExSaloon, will this "learn" thing work for me? I'm just curious about it.

[maliths]

Machan Maliths, Thank you for the clarification.

Mine is 2001 FB 15 ExSaloon, will this "learn" thing work for me? I'm just curious about it.

Im not sure about which ones have the learn function. Maybe someone else here on the forums can help. Here is something I found about the 'learn' function

''the simplified version of what is going on in the ecu (actually in most ecu's) is what is called a correction algorithm. the ecu is given a set of boundary conditions by the manufacturer and specific instructions on how much those conditions are allowed to deviate from what is considered optimal. the foremost reason manufacturers have for doing this is legal; the vehicle must conform to emissions laws. secondly the manufacturer wants the vehicle to operate reliably for a set period of time to limit warranty issues.

The reality of the matter is much more complicated: the ecu is set up with a large number of tables and these tables (also called maps) dictate a set of environmental conditions that the various sensors on the engines should detect for various conditions. a good example of this is the oxygen sensor. the ecu knows that when the engine is burning optimally that there should be a set mixture of gases coming out of the exhaust which changes according to various non-controllable input values (e.g pressure from the map sensor, temperature, speed, rpms, etc.) it uses sets of these tables of input values in succession to point to an expected output value which it then compares against the value received from the O2 sensor. when the values are very close then everything is fine and the ecu does nothing....

in reality, this does not happen... the resulting value usually varies from the expected by a little bit. the ecu then uses more tables to look up values that the ecu can control (e.g. things like injector timing and ignition advance) the ecu has a normalized set of tables provided by the manufacturer that produce the optimal result most of the time and starts with those values(the default maps). and then starts to vary those values up or down a bit at a time to attempt to get the output values to match. it is these variations that are the learning function and they get recorded in yet more tables. the next time that the ecu sees the same input conditions it uses the modified values instead of the default and checks to see if things got closer and varies things yet again. this goes on constantly, with the ecu ever attempting to modify inputs to the engine to achieve what is considered the best output for the conditions.

when you introduce the idea of increasing the vehicle performance through various means things start to get interesting. one has to remember that with performance tuning there is no free lunch... to get increased performance one has to give up something, either overall engine lifespan or accept dirtier emissions. when something is done to increase performance the ecu will start to compensate after a point, attempting to keep the engine performance within the set boundaries. a good example is adding a better flowing exhaust and intake... if you can get more air through the engine then naturally the ecu will add more fuel to keep the mixture correct and the engine will now make more power. the ecu does this anyway since the vehicle may be in new orleans at 8 feet below sea level or in the rockies at 7000 ft above sea level and it needs to make sure that the proper mixture is used at all atmospheric pressures in between. eventually, however the ecu hits the boundaries that the manufacturer put in since too much power will cause the engine lifespan to decrease. what this means is that if you live in denver and get a high flow exhaust you will likely see big gains since the ecu never hits the boundaries. when you start to get into things like forced induction is when the boundary conditions get exceeded often and that is when the ecu will begin to correct things back towards normal. adding a piggyback controller will result in the same effect... if the ecu notices that its attempted fuel changes are not having an effect it will start to change any other inputs that it is allowed to in an attempt to again normalize things.

The end result is that with most modern ecu's any performance modification to an engine will produce a limited increase in power if any. an exahust may get you 5 HP but if in doing so the ecu cannot keep the emissions or temperature within spec it will quickly dial down the increased power until things are in spec. when you really start to go big (e.g. 80 HP increase from turbo charging) the ecu can get to a point where it does not even have tables that go high enough to match the values it sees and it eventually loses the ability to compensate past a certain point. you then have an engine that makes big power but the ecu can no longer ensure that the engine does not run dangerously out of spec. the engine might run safely most of the time but a small percent of the time might run very lean under very specific conditions and with the ecu unable to properly correct things can go bad very quickly. the way to solve this problem is actually quite straightforward. figure out exactly how the ecu learns and modify the proper tables to cover the desired operating conditions. the ecu will then automatically use the learn function to actually help adjust things toward the desired performance goal rather than away from it.''

[PreseaLover]

QUOTE(GearHead @ Sep 5 2007, 06:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

well replacing the plugs is just the part of the tuneup...an EFI tune up would include the following

1.Injector cleaning

2.cleaning the throttle body

3.Tappet adjustments

apart from the stuff mentioned above its also possible carry out ignition timing checks and adjustment,sensor checking,etc..

Thanks GearHead.Good info

I want to increase my fuel efficiency... In that case, should I only undertake the injector cleaning or should i undergo all 3 of these steps?

[Davy]

I want to increase my fuel efficiency... In that case, should I only undertake the injector cleaning or should i undergo all 3 of these steps?

Old thread, but since this is still a valid question, the simple answer is "no". I wouldn't call tappet adjustments to be part of a regular tune-up. What is usually done is:

- Injector clean up/testing (some use the 3M or Wurth fuel system cleaner and run the car until the can is empty, but I personally like to get the injectors cleaned using ultrasonic and then tested)

- Throttle body clean up (includes cleaning the throttle body, Idle Air Control valve and related components)

- Spark plug clean up/adjustment/replacement

- Diagnostic scan if applicable (Optionally attend to issues revealed by the scan)

The interval to adjust tappet clearances is usually specified by the manufacturer. For a brand new car, the first adjustment may need to be done after a few thousand Kms (usually at the first service), but does not need to be done at every tune up unless obvious tappet noise is heard.

[aps]

I want to increase my fuel efficiency... In that case, should I only undertake the injector cleaning or should i undergo all 3 of these steps?

@PreseaLover

fuel consumption status now Km/l ?

[PreseaLover]

Old thread, but since this is still a valid question, the simple answer is "no". I wouldn't call tappet adjustments to be part of a regular tune-up. What is usually done is:

- Injector clean up/testing (some use the 3M or Wurth fuel system cleaner and run the car until the can is empty, but I personally like to get the injectors cleaned using ultrasonic and then tested)

- Throttle body clean up (includes cleaning the throttle body, Idle Air Control valve and related components)

- Spark plug clean up/adjustment/replacement

- Diagnostic scan if applicable (Optionally attend to issues revealed by the scan)

The interval to adjust tappet clearances is usually specified by the manufacturer. For a brand new car, the first adjustment may need to be done after a few thousand Kms (usually at the first service), but does not need to be done at every tune up unless obvious tappet noise is heard.

Thanks Davy!

[PreseaLover]

@PreseaLover

fuel consumption status now Km/l ?

Right now the fuel consumption is 9km in colombo - traffic hours... And this is a manual and I keep the RPM below 2.....

The owner who used this car in 2010 told me back then it did 11km in city....

However my co-worker has the same manual presea and his one did 9km in city and after his tuneup it now does 11.5-12km in city...

[aps]

Right now the fuel consumption is 9km in colombo - traffic hours... And this is a manual and I keep the RPM below 2.....

The owner who used this car in 2010 told me back then it did 11km in city....

However my co-worker has the same manual presea and his one did 9km in city and after his tuneup it now does 11.5-12km in city...

1.check your plugs and HT leads ok , if all that not changed for long years then it's time to change,

2.check all vacum lines for leaks specially those line goes to lower parts of TB (leaks will change your fuel trim)

3.if your car misfires in ideal, do a compression check in each engine cylinder and timing with proper tools and set to OEM settings.