UniChip Tuning

[MSV]

Hi guys.

I've had my UniChip in for about a year now. Should I have it re-tuned? The reason I'm asking is ever since the car was serviced, it seems to be overfueling a bit. No smoke or anything, just a strong petrol smell. I assume this is because the car was "dirty" when it was tuned a year ago, and now after the service everything is 100% and maybe the UniChip's parameters are a bit out?

[turbonutters]

It is good practice to service a car and make sure that it is in its best stock form before you take it for a remap so now is the time.

[MSV]

Alright, thanks TN. I just called a place here in Potch, HS Performance. They can do it for me today. So will get it done right away.

[Guili]

Your car has a unichip??? What power does it make? I can remember with my 147 2.0TS I researched relentlesly for hours on end on how to improve performance...to no avail.

[Guili]

No i don't want another twin spark...its good to start there but you can then move on from there to a busso...i know what I want bla bla bla...

[turbonutters]

[MSV]

The guy says he can't tune the car because my MAF is finished. So what do I do now? He says that driving at full throttle will damage my motor. Help?

Perhaps the oil from my filter killed it (Master Paul said this could happen)? Can I just clean the MAF? How much is a new one? How can I tell if what the tuner said is right?

AAAAAAAAAH! Im so irritated right now!

Also, he says that the current map on the chip is only tuned until 3000rpm. The higher values are all 0. That means Dastek just forgot to or chose not to tune the last 4000rpm. Ridiculous.

[corriedw]

Originally Posted by MSV

Also, he says that the current map on the chip is only tuned until 3000rpm. The higher values are all 0. That means Dastek just forgot to or chose not to tune the last 4000rpm. Ridiculous.

I am not a Dastek fan but I disagree with the statement, this seems to be one of those tuners that think his work gets better when he bad mouths other people.

The Unichip differs from standalone management systems, in that it do not create a map for the functions it controls. It adjusts the input signals for the std Motronic management. If the normal input is good to give perfect combustion, as it is read by the gas analyzer (lambda unit) no adjustment is made to the signal. No adjustments to part of the map is not out of the ordinary as the Bosch Motronic systems are the best there is in the business. With flowed heads, branches and very open exhaust on my TS, a Unichip could only give a very marginal improvement from std management for max power. From the tuners comment, my the conclusion is that the Motronic needed help (fueling/timing??) below 3000 rpm but did everything perfect above 3000 rpm which does not surprise me.

I wonder about system problems, the injector light on your dash would have been on?? Plug into somebody's system and if there are a problem it will show up.

[MSV]

Thanx corriedw. If there is a MAF problem, will it be an error code on the diagnostics? Or is there another way of checking it?

[corriedw]

Originally Posted by MSV

Thanx corriedw. If there is a MAF problem, will it be an error code on the diagnostics? Or is there another way of checking it?

I believe it should, as the system will have no/wrong inputs from MAF after it failed. But let TN tell us if it sometimes fail without an error code.

[MSV]

Alright, cool. Will wait for TN to say something about it.

Just as a side note, don't know if it is relevant, but over the last couple weeks my car has been backfiring more and also there is a very strong petrol smell. The first start in the morning also idles really strangely/aggressively.

[turbonutters]

Strange. Gerhard commented that your car pulled nice all over when he test drove it alter the work was done.
MAF will not necessarily switch the injector light on.
Why did he decide the MAF's faulty?
What happens I'd you un plug the MAF.
A faulty MAF could explain the rich mixture.

[MSV]

He says the car was acting strange on the dyno. At certain points the car was doing the opposite of what he was doing. Fueling when he releases throttle, stalls when he accelerates. Also, there was some value on the screen about air fuel mixture and it was supposedly way too high, and he couldnt bring it down.

My car seems fine to me. Its just that petrol smell and the erratic idle in the mornings.

I havent unplugged the MAF before. What should the difference be if I do?


Edit: Also, the first dyno run, to do the 'before' power, the power curve looked more like 'stairs' than a healthy power curve...

[turbonutters]

It should be better.
What you describe sounds like the management overriding his input like it should and not necessarily the maf. It could even be lambdas correcting the fuelling he attempt to adjust.

[MSV]

Ill give it a try today. Thanx TN. How do they tune the cars if the management overrides the tuner input? How did Dastek do it? Did you see my edit in my previous post? Any thoughts on that?

[MSV]

Is a MAF something that can be cleaned?

[corriedw]

Originally Posted by MSV

How do they tune the cars if the management overrides the tuner input? How did Dastek do it?

The Motronic management has a factory map and when the throttle opens more than an certain amount the engine is controlled by the map. This map can be changed by a Unichip. When the throttle is opened less than this amount(cruising/ town driving), the fueling is controlled by the lambda sensor in the exhaust. If unburned fuel is detected, less fuel is injected. Nobody can adjust that part of the system. Due to this my GTV is heavy on fuel in town and lighter on fuel with fast open road use.

With my first turbo TS, I used a Unichip. When we mapped this part, the system just came back and override the adjustments by ignoring it and going to the std operation. We left the lambda unplugged and it couldn't do that but left the injector light(system fault) on. But this is not what you want to do.

[MSV]

So I disconnected the MAF. The car idles erratically and dies. It also throws out the MCSF Warning. Trying to reverse the car out to go for a drive, it just dies. So I reconnected the MAF and its back to normal. Idles constant and drives. What does this mean?

With the MAF on or off, I smell petrol either way...

[MSV]

Also, the air intake pipe was clean. No oil or anything before, near or after the MAF.

[Ian Lusso]

please check your fuel hose on the left of the engine block on top of the cam cover. They have been known to leak and cause fire. My Gtv doesn't smell of fet even though it runs a bit rich at the bottom. Also try a throttle and ecu reset.

[MSV]

Originally Posted by Ian Lusso

please check your fuel hose on the left of the engine block on top of the cam cover. They have been known to leak and cause fire. My Gtv doesn't smell of fet even though it runs a bit rich at the bottom. Also try a throttle and ecu reset.

Thanx Ian. Ill check the pipe and do the reset in the morning.

[MSV]

Originally Posted by MSV

Thanx Ian. Ill check the pipe and do the reset in the morning.

I just did the reset - car still feels the same (it felt and still feels fine to me). I just still smell a lot of petrol from the exhaust.

Not sure which pipe to check specifically, but all pipes that are visible seem fine.

[WILDCARD]

No offense but I am starting to realize now why Hennie removed the unichip from the 146 Turbo and installed a gotech.

[MSV]

Originally Posted by WILDCARD

No offense but I am starting to realize now why Hennie removed the unichip from the 146 Turbo and installed a gotech.

Been thinking this too!

[corriedw]

Originally Posted by MSV

Been thinking this too!

I disagree with replacing the Motronic system with a Gotech(no knock control and much less sophisticated) For an NA car for everyday use I prefer std system + Unichip.

What Hennie did after he got the 146 Wildcard now have, was to change the management to the method TN and Cuzz is using. That is using the std Motronic management even for the turbo application with the Gotech only adding additional fuel.

This may need a flashback in history. Hennie(like a lot of us) went through his turbo learning process during his Uno Turbo days. At first we used the Marelli/Bosch systems as is, with manipulation of the boost system to change boost pressure and first adding injectors to keep the air/fuel mixture intact. That meant having pressure switches and various elementary drivers for the extra injectors.

It really was initially not very sophisticated and on acceleration the cars would start off good and suddenly fly away under rocket boost. Not good at all for a daily. Later he changed injector sizes and types and with his electronic background put him onto better fuelers/injector drivers as well.

I disliked the characteristics of these systems and tried Motronic/Dastek management with 4 large injectors and went to stand alone management after that. Both performed reasonable but there were no economic range for daily use as the large injector could not inject for short enough periods in town/cruising applications. Hennie's version of this on the Uno was running Gotech for the fueling and the std Marelli system for spark management. He managed a very credible 184wkW(yes 240whp) from 1400cc at an Alfa dyno day.

TN/Cuzz went their own way modifying daily users with low pressure turbo systems. The short-coming on std management systems(all NA cars) is that once the engine start knocking, the management can not pull the timing back enough to avoid damage with a turbo application. That is why people like modifying factory turbo cars, the systems is adapted for this. I was TN's biggest critic as his plan differed from the current school of thought. Their application of the turbo paraphernalia lead to the ability to use std management. On his conversions, TN somehow managed to keep combustion temperatures low enough to keep knocking in the Alfa management's adjustment range. They used the Dictator/Gotech managements for driving the extra injector/s much more effective than the systems used before. With this combination he proved to us that he had the best of both worlds by having economy and power.