Throttle position sensor

 

i'm running stage 2 on sport mode with stock throttle settings.

 

I haven't messed with anything...normal mode (which I thought was essentially sport mode throttle) with the Stage I map.

 

I see no change in the idle fluctuation with sport mode on or off. I've been running a tps stage3 map.

 

FWIW....I get the bouncy idle too with my AP software....tuned by RMW though. So I think it's something in the AP software, considering it seems many with the AP have the same issue. My mapping is completely custom, and shares nothing with any of the Alta TPS maps.

Doesn't do it all the time, but when it does, I can never seem to figure out what triggers it or what makes it stop. I think it's a timing issue, timing jumps all over the place when its happening....but I'm not a tuner lol. Kinda makes the car sound cool though...almost like it has a lumpy cam. I took it to the car wash once and it was doing it as I was getting my wash ticket wrote up, all the guys came over and were like "what do you have in it??"

Also, I've heard it mentioned plenty of times but never seen a solid answer. The software hangs onto the revs too long during shifts. It's been 4 months so I've learned to drive it differently, but if you aren't used to it you will always find yourself bouncing into the rev limiter when trying to shift quickly...its hugely annoying. You have to completely lift off the throttle, wait a split second for the revs to stop climbing and drop, then commence your shift. I do not let people drive my car simply for this fact....they end up completely frying the clutch between shifts. Again, something that I think is inherent to AP software...because my car has had 30+ Dimsport tunes on it, some with some really wacky stuff in it, and it never did that on any of them. Only since my AP tune.

 

I have the bouncy rev problem sometimes and I'm running stage 1 w/o an AP. I want to get an AP but I need to get a job before I buy toys.

 

O.K., I have another "stoopid" question that has more than likely been answered in one of the previous pages that I'm too lazy to read.

After you flash the ECU, can you leave the Accessport plugged in and kind of use it as a boost monitor, or to display some other sort of information?

 

You can monitor over 30 parameters. The only issue with that is some of the readings are in non familiar units ;-)

 

Reebus, you can leave the AP plugged in when you're driving to monitor boost, water temp, or many, many other things. Just remember to unplug it when you turn the car off to avoid draining the battery!

 

Torque Efficiency Explained,
As Chris said its a bit confusing, but just think of it like this.
There is a map that is 2d, where its the amount of ignition timing removed from the base timing based on Torque Efficiency. Think of the map like this, when TQ Eff is at 1, its running base timing. As it goes smaller toward .5 its now pulling as much as 40 degrees of timing. Of course there are lots of values in the middle and all the way to 0, but you get the idea at least.

TQ Eff is used by the ECU for a few things that we know of, one of which is idle control. In this state the TQ ranges from 0 to .8 and it does this back and forth very quickly. All modern ECU's use ignition timing to control idle and this ECU does it using this TQ Eff map. If you could read the exact timing at idle it not just a set 5 degrees, it varies from -5 to 5 or so more.

TQ Eff is also used during shifting. On a Manual its more about how much you lift throttle. When you lift throttle it typical of the ECU to retard timing to help make this transition to a no fueling state, smoother. Also this helps with reducing engine power even quicker to a state the requires less fuel.

On the Automatic, the TQ Eff is used to reduce engine power between shifts weather you shift it or the TCM shifts it.

On stock cars the TQ is pretty aggressive and during throttle lifts it really pulls power and i feel too quickly. With an AP installed and way more power, its really abrupt going from 200WHP to 10 in a split second. So modifying this helps smooth this out. Then secondly on the auto it can make it feel even more sluggish between shifts. This is because it retards timing before, during and after the shift. (roughly 1 whole second). In sport mode its about half that much time but still not good.

We have played with these maps and there seems to be a balance of keeping the idle smooth and making the car smoother or not sluggish between shifts.

Anyway its one of the more confusing things the ECU does and i hope that explains Torque Efficiency and what the numbers mean while logging.

 

No automatic shut off like the scangage?

Another question...If I record data with the AP, is there a way for me to read it on my computer? Say in Excel or the like?

 

Just as a heads-up to everyone especially the ALTA guys. I went to service yesterday and when I came to pick my car up the tech who is my friend comes up to me and tells me: Man you don't know how close you were to getting your warranty voided, I had to fight with the shop foreman not to void it because you had over-rev codes on the car and your turbo is making a noise. I highly suggest the ALTA guys come up with a map that leaves the stock rev limit so that no other people face this problem. My AP was unmarried BTW.

 

So these are codes that cannot be detected and cleared by the AP?

 

No. Overrev codes are hard codes and can't be cleared by anything aftermarket and I'm pretty sure not even the factory scanners can clear them either. However, according to their introductory post:

-We can raise the rev limit.
Others can do this but there is one thing that they don't fix, the "Over-Rev Recorder". Many Euro cars have this function that when the engine RPM exceeds XXXXRPM it will record all the data at that moment and save it deep in the ECU. All the turbo Mini's have an Over-Rev Recorder set just above stock redline. So if a tuner bumps up your redline, and doesn't change this, this could lead to a voided warranty. When we change the redline, we also bump the Over-Rev Recorder up to keep BMW happy.

 

Well apparently not!

 

BMWi6, We raise the rev limit, but we also raise the rev counter. The ECU will only record an over rev if it goes over the rev counter. Were you able to get from the dealer what RPM it was going up to? This is the first time we've heard of a customer getting an over rev with our tune. Which map are you running? We'll double check that map to make sure that the rev counter is above the rev limit.

 

^^Now THAT is good customer service. Most companies wouldn't even respond, let alone offer to look at the map again to make sure.
I'm not sure what Mini I'm going to end up in yet, but I'll be using Alta now!

 

Also keep in mind, if you accidentally mis shift (shift from 6th to 3rd instead of 6th to 5th for example) at a high speed, then there's nothing that our maps can do to prevent you from hitting over rev.

 

I assume this is also the case with the stock ECU... right?

 

That's the point of the over-rev counter. The Rev-limiter prevents the driver from purposely over-revving the engine. So bad downshifts is really the only way to hit the over-rev counter. The purpose of it being that it gives the company an 'out' if the engine blows. They can say, "hey, you downshifted into 2nd at 120 MPH. That's not our fault. Have fun replacing your engine yourself you crazy Hoon."

 

Hey Chris, I am running the stage 1 92 octane map with the stock throttle settings and I have also ran the stage 1 92 oct. TPS map. I am 100% sure that the over-rev was not from a down-shift. I did not get what rpm was recorded from the dealer. Thanks and let me know what you find.

 

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Hey Alta guys... I was going to take my car in for service soon, so I reflashed back to stock (uninstalled). Anyway in that process I noticed something. It seems the stock ecu programming tightens steering after pressing the sport button. However I was running the 91 octane TPS map, and the steering was soft and vague very much like the stock mode.

I was wondering: Is this my imagination? or do you guys alter the steering settings?

If so I'd prefer a TPS map that has the more 'weighty' stock steering heft with sport button setting.

 

Hello Fjork,

We don't change the steering. When you press the sport button with our map installed, you will get the same firmed up steering as you do with the stock tune. I hope that helps, thanks!

 

Maybe I'm insane then!