setting up cold idle

[maxwest]

Evening lads,
Would appreciate some help/advice. Have been told by caterham guys that some of the elise guys are well up on jenveys and emerald ecu's so here's hoping.
Have just got the caterham back after having various bits fitted. Everything appears OK so far, though only had one run home and that was in the rain.
One thing I have noticed is the idle when cold is not good. Need to keep feathering the throttle to keep it from stalling, once its warmed up its fine. Have had vernier pulley's, jenvey throttle bodies and an emerald ecu fitted. I know I could take it back but would like to give it a go. Have read the DVApower instructions on setting up the idle and would like to give it a go myself but I'm sh*t scared as I have never done this sort of thing before. Any emerald/jenvey guru's out there who could give me a hand.

Many Thanks,

Steve.

[tut]

Hi Steve

If you have T/B's then I presume that you do not have an IACV fitted. What specification is your head? If between 180-190hp, I still have my Emerald map that could be worth trying.

tut

[Victor Meldrew]

Evening lads,
Would appreciate some help/advice. Have been told by caterham guys that some of the elise guys are well up on jenveys and emerald ecu's so here's hoping.
Have just got the caterham back after having various bits fitted. Everything appears OK so far, though only had one run home and that was in the rain.
One thing I have noticed is the idle when cold is not good. Need to keep feathering the throttle to keep it from stalling, once its warmed up its fine. Have had vernier pulley's, jenvey throttle bodies and an emerald ecu fitted. I know I could take it back but would like to give it a go. Have read the DVApower instructions on setting up the idle and would like to give it a go myself but I'm sh*t scared as I have never done this sort of thing before. Any emerald/jenvey guru's out there who could give me a hand.

Many Thanks,

Steve.

The man to speak to would be Dan Jude.. Emerald specialist.. or if you can get him when he's sobre, Shug.

[tut]

Mikie711 as well.

tut

[maxwest]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the reply's. Tut its a caterham superlight 1600SS k series. Took it to Ricky Gauld's to have vernier pulley's, jenvey's, bernard scouse airbox and emerald ecu fitted. Everything seems fine its just the idle needs tweeking. Wolud like to plug in and have a look just for my own info and try to sort out the cold idle but not confident enough to try first time myself.

Regards,

Steve.

P.S. Tut i am just down the road from you could we have a chat.

[Mikie711]

Welcome to SE Steve, take it form your set up, which is very similar to mine, like tut says you won't have a iacv valve so will have to rely on ignition advance/enrichment/rpm lift to keep the car from stalling when cold. The cold map is the hardest to get right due to the short window of opertunity to get the map right.
There are a bunch of tweeks to try but if you have never used emerald software before and with out knowing what sort of laptop/usb connector/serial port etc I wouldn't recommend digging about without first backing up your excisting map.
I am offshore till the 17th but after that would be more than happy to show you what you need to do and help sort out your cold map, basically copy some of my settings as mine idles steady when stone cold.
Be carefull connecting any type of usb port emulator to the emerald. It's very sensitive to which type you use and can throw a serious hissy fit if it doesn't like the one you've got. Best bet is the one emerald sells which works fine and under no circumstances use a prolific which is the most common type you get from computer shops. Of course if your laptop is old enough to have seial port your laughing.
Pluging in is easy, just remember to have the car switched off and your laptop on, else windows thinks it's found a new mouse, which has some interesting effects on your computer !!.

[robin]

I'm sure the DVA pages discuss this, but before messing with the emerald you need to make sure that the air flow through each of the four throttle bodies is matched and correct, otherwise you might get it to idle but one cylinder could be running dangerously lean (and thus hot!).

Cheers,
Robin

[maxwest]

Mikie711,
have PM'd you.

Regards,

Steve.

[maxwest]

Hi Mikie711,
After PM'ing you had a look at the DVApower page again on setting up jenvey's. He mention's I quote " if you adj the overall idle adj screw then make sure you re-align the throttle pot in software immediately. So from that I assume I will not touch anything at the moment. Any advice?.

Regards,

Steve.

[tut]

Where do you live Steve?

Come along for a chat anytime, I am retired so home most of the time.

tut

[maxwest]

Tut,
PM'd you. Did you get it.

Regards,

Steve.

[tut]

Just seen it Steve.

tut

[Mikie711]

Steve, got your PM . Unless your confident in what your doing I wouldn't bother. Aligning the TPS is pretty straight forward but you'll need a good ear or a synchronizer to ballance the TB's.
If it's becoming a problem for your I would give Ricky a phone.

[2F45T4U]

There are a few things you could try (or it may be a case of trying them all in the end)
I would increase the over all tick over screw and reset the TPS, then use the IGN advance to control the idle. this would mean that when the engine was warm the cylinder filling would be good and there would be very little advance so the engine would have a solid and strong idle. but its up to you

for this, im assuming the throttle bodies are balanced and set up properly as if theyre not then then next bit will be a fudge to make it run,
but if theyre ok then this can be done without physically changing anything, and if youve made an arse you can easily revert it back to how it was...

If you havent already done so,take a copy of your current map before you touch anything, then....

before you start the engine at all, go to the coolant temp box (F7) start the engine from cold, and try increasing the percentage fueling up to the temperature point when you dont need to feather the throttle any longer to make it idle. This is the same as using 'choke' on a carb engine as your enrichening the mixture slightly to help fuel drop out. act quickly as it wont take long to. i wouldnt touch the 'Air Temp' compensation values because they 'should' be almost constant if your bodies can breathe well.

it might not take much and you may have to do it over a few mornings/cold starts to get it right and you will probably find youll have to tweak it again in the winter as the engine will be colder than what the ambient temp is in the summer months.

you may find it necessary to increase the timing in the same temperature range to speed up the idle while its cold, but you wont be able to change it much before it starts to 'hunt' and run crap.

if you only touch the low temp/idle cell settings you wont be able to do any damage to the engine. and if your in any doubt the above suggestions can be disgarded by reloading your current map. (as apposed to playing with TPS/TB adjustments etc....)


hope this helps

[maxwest]

Would just like to thank everyone very much for there technical imput. Been most helpful.


Regards,

Steve.