My Experience with AEM FIC

[ritoab]

Hey guys, Below is a photo of a map that I have been working on for my turbo setup. As you know I originally had it at a tuners shop who could not figure out how to get around some of the codes popping up when he tried tuning my car. Well, he did a good job installing the FIC. We took it from his shop to the BMW Dealer to see what was going on with the car, well they could not find anything that the tuner was stating an issue with the car but I had them check everything from cr, leak down, maf and o2 sensors. All was well! Anyway, I ended up getting back the car and now doing my own tune. I have spent countless ours trying to understand fuel trim/enrichment, timing maps and speaking with several BMW tuners, some you know well. They manage to assist me with the basic parameters I needed to get started so here I am. The stock injectors were 24lb injectors and I was trying to tune the 65lb injectors but felt the need to start with a smaller size injectors until I get things manage at a lower setting with the 42lb injectors that I purchase here on the forum. Thanks Jon

Well I started up the car and fuel trims were all over the place and the car was pig rich. Stumbling all over the place. After doing the initial setup of the FIC and a very quick base fuel map, car started and running much better. After about 20 minutes I manage to get the idle nice an smooth. My STFT are -0.8 to 0 I am taking baby steps but the first part went well. Drove the car around for a bit to see where she will stumble at and making small changes. Still a lot of work to do since I am taking my time. If you look in the photos you will see that I can control fuel based on o2 sensor, MAF and MAP also retard timing. I clamped the MAF and tuning off MAP. I only done a conservative map on the ignition because I don't know exactly where timing was removed from the stock dme. I might end up at the dealer with the dme to convert it back to stock. The tuner said it was straight forward for the wiring so all I have to do is get my tune done and start enjoying the car.

Things I am trying to fix;
1. When I press the clutch the car kind of stumbles a bit but then corrects it self. Don't know why it's doing that.
2. The transition from close loop to open loop is still a working progress since I haven't gotten that far yet to know if there is a issue.
3. When i come to a complete stop the car stumbles a bit but recovers on it's own. This could be because I am running a little rich part throttle
4. The initial take off is not smooth, so work to be done there.
Any comments are welcome.
Rito

[SiGmA]

Glad to hear things are working better for you. When are you dropping it back off at the tuners to be tuned! (Same one who installed it, if he's the one that came on here posting for you!)

Sounds like your need acceleration enrichment tuning especially. Its tricky, I don't have it down with Megasquirt yet.

[ritoab]

As of now I will be doing the basic tuning with the car. I am sure I can sort out the small bugs it's just going to take me longer. LOL
As for taking it to the tuner. Probably not and I want get into that here.
Thanks
And I will keep this thread posted with my progress.
Rito

[SiGmA]

Well then maybe find a new tuner? With the amount of money you have into it, why not spend the extra ~$500-1000 and tune it? I am doing my tune myself, because I've done 100% of everything myself, and am only on a ~$800 rebuilt M50 with a 0.140", not a fully built engine. And my car will be pro tuned once its ALL done.

[ritoab]

I know you are right. Had I had the money I would take it too them. I ran out of money doing this build with all the issues than My other money is tied up in deals for the past three months. I am about ready to kill my broker. I am like getting hit with bad luck from all directions. Unless some tuner willing to give me a break or something I am stuck doing it myself. The other option would be if the tuner who started the work would finish it since he charged me as if he did tune the car. I am tired of getting ripped off by people charging out rageous prices.
I will keep this thread up to date. I tried messing with the car and for a moment it runs good than after it warms up it starts to stumble again. Also the issues mention above like accelleration enrichment and decelleration enrichment. It's like right there and I got to finish it.
Thanks
Rito

[BigBump]

Well, the first thing you want to do is go get a wideband and install it. Then you want to use the three guidelines that I (and tpyically) most tuners use to rapidly make a fuel map.

14.7 at idle

13.0 at 0psi and 0vacuum pressure

11.5 at WOT

It sounds like you need more fuel at idle if it's stumbling hard and you don't see/smell smoke, also make sense being that your car runs okay until it warms up, because it has a warmup map that is richer than normal and tapers off as your coolant temps rise, read by that coolant temp sensor.

If you can read knock off the AEM software, and you have a wideband, you should be good to go. Hopefully that helps you out, but I wouldn't even think about tuning my car without a UEGO or an innovate or some other wideband that I could see my a/fs with.

It's an extra 300 or so dollars (installed) that are well worth it.

p.s. I recommend the AEM.

[ritoab]

BigBump,
I have had a wideband since two years ago. I use it for nitrous. I have LC-1 and OT1 from innovated. I also have OBD II scan tools

[ritoab]

update,
I am about 70% done with the close loop tuning. Car seems to be running fairly smooth between 2500rpms-4500rpms.
Two issues that I can not figure out. One is when engaging the clutch for initial take off and coming to a stop, car runs extra rich and stumbles. However, throughout the rpms it runs as it should with a nice AFR across the rpms. I have not started tuning open loop since it's more simple than close loop to just add alot of fuel and based on pressure I set it to take out X amount of timing. Well much more dangerous if done wrong.
Again i am taking baby steps so hopefully to finish at least the close loop by tomorrow if I can sort this out with the help of the forum.

Thanks
Rito

[nick4jc]

how about a writeup for the AEM FIC..??? U got it running means that it suppose to run in OBD2 SIEMENS DME rite..??

Nick

[ritoab]

Correct, it will work with OBD II and yes it runs. I believe it will work with OBD I as well but the guy who started the testing gave up really fast. I got the car to run pretty good at idle and when on boost but I still have to get a tuner to fine tune it for part throttle and decel since that is where I am having issues. I probably could figure this out on my own but I have to figure out precisely what the 02 sensor needs to see during close loop. For example does it need to see a flucuating signal at all times going up and down/high and low or can it be a constant or from low to high voltage signal. I believe this is throwing off my fuel enrichment. The idea is to not let the DME see any changes other than what's normal. Since my DME has a tune on it there is know way to tell what was done so i am trying to play with it. If push comes to shove I might have to reflash the dme back to stock and start all over again. For those guys starting with a stock dme the FIC will work much better and be more easier to tune than with a tuned dme.
I did not do the wiring and I have been trying to get this from the tuner who originally wired it up. It's fairly simple to wire if you know what you are doing. And I can do a write up on how to get a base map with photos of the Maps as the ones above.

[ritoab]

I have attached these screen shots of the basic setup.

[nick4jc]

I wonder which plug n play harness you actually use to make it work with ur DME.. Although there are plug n play harness that are made for OBD2 cars like infinity G35 for VQ35DE.. I guess the wiring will be quite straight forward as u do not need to do any modification to the internal of the DME unlike the GReddy Ultimate platform.. You only use the FIC right..?? Did you use any other ignition system..?? Except a MAF translator u mentioned..

Nick

[jone30]

Bravo Rito. I've watched your threads and saw you were having a lot of problems a while back. I must say, I am very impressed. You used what you had and got the job done.

[ritoab]

I wonder which plug n play harness you actually use to make it work with ur DME.. Although there are plug n play harness that are made for OBD2 cars like infinity G35 for VQ35DE.. I guess the wiring will be quite straight forward as u do not need to do any modification to the internal of the DME unlike the GReddy Ultimate platform.. You only use the FIC right..?? Did you use any other ignition system..?? Except a MAF translator u mentioned..

The FIC was hard wired without any harness.
Well I only use the AEM FIC. Is you look at the charts you can see where I actually clamped the MAF at different levels of the rpms and left the other/close loop areas unclampled. So nope I did not need the MAF translator because the AEM FIC allows you to control the stock maf either by clamping it as a whole or clamping it within any load or rpms you choose.
Nick

Bravo Rito. I've watched your threads and saw you were having a lot of problems a while back. I must say, I am very impressed. You used what you had and got the job done.

Thanks, There is still work to be done but the car will crank with the bigger injectors, idle nicely, and drive on boost perfect. I still have some part throttle issues that I am trying to get help with because I get some surging and hesitation in close loop but once I go wide open throttle boost comes on and the car runs a perfect AFR to red line. I believe it's my 02 sensor settings that is conflicting with the MAF settings so I might just zero out one or the other and allow the dme to learn on it's own for that.
Anyway, since this concerns me i am not driving the car around except for logging and road tuning.

[BadBoostedBmwM3]

Well, the first thing you want to do is go get a wideband and install it. Then you want to use the three guidelines that I (and tpyically) most tuners use to rapidly make a fuel map.

14.7 at idle

13.0 at 0psi and 0vacuum pressure

11.5 at WOT

It sounds like you need more fuel at idle if it's stumbling hard and you don't see/smell smoke, also make sense being that your car runs okay until it warms up, because it has a warmup map that is richer than normal and tapers off as your coolant temps rise, read by that coolant temp sensor.

If you can read knock off the AEM software, and you have a wideband, you should be good to go. Hopefully that helps you out, but I wouldn't even think about tuning my car without a UEGO or an innovate or some other wideband that I could see my a/fs with.

It's an extra 300 or so dollars (installed) that are well worth it.

p.s. I recommend the AEM.

I don't know anything about tuning,but what does it mean if the car runs rough and puts out smoke when cold at a idle?

[ritoab]

I don't know anything about tuning,but what does it mean if the car runs rough and puts out smoke when cold at a idle?

It's probably getting too much fuel and fouling the plugs. Or it could be not enough fuel where the DME pulls all the timing and runs the car pig rich. Either way it's the same effect. What I have been doing is trying different things like adding more fuel or taking out more fuel or changing the signal for this or that until the car responds differently. The best way to know if it's running too rich or too lean would be to have a wide band.

But as far as stumbles and smoke. It can be caused by so many things. The maf could be unplugged or have a bad wire, The 02 sensors can be bad, the TPS sensor can be bad.

There is just not one answer and trying different sensor or double checking all the wiring will help find issues.

[328iJunkie]

Where are you exactly in SC? i wanna come check the car out
Good to hear youre getting the tuning on lockdown.

[ritoab]

Where are you exactly in SC? i wanna come check the car out
Good to hear youre getting the tuning on lockdown.

I am in the Charleston area. Goose Creek.
I also spend alot of time up in Greenville SC

[328iJunkie]

Ah, well if you ever venture down 85 let me know. Weve got a little clemson bimmer club going that would love to check out your car. Youre a little out of our league car wise though. Were all rocking E30s,E36s, and an E46 here. none of which are boosted haha.

[ritoab]

Ah, well if you ever venture down 85 let me know. Weve got a little clemson bimmer club going that would love to check out your car. Youre a little out of our league car wise though. Were all rocking E30s,E36s, and an E46 here. none of which are boosted haha.

You beat, I am always in the area and I venture through these areas all the time.
Yes I am a unique setup but I would not consider myself out of the league. The car is just not where I expect and want it to be. No one is really helping me besides saying take it to this person but I am still hoping someone will step up because this will be making a huge statement once the project is finally done and I am smoking tires. I am scared to drive the car because I need an expect to check my stuff over.
Maybe the clemson crew can ride down this weekend and we can all pull together to fine tune the car.

[328iJunkie]

My buddy here tunes a 600cc bike engine with Motec. Idk if hed have the balls to play with your car though. But other than that we use TRM for tuning. Have you tried contacting Mike McCoy?. I dont believe hes played with the AEM box but he sure knows alot about tuning in general. Hes just a little farther down 85 in suwanee, GA. I honestly would hit him up about getting your car running right.

Oh and he doesnt try to burn up your wallet for his time.

edit: Also he/TRM currently has multiple turbo setups in production and has tuned more cars than i can imagine under boost so he knows his stuff.

[ritoab]

My buddy here tunes a 600cc bike engine with Motec. Idk if hed have the balls to play with your car though. But other than that we use TRM for tuning. Have you tried contacting Mike McCoy?. I dont believe hes played with the AEM box but he sure knows alot about tuning in general. Hes just a little farther down 85 in suwanee, GA. I honestly would hit him up about getting your car running right.

Oh and he doesnt try to burn up your wallet for his time.

edit: Also he/TRM currently has multiple turbo setups in production and has tuned more cars than i can imagine under boost so he knows his stuff.

Yes, I have talked with Mike many times and I have tried asking for his help but I think he really don't like the fact that my setup is Rear Mounted and he tries so hard to get me to convert to something else. I believe he don't really want to be responsible for anything as most tuners that did not start with the project. However, I believe if he came for a day within a few hours my part throttle would be done once he had a chance to over look my setup and my current maps. I know it's just something really simple that I don't understand since this is the first car I tried to tune on my own. If I had the money I would have went with a Motec or something else but the river is dry and i hope it's just temperary. LOL

So I guess the plan would be to take Mike for a ride and not tell him where he is going while ending up at my place. I have the gas money LOL

[BadBoostedBmwM3]

It's probably getting too much fuel and fouling the plugs. Or it could be not enough fuel where the DME pulls all the timing and runs the car pig rich. Either way it's the same effect. What I have been doing is trying different things like adding more fuel or taking out more fuel or changing the signal for this or that until the car responds differently. The best way to know if it's running too rich or too lean would be to have a wide band.

But as far as stumbles and smoke. It can be caused by so many things. The maf could be unplugged or have a bad wire, The 02 sensors can be bad, the TPS sensor can be bad.

There is just not one answer and trying different sensor or double checking all the wiring will help find issues.

Ok, I will look at them. It has been sitting in the garage since december I just haven't had time to mess around.

[ritoab]

Wanted to update the site with how things are going. Two days ago i was playing with the maps trying to sort out my tune since no one really has time to tune the car. Anyway, As most of you know I am not a tuner but I manage to get the car to idle nicely, when i put in reverse it doesn't hesitate, when i come to a stop it doesn't stumble, and I am so freaking happy right now. The car has some warm up hiccups but after it's warm it idles perfectly. There are some small cells that has to be tweaked as I accelerate. The car has a slight stutter when i start off where it goes up to about 13.9 than back to 12.3 AFR but not very serious since it's just below 1000rpms and drives normal after that. I did several 2nd and 3rd gear pulls tonight and the results are 1st gear 1-3 psi, 2nd gear 5-6psi but 3rd gear is 12psi and it gets scary at that point. AFRs are around 12.3 So I need to rich-en it out just a little more but every time I make even the smallest adjustments to rich en it up when boost comes on It jumps to high 10s around 10.7-10.9s. I am talking adding .02
It's difficult for me to make adjustments on the fly and watch the laptop and driving the car while watching the wide band to make sure it doesn't get too lean or too rich. The car just doesn't like the Dyno and you would be lucky to get one good pull without unstrapping it off the dyno to reset abs and dsc codes. I know this because i have dyno the car several times with nitrous pulls using 75-200 shot.
BTW, I just need to tune the first three columns the FIC is using in part throttle for a smooth transition and it's done. I could do this very easily when i get someone to drive the car for me while i make adjustments to the fuel maps. I am so excited I don't know what to do with myself. I am a few cells away from getting an opportunity to enjoy the car and have proven that the AEM FIC works on OBD II BMWs.

Thanks for all the supports and wish me luck over the next few days. I will do some videos and post on the forum as the car sits now and when i finish the fuel map.

Rito

[xjeeper]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet