Need advice!! lots of upgrades and throwing a lean code!!!

01yellercobra said:

Yes I do. And I'm hoping to have the ethanol sensor working in the next week or so. But I think understanding how things work will help with the tuning. Especially when it comes time to figure out dual tables and blending everything.

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For sure that will be a challenge if you want it to be true flex fuel and accommodate any where from E10 to E85...,,that's a heluva lot of range to dial in! Especially since you can really only run one pulley and one set boost level while out in the wild. If you're 22psi pullied and go one tank E85 then next tank E10 91 octane....that's going to be interesting tuning for sure. A ton of timing will have to vanish.

c6zhombre said:

For sure that will be a challenge if you want it to be true flex fuel and accommodate any where from E10 to E85...,,that's a heluva lot of range to dial in! Especially since you can really only run one pulley and one set boost level while out in the wild. If you're 22psi pullied and go one tank E85 then next tank E10 91 octane....that's going to be interesting tuning for sure. A ton of timing will have to vanish.

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There's a couple ways to go about it. One is easier than the other. Naturally I want to try the more difficult way because I think the results would be better. But I could be totally wrong.

Thats also why I'm working on the knock sensor. One more thing to keep everything in check.

OP, sorry for the derail.

hotcobra03 said:

https://www.svtperformance.com/thre...rade-modifications-from-stock-thread.1185915/

After rereading link was missing to visit.

On the overheating.

See you have a overflow tank and can’t open it?

Has this been fixed?

170tstat. Was fan settings changed ?

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Thanks for taking the time to ponder my problem!

I can open the overflow tank but it is soooo tight and very hard to get off, too hard for my liking.

I do not know if the setting was changed, is that done in my tune?

01yellercobra said:

There's a couple ways to go about it. One is easier than the other. Naturally I want to try the more difficult way because I think the results would be better. But I could be totally wrong.

Thats also why I'm working on the knock sensor. One more thing to keep everything in check.

OP, sorry for the derail.

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NO WORRIES. This is my longest runnung thead yet. I almost feel loved

c6zhombre said:

Also, I'm not a big fan of eye balling the wideband.....you really need to log AF once you figure out the datalogging process. Just too difficult WOT and trying to watch the road. Nice to see what the parameters are indicating at certain rpm's and what the subsequent AF is showing.

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You are right about this. So hard to watch the road, the tac, and the wideband!!!!
I was able to observe it this time and it did fluxuate into the 10s ( based on the lean code I am now spooked and scared to run it hard) Is that ok? I was told 11 to 12 at WOT. Is 10s to rich, it just blinks in the 10s once or twice.

ALSO C6zhombre for the win, Hopefully!!

I decided to do the thing I was most confortable with first. I drove her down to just under 1/4 tank, no WOT, no issues. I then drained the tank and put a 1/4 of fresh tested E54. I let her warm up, got in 30 or 40 more shifts to help break in that clutch, and then in 3rd gear at 4k RPMs I rolled into it to WOT a few times. NO codes were thrown and as before I do not overheat at idle or idle rough (only does those things when codes are tripped).

Fingers crossed It was the fuel!! I need more pulls to be confident. I am out of town all next week so ill read up on how to datalog my X4 and start also doing that when I return!

Again ALL, Thanks so much for the assistance. Hopefully I do not need it anymore..... except tires, and rims I need those... oh and I have a 2.3 TVS in my garage Ill wait till next summer to tackle that.

That's great! It would have been interesting to test the fuel you drained out, tho. That was the fuel with the unknown ethanol % and subsequent codes popping.

What test kit are you using to test the fuel?

And the overheating issue I don't believe is related to the fuel or codes at all. It probably just didn't get burped completely after all that work was done and that's actually a quite common issue on these cars. Final fill has to be at the crossover plug....and it takes a lot of patience to get it to burp fully.

c6zhombre said:

That's great! It would have been interesting to test the fuel you drained out, tho. That was the fuel with the unknown ethanol % and subsequent codes popping..

What test kit are you using to test the fuel?

And the overheating issue I don't believe is related to the fuel or codes at all. It probably just didn't get burped completely after all that work was done and that's actually a quite common issue on these cars. Final fill has to be at the crossover plug....and it takes a lot of patience to get it to burp fully.

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Just had to do this on my cobra. Used Airlift pump. Hook up to shop air, suck all air out the system then make sure is no leaks, add coolant to bucket. Put hose in, and release the vacuum. Sucks in all the coolant, leaving no air. Good system

Yes unfortunately you are right C6 and Fastback, pushed her harder again tonight and no code but when I stopped the temp started creeping up. It stayed about 220 to 228 mostly but went to 235 and needle was past center so I shut her down (FYI its 106 degrees right now outside).

Ill try to reburp when I get back vs driving back to the mechanic thats over 100 miles away! If unsucessful I will take it back when I drive down to get the paint correction and ceremic coat next month!!

KevinsVertTerminator said:

Yes unfortunately you are right C6 and Fastback, pushed her harder again tonight and no code but when I stopped the temp started creeping up. It stayed about 220 to 228 mostly but went to 235 and needle was past center so I shut her down (FYI its 106 degrees right now outside).

Ill try to reburp when I get back vs driving back to the mechanic thats over 100 miles away! If unsucessful I will take it back when I drive down to get the paint correction and ceremic coat next month!!

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I went thru the running hot stuff.

I had drilled 2 holes in my tstat to help untrap air something I seen done on here years back.

My issue was the radiator not cooling

When I got car 220plus it would overheat.

What I did find was if I put garden hose into front temps would than fall to normal

I replaced radiator with 3 core sve

I now see 178-182 while driving
Also in extreme heat. South Texas

KevinsVertTerminator said:

Yes unfortunately you are right C6 and Fastback, pushed her harder again tonight and no code but when I stopped the temp started creeping up. It stayed about 220 to 228 mostly but went to 235 and needle was past center so I shut her down (FYI its 106 degrees right now outside).

Ill try to reburp when I get back vs driving back to the mechanic thats over 100 miles away! If unsucessful I will take it back when I drive down to get the paint correction and ceremic coat next month!!

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Well, that sounds promising then that the fuel was an issue creating the check engine codes. Keep testing your fuel. Here's a decent, inexpensive kit that has measurements down in the range you need for E50ish ethanol. If you keep a little log on your fillups, and what ethanol % you are running....no more second guessing later if there's an issue causing you to doubt the fuel. You can just start looking for software or mechanical reasons a check engine light is illuminating.


Keep working on burping that coolant system. Or get a mechanical aide such as the one fastback mentioned. Hopefully, you don't have a radiator going south as hotcobra had.

Fastback said:

Just had to do this on my cobra. Used Airlift pump. Hook up to shop air, suck all air out the system then make sure is no leaks, add coolant to bucket. Put hose in, and release the vacuum. Sucks in all the coolant, leaving no air. Good system

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Same thing I picked up. Works great for these cars.

Ironic as hell.....but I came across this thread today. This poster is in Tucson....and someone tested E80 like yesterday. I had always read Arizona "ONLY gets E54...". Apparently that's not the case...so the plot thickens. Absolutely possible you got a tank around E80ish.

https://www.svtperformance.com/thre...-r-d-to-the-scrap-heap.1188408/#post-16453681

c6zhombre said:

Ironic as hell.....but I came across this thread today. This poster is in Tucson....and someone tested E80 like yesterday. I had always read Arizona "ONLY gets E54...". Apparently that's not the case...so the plot thickens. Absolutely possible you got a tank around E80ish.

https://www.svtperformance.com/thre...-r-d-to-the-scrap-heap.1188408/#post-16453681

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Ha. Never again. I will test always. Lesson learned.

Back from DC. Took her out last night cruising with my Camaro ZL1 buddy, had a lot of fun. However, I still have issues.

She will overheat about 1/2 the time when sitting idling. Temps run about 220 - 226 but will either cool down or keep going up. Seems random, maybe overheats more if car on a slight incline.

Also I am still breaking in the clutch but I will not get on her hard in gear, just no gear banging (at about 800 clutch engagements, yes Im counting). Anyway NO codes all night. Then this AM went for an old man Sunday morning cruise before I put her away and when I was driving back home (not been getting into it at all) it through the same lean codes??????

So back to square 1!!!

Oh so to follow up.
Overheating
Checked the system seems to be no air bubbles.
Replaced the new 170 degree thermostat with OEM one and no overheating. The assumption is that the 170 just stays open all the time and its too low for 115 degree AZ heat. Ill drive more to confirm.

Codes
Also started idling rough. I think that although i test my fuel and it has always been 51-54 either it fluctuates more than my tester can tell or my car just does not like that small bit of tolerance.

Pumped it out and switched to my 91 tune and no issues except i need to go to my tuner and get my cold start and idle with ac on tweaked. This is my first time running this tune.

Gwtting 2 stage paint correction and ceramic cc as we speak.