So I've had my car for about a week now, surprise surprise it failed a 2 stage emissions test with flying carpets..

So I was told about a place in Waterloo called Point Zero and what they do is tune down the car to make it pass the emissions test then tune it back to the way it was.

Silly me didn't bring my DSMlink cable so we weren't able to connect to the ECU.

Basically they weren't getting an O2 reading to do the test because it may have been turned off using DSMlink. I made an appointment to bring it back to them on Tuesday but I just wanna make sure they can get the O2 reading they need.

I got the ECUlink software V3 all set up on my computer and I'm able to get it working but I have no idea what I'm looking for as far as making sure this sensor is working or will be working when it goes for the test.

I'm a noob when it comes to Tuning or using this program, so if anyone knows how to guide me to do what I'm trying to do would be great!

Thanks boys!!

oh man...not this thread again:( what year is your spyder?

I know, I know I'm sorry I just don't understand this DSMlink yet and am very afraid of messing something up!

I've got a '97 spyder gs-t

does it matter what year it is? Won't I enable the O2 sensor in ECMlink in the same place regardless?

If it's a '97 you can get them to do the tail-pipe sniffer test, you don't need to do the OBD2 test.

(Someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

you are bang on bud. I've got a 97 and only had to do the 2 speed idle test. make sure your a/f's are decent and you have a good cat...the rest will happen like clock work.

98 and up need the obd2 test

Again, I don't know DSMlink well enough to make sure my a/f is good, it does have a cat but has been modded pretty good. And like I said it failed an etest terribly when on a 2 speed idle test. That's why I'm bringing it to Point Zero.

The issue with bringing it to Point Zero is the people they get to test it (which is in the same plaza) Is only set up to do the newer style test. Which is why I want to know how to get readings or enable the o2 sensor like they want.
They're pretty confident it'll pass I just need to know that little bit of information.

Stay the frack away from point zero. I fixed more fucked up hondas from the sh!t hole then the ricer thread has pictures of fucked up hondas. Post a log lets see the a/f's.

But yes you would need a 2 speed idle test not an obd2 test.

If you have a cat, you should pass. Unless you're running pig rich. Sniffer test for '97 and down..

i had same problem. put a new cat on, some 87 octane.. 2L of meth in the tank. and a good hard run. pulled 5 degrees of timing with my sliders and boom better then the 2013 chevy impala that was infront of me.

Hey boys,

So I jammed my head with as much knowledge of ECMlink as I could to try and figure out how to tune my car right... After a couple days I was at least able to get it to run in Closed loop and idle with a 14.7 a/f ratio, but still wasn't able to get the a/f ratios right.

So this is my test from Friday...




What do you guys think? Any suggestions on what I should be tweaking to pass this damn Etest?

Also a side note... After this test I figured out how to better dial in the MAFcomp adjustment. I think I should run the adjustment tool again so it has better a/f ratios as well because under certain throttle positions the a/f mixture is getting to 20 sometimes.

Any suggestions would be awesome, I've got logs too if anyone wants to see those too.

And just for shits here's the Etest from when I first got the car.

I dont get it... I have a 97. and it passed without any emmissions on the car. Just an old cat, Dsmlink active, no rear o2 and 950cc injectors.The tune wasnt even that great. A good cat should fix a bad tune.

Almost the same as jay here, emissions turned off, only a wideband and rtm 95lb injectors, I have a 3inch metal core vibrant cat. did a 2 speed idle and passed with flying colors (and I run ultra 94)

if you are only doing a 2 speed idle test then make sure your idle and cruse tune is dialed in, its as easy as watching the ecmlink setup videos and emulating the process.

Is the car hot when you're doing these tests? Ideally you want to roll in off the highway and into the bay If it's sitting for a long time before they test it then your cat isn't doing much.

Ive heard some people run lean just to heat the cat up more.

Zero emissions stuff in my car. I run 91/100LL, and 2L of meth in the tank for my etest. Get her night and hot, then passed with flying colours.
You're close... damn close! I would go for a longer drive (highway and some pulls) with a some meth in the tank and you should be good

You can't just "lean" a car out that has O2 sensor feedback & runs in closed loop. The ecu will automatically dial out your attempt to run lean, back to an ideal ~14.7:1. Though there is only so much adjustment available for it to do so. If you adjust far enough, the ecu will eventually not be able to adjust you back to the idel 14.7:1 but will also throw a CEL for fuel trims being maxed out, which is an automatic fail.

If your fuel trims are half decent & the ecu is able to achive ~14.7:1, you can't "tune it to pass". You need to replace parts that aren't functioning properly.

Or cant you just lock it into open loop?

Right... I believe I might have heard it on the dsmap forums. They only run in open loop.

Mmm.. open loop .... soo much smoother And if yer good.... much easiier on gas. I dont think Link can just be locked in open loop and run as nicely as Dsmap.
The way Link reads its map sensor is completely diferant then Dsmap.

Yes, you should be able to run Link in open loop only but the majority of people probably couldn't tune the car to run correctly in open loop under all driving conditions.

Tbats what I mean. I know you can lock it in open loop. But its not native to the ecu program.. Dsmap is native open loop from the start... just like the speed density.

Terry,
I think you nailed it man. My car isn't dialed in yet, Stephen has been helping me out with my cars set up a lot! I've come along and have asked some stupid questions but he's been patient.
I think my biggest problem is I don't have my MAFT (which is a Mass Air Flow Translator right?) set up right. Here's how it's currently set up... It didn't look exactly like that when I ran the test but it looked close..


I didn't run it very long before the test. I drove a 25 min drive through town to the testing place that was it.

I use 94 in my car, and haven't really heard of this meth you speak of. How and when would I use it?


I'd love to hear some suggestions on how to get this thing working properly! But in the meantime I'm going to do some more research and see what I can figure out.

here's the direct link if it's too hard to read.
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67/kyle_dolson/datalogetest_zps0bf82b1d.jpg

At the very least, you need to smoothen that thing out. FAR too abrupt.

It's retardly abrupt... It is that way presently just to see how much adjustment it needed to set airflowperrev to .25. Most of the time it was sitting at .14. I don't have alot of MAFT experiance but that just seems wrong.

Is there away to loose the translator and just run it as a 3 inch gm maf with link?

or why not just zero out the MAF-T and use only ecmlink for all your adjustments till you get SD setup or a Ecmlink GM maf cable.

Those huge inconsistent mafcomp spikes are showing me either your injectors are not setup properly or the maf-t is out to lunch

Cant just zero out the maft we arent getting proper airflowperrev. Or Terry do you mean there is away to actually adjust the translator on its own?

I would just put the stock maf back on and keep it simple untill you have what you need to run speed density.

Ya, I was under the impression that you can adjust your maf-t on its own...if this is true then just zero out the maf-t translator so all its doing is translating the GM maf signal without making any tuning adjustments, then use ecmlink to do the compensation, this way you don't have 2 tuning programs working against each other..

I could be way out to lunch here but I know theres a fist full of posts regarding using a maf-t and ecmlink with your gm maf. I believe the info can be found right on the ecmlink website.

Yes, what Terry said. Zero out the MAF-T so that it is not doing any tuning adjustments, it is simply converting the GM MAF signal to a frequency (Hz). Then make adjustments in ECMLink. Reset the page in ECMLink back to zeros, then adjust the lower Hz up to get the car to idle. For example try 0 Hz at +30%, 50 Hz at +25%, 100 Hz at +20%, 150Hz at +10%. Basically a smooth transition back to zero. There will probably be other finer adjustments to make throughout the range but this should get the car to idle (in my experience). The problem is that the GM MAF does not measure airflow very well at the low flows produced by a 2.0L at idle. I ran this exact setup on my car for several years, I have the ECMLink GM MAF cable now and I can tell you it is easier to get the car running smooth.

So When you say zero the translator, you mean physically change things on the Translator to make it think it's stock? Like with injector size make it for 450s?

And then leave ecmlink thinking I'm still using "stock" MAF? Then graph the adjustments?

I'm going to go have a gander, I'll take some pics for some reference....

Getting a lil nervous! My 2nd Temp sticker is only good til the 8th!

ya, make the maf-t think you are totally stock so it doesn't try to modify/tune your gm maf input signal..let ecmlink do all the tuning.

hey terry thanks for the advice! Getting everything dialed to be stock gave me a better MAFcomp graph! Numbers are looking a lot better that's forsure! I think I may try another Etest tomorrow, I'm going to drive it longer than I did the last time because I really didn't give it a good run.
Well see what happens! Hopefully a pass so I can move on and fix something else on the car haha..
The list never ends does it?

Throw some meth in the tank!

I still say you need a new cat... if you run too rich... you can send raw fuel into your cat and ruin it. I melted the irridium plugs in my turbo saturn and sent raw fuel into the cat. It actually burnt up in the cat and melted the combs.

ya for extra Etest passing insurance I would grab some methalhydrate from Canadian tire (in the paint supply section) and toss some in the tank, I have no idea the exact ratio to mix but I'm sure some one with experience can chime in.

Booya! Got past the Etest!

I think what did it was first, getting that translator working properly to get a better looking graph, I think that def leaned it out more and plus the downtime... that had to get turned down a bit too.
then I took it out for a good boot up and down the highway. and it basically went right into the bay! haha

such a sigh of relief.... Next on the list is the turning signals not working issue!

Congratulations Kyle! I'm glad it worked out for you.

WOOT!
Wait, you're in Cambridge? I was just there!

City people.... Cambridge is what 45 minutes from Toronto...I use to drive that every day to work and back.

Depends what part of Toronto you start in, and what time of day.

There are parts of Toronto that you can't even drive to in 45 minutes from another part of Toronto.