Ultimate Guide to Parameter Monitoring
 

Hi, all.

With @Raider's blessing, this has officially become the "Ultimate Guide to Parameter Monitoring" thread.

Basically, I am a noob when it comes to using things like UltraGauge, DashHawk, AccessPort, Torque, etc. After ordering my first such tool (I went with the UG), I needed to decided what to monitor. I searched a ton and decided what parameters I wanted to track, but I couldn't very well know if the car was running normally if I didn't know what the normal range of values should be.

This thread is, therefore, a list of commonly monitored parameters and what their acceptable values are. Please add/modify as you see fit.

Boost: Should be in the negatives (vac) while at idle. With A/C on it will fluctuate a bit as the compressor turns on and off. As you accelerate it will raise closer to zero and eventually go in to positive numbers (building boost) if you continue to accelerate. (@Sid3wayS)

Engine Temp (Coolant Temp): I believe normal operating temps are between 180-200 but Ive seen as much as 220 sitting in a parking spot and as low as 160 cruising down the highway on a cold night. (@Sid3wayS)

Intake Temp (IAT): When moving should be at or within a few degrees of ambient. When stopped obviously you're sucking in hot engine bay air so it will raise considerably, but will return to ambient quickly when moving again. (@Sid3wayS)

Fuel Pressure: at idle will be around 420, give or take 30psi. With A/C on it will fluctuate a lot. If you ever see under 100 chances are there is something wrong with the CDFP (fuel pump) and you are running off in-tank pressure only. At WOT it should never drop under 1600, if it does there is an issue with the CDFP, period. (@Sid3wayS)

Air-Fuel Ratio (AFR): Stoichiometric is 14.7 and that is what your car is always trying to achieve under normal driving. At WOT it will drop, generally around 11.8, since this is what most OTS maps shoot for. With tuning AFR can be leaned out further. When you lift your foot off the gas and coast it will normally jump to 29.xx (@Sid3wayS)

Mass Air Flow (MAF): Very basically, how much air the car is sucking in. This changes all the time as you move and unless you are tuning, not really something you have to monitor. (@Sid3wayS)

Engine Load:

Battery Voltage: With the stock battery mine is generally at 13.7. (@Sid3wayS)

Knock Retard (KR): In an ideal world, this should always be zero but with engine noise, shitty roads and a thousand other things you will almost always register something when driving. Generally as long as it is under 2.0*, not consistent, and not during WOT, ignore it. (@Sid3wayS)

Long-term and Short-term Fuel Trim (LTFT/STFT): Basically, how much fuel your motor takes and adds to reach your targeted AFR. These numbers vary but on an OTS map should be +/- 8 of each other, and on a custom tune will be generally be +/- 4. The closer these numbers are the better because your ECU is not going crazy trying to keep things in check. Environment, weather and fuel quality are just some things that affect the numbers. (@Sid3wayS)

Boost Air Temperature (BAT): the temperature of the air as it is being ingested by the motor. For the most part, the colder the better. Upgrading intercoolers, shooting meth, and using insulation will lower this number. No real constant number because it depends on your mods. (@Sid3wayS)

Waste Gate Duty Cycle (WGDC): How much your waste gate on the turbo opens and closes. It very basically controls the boost levels by diverting the exhaust air away from the turbo. The more it opens the less air hits the turbo, the more it closes, the more gasses hit the turbo. As more air hits the turbo fins, the faster it spins and more boost is made. This is a percentage from 1-100. 1 is closed and 100 is open. (@Sid3wayS)

Everyone can feel free to list the parameters they monitor, what accepted values are, and maybe even what mods you have (or just include in Signature) so that anybody else thinking of adding a mod can know what to expect. I'll conglomerate the information in the OP for easy access.

TIS

Go for it!

^^lol

Does it display Knock Retard, Injector Duty Cycle, Ignition Advance, and WGDC?

No KR, and I don't know about IDC or WGDC, but it does do Ignition Advance.

TIS

Well from my experience and from what I have seen and read from my fellow nator locals, atleast here in south florida:

-boost: should be in the negatives(vac) while at idle. With a/c on it will fluctuate a bit as the compressor turns on and off. As you accelerate it will raise closer to zero and eventualy go in to positive numbers(building boost) if you continue to accelerate.

-engine temp: I believe normal operating temps are between 180-200 but Ive seen as much as 220 sitting in a parking spot and as low as 160 cruising down the highway on a cold night.

-Intake temp: when moving should be at or within a few degrees of ambient. When stopped obviously you're sucking in hot engine bay air so it will raise considerably, but will return to ambient quickly when moving again.

-Fuel pressure: at idle will be around 420 give or take 30psi. With a/c on it will fluctuate alot. If you ever see under 100 chances are there is something wrong with the cdfp and you are running off in tank pressure only. At WOT it should never drop under 1600, if it does there is an issue with the cdfp, period.

-Afr: stoich is 14.7 and that is what your car is always trying to achieve under normal driving. At wot it will drop generaly around 11.8, it is what most OTS maps shoot for but with tunning can be leaned out further. When you lift your foot off the gas and coast it will normaly jump to 29.xx

-maf: very basicly how much air the car is sucking in, changes all the time as you move and unless you are tunning, not realy something you have to monitor.

-Engine load: again basicly how hard your motor is working, Ill let someone else with more experience explain it better and it's avearges.

- battery voltage: with the stock battery mine is gennaeraly at 13.7, been like that for 2 years now, dont know if that is normal or not.

One that you should add is knock retard or kr
-kr: in an ideal world should always be zero but with engine noise, shitty roads and a thousand other things you will almost always register something when driving. Generaly as long as it is under 2.0*, not consistant and not during WOT ignore it.

Thanks for this post, man. Mad props. Mind if I copy some of the information into my OP for easy reference if Raider turns it into a sticky?

Also, the UltraGauge will not monitor KR as far as I know. I'll have to wait and save up for an AccessPort for that, I guess.

TIS

Shoulda gone DH bro!

No please by all means.
And Dh does not work with the genpu

I monitor ltft on mine FWIW.

Really? Wasn't aware.

Yeah you can plug it in and it will read maybe 1 or 2 things but nothing that is mazda specific. No afr, kr, lfts, sfts, boost, bats, iat, fuel pressure, wgdc, inj cycle, nada. It's a giant $200 paper weight for the gen pu.

on my main screen I monitor LTFT, Fuel pressure, ECT, intake temp, manifold pressure and AFR.

I really primarily only pay attention to LTFT and fuel pressure, but I will notice if my other parameters are off.

And what are the readings you normaly have for those parameters.

Scan gauge works on the pu and reads knock... I went that route but sideways pretty much coveted what I knew

LTFT fluctuates and depends on your mods and if youre tuned or not.
Ideally you dont want to see anything +/- 8 on any tune, but with a good maf cal it should always be around +/-2

ECT will depend on whether you have a front mount or not. Now that my front mount is off, I never see it over 200, whereas with my front mount seeing high 190s to low 200s was pretty common

Intake temps depend on your local ambient temperatures

fuel pressure is 420ish at idle and 1600+ at WOT

manifold pressure and AFR idk off the top of my head, I dont really pay attention to them. in fact, im not even sure if I still have AFR on my main screen still.

God I am such a noob. What are all of these (and associated values)?

That's another reason I am aiming to make this a "holy Grail" thread for car parameters. Because I am sure there are others like me who don't know this shit at all!

TIS

Tapatalkative.

There arent really specific values for some of these parameters.

Its sort of more knowing the range the values should be in, and the conditions that surround what causes them to be off.

Everyones Long term fuel trims and short term fuel trims are going to be different.. so its not really so much about making sure values match or are specific, but understanding what youre monitoring.

understanding what youre monitoring and knowing what the values should be sort of go hand in hand. There isnt a specific value that STFT should be at, but for both short term and long term trims, you always want them as close to 0 as possible.

Ltft & stft: basicly how much fuel your motor takes and adds to reach your targeted afr. These numbers vary but on an ots map should be +/- 8 of each other, on a custom tune will be generaly +/- 4. The closer these numbers are the better because your ecu is not going crazy trying to keep things in check. Envirment, wether and fuel quality are just some things that affect the numbers.

Bats: the temperature of the air as it is being ingested bu the motor. Gor the most art the colder the better. Upgrading intercoolers, shooting meth and using insulation will lower this number. No real constant number because it depend on your mods.

Iat: is the temp of the air getting sucked in. Explained up top

Wgdc: is how much your waste gate on the turbo opens and closes. It very basicly controls the boost levels by diverting the exahuat gases away from the turbo, more it opens the less gasses hit the turbo, the more it closes, the more gasses hit the turbo. The more gas that hots the fins the faster it spins and more boost is made. This is a percenatge from 1-100. 1 is open and 100 is closed.

Again these are very vague refrences and are just to give a basic idea of what each value is and represents. Like @NCZ13 knowing what they mean and having a general idea of the values go hand in hand and take alot of reading.

$10,000,000 sent to OP to maintain this thread.

Again, thanks for this awesome information.

A quick question about the WGDC. Since the car runs a BPV stock, I should expect somewhere close to 100% for this, right? And without a tune, one should continue running a BPV (or a BOV/BPV that has a full-recirc) because of the MAF?

Thanks. I'll definitely keep this thread on-track and informative. I got a stupid fucking question though. What can we do with MSF Bucks other than making our usernames look pretty or donating/stealing MSF Bucks to/from others?

TIS

Sorry I wrote that late last night, its the other way around. No it closes when you are building boost to control the levels. At full Wot it should be fairly constant. This fully depends on your tune. For instance mine is set at 70% when at full boost. The reason we have bpv is because we have a recirc system, the air once sucked in is accounted for and a percentage of fuel is calculated for that metered air. ShoulD it be expelled from the system, a bov, that air is not missing and your afr now has to much fuel causing a rich condition which is the black smoke/backfire that people not tuned for bov get.

Msf bucks can be used to join raffles.

Thanks for the clarification. So both BPV and BOV will have this WGDC value, right? It's just a BPV sends the expelled air back to the turbo and a BOV vents to atmosphere?

Also, what about other parameters like:
EGT
Oil Temp
Coolant Temp

And any others anyone else thinks would be useful, whether Stock or Tuned...

TIS

The waste gate and blow off valve are 2 different things. The waste gate is attatched to the exhasht side/hotside of the turbo either either internaly or externaly. When it diverts the gasses it dumps it in to the DP.

A bov/bpv is there to release the pressure on the intake side/cold side of the turbo. When you build boost it flows thru piping, past the throttle body and into the motor. When that throttle plate closes(because you stop accelerating) there is air trapped in the piping that has to go some where, the bov/bpv releases this air wether back into the intake or vta. With out a bpv/bov the pressure will travel backwards towards the turbo(because it is the only way out) and cause compressor surge.

The wgdc only has to do with the wg.

When we have raffles, you can enter them, too. Stay tuned for a big one soon.

Thanks for doing this OP. I'm sure this will help many more people than it currently seems in this thread. Keep it up!

Bump for more input to help more noobs!

What is a normal range of values for:
EGT
Oil Temp
Coolant Temp

And please list and indicate normal values for any other important parameters not already listed in the OP.

TIS

What you have set as engine temp is coolant temp.

What would be considered a BAT that is too high?

My UltraGauge came today. A few questions about some of the parameters.

WGDC: I don't see anything called this, but there is "EGR Percentage" and "Evaporative Purge Percentage" and I am curious if either of those is the WGDC or not. Input from anybody?

Also, does our car have fuel injector cutoff on coasting or engine braking? I didn't see my fuel pressure drop to zero on throttle lift-off, and I figure it should if injector cutoff is enabled, no?

TIS

Subbed my ug dosnt have kr, bat, wg..


Switched from scan gauge because I wanted the faster refresh rate, blah


Sent from my dizzLe using RaWr powers!

This is hard to say because there are many variables that go into bats. Ambient temps, mods, speed and time that the car is running all play a role. Generally the closer you are to ambient the better. For example with my sig I usually see about 12* above ambient in stop and go traffic, about 8-10 on the highway. Stock cars ive seen as much as 40* above in stop and go. Its one of those things you have to observe to find out what is normal for your situation. Asking locals with simular mods is a good average.

No niether one is wgdc. The egr is a system which recirculates exhaust gasses back into the intake tract mainly for emissions control. It isnt "flowing" during idle nor WoT so the values should only be present during normal cruising. I deleted mine so I have no idea what the values should be for this. The EPP I have no clue and have never heard of.

If your fuel pressure ever reads 0 while your motor is running you have major problems. No matter what the circumstances your injectors are always spraying fuel, the amount is what changes. At Wot the pressures should always be above 1600psi, during engine brake and coast the pressure will drop drasticly but should never be any where near zero.

hey thanks for your answer sid3ways. i was just wondering what the "i should be alarmed" temp would be but i think i have my answer now. now to watch it and see if i need any more of your brilliance.

I thought the whole point of injector cut off is to save fuel and that completely shuts off fuel to the engine since the spinning wheels cause the engine to windmill when engine braking or coasting in gear. The lowest I have seen my fuel pressure go so far is 405psi during engine braking.

TIS

Tapatalkative.

Hey @Sid3wayS so I watched the bats and they were around 120f but when I parked at work after stop and go traffic it was at 160-169 but the intake air temp was roughly the same..is that normal?

That I know of our cars do not do this, but im not 100%. Being as thou there is fuel pressure at all levels of cruising, engine braking, idle. and WoT I would be left to think that our injectors do not "turn off". I know some economy 8 cylinders do this such as the tahoe but it only shuts off half the injectors while crusing so that it essentialy only waists as much as a 4 cylinder.

Well considering that you were stopped, the intake is sucking all the hot air from inside the engine bay. Add to that the no air is passing infront of/on top of your intercooler, it is basicly just sucking in hot air and pushing it into your motor with no way of being cooled. This is a normal occurance and as sson as you begin to move that cooler ambient air enters the engine bay and flows on the intercooler the temps will begin to drop.

It's funny, I could have sworn I read somewhere that our cars have fuel injector shut off when coasting (my old Focus had it, and many other manual cars have it). The discussion I remember reading was about whether it's more economical to use engine braking or to shift to neutral. The way I understand it, it is different than the "economy mode" cylinder disabling you mentioned in some of the big V6 and V8 engines out there.

I can't think of another reason for our fuel economy going to an indicated 99.9 on our car computers if the injectors aren't cutting off (though, to be fair, it does the same thing when switching to neutral, so maybe the computer automatically defaults to 99.9 when no throttle is used).


Tapatalkative.

Great thread! I'm currently monitoring and logging with torque (until I get my AP) and this has and im sure will continue to give some great info on what I should be keeping an eye on. Thanks!

Hi, all.

I've been monitoring more and more and playing with my Ultra Gauge a ton. I wanted to throw a few more questions out that have emerged and that I've seen elsewhere on the forums.

I have gotten confirmation that our car does have fuel injector cutoff when coasting in gear. I also got a great lesson on AFR and its significant from @Wicked (quoted from http://www.mazdaspeedforum.org/forum/foru...ng-atr-107362/ ):
(Talking about the Ultra Gauge parameter called "AFR Command Ratio", which is also called "AFR Lambda")
Essentially, stoich (14.7 in a gasoline fueled motor) = 1.000 in Lambda. Multiply 14.7 by whatever your "AFR COMMAND RATIO" reads at WOT and you get your actual WOT AFR. So at cruise/idle you should be 1.000 lambda. Using Lambda is invaluable when mixing E85 with gas. Our native wideband reads lambda, then converts that numeric value to AFR in gasoline by the formula of 14.7 * X where X = the lambda value. Why is this important? Well when you mix E85 with gasoline, it changes stoich. Stoich for E85 (from my past use of E85 in my Cobalt) is 10.4 AFR. This means that as long as the car is reading a lambda value, it can calculate the AFR, and read it to us regardless of the fuel type. It will, however, display it in gasoline AFR per the parameters of the car's sensor readout. This is not an issue because .75 lambda is still .75 lambda regardless. I had an awesome autometer wideband in my Cobalt that allowed my to display my stoich in what ever ratio I wanted. So my saw 10.4ish at idle and 8.0 at wot, my true E85 AFR. If you ran straight E85 on the MS3, since you can't change the readout, it will show 14.7 as stoich. Again, not an issue because that is 1.0 Lambda. This is why E85 takes about 30% more fueling to reach same targeted Lambda value.

However, after reading this I had more questions. My AFR COMMAND RATIO was around 1.000 at cruise (as expected) and around 0.750 at WOT (equivalent to an AFR of 11). However, when cruising in gear when the fuel injectors should shut off, the AFR should, theoretically, be infinite. But my Lambda was never going above 1.003 or so.

I decided to monitor another parameter I found in the Ultra Gauge called "O2 BANK 1 OXYGEN SENSOR." At WOT, the value is somewhere around 0.950. When coasting in gear (again, the fuel injectors should be off at this point), the value of this parameter falls to 0.000 immediately. However, I have NO idea what this parameter indicates because I can't see how an O2 voltage relates to AFR.

Tonight, I will change the gauge again, to one calleed Bank 1 O2 Sensor Lambda (which the UG manual claims exists, but that I don't remember seeing in my list of gauges). If I can find it, I will monitor this instead, and hope that the values line up more exactly with what I expected from the AFR COMMAND RATIO gauge.

I will report back here, and hopefully @Wicked and the other guys in the thread I mentioned can give their expertise.

TL;DR: Thanks to @Wicked for some good info on AFR. Will update OP with information. Question for the experts: How can the O2 voltage relate to AFR, and why wasn't my AFR COMMAND RATIO parameter going high when coasting in gear?

Another question: Do our cars send out a parameter for oil temperature and/or oil pressure through the ODBII port? I haven't found any way of monitoring this using my Ultra-Gauge, but maybe it's possible using other scan tools?

I know the UG can't do BATs, which is quite annoying.

TIS

Discuss
http://www.mazdaspeedforum.org/forum/foru...toring-119096/