Flex fuel tune

[Zelek]

I’m confused, if they leave the 02’s on then why wouldn’t it pass? Are you saying earlier 2016-2018 tunes turned off criteria for emissions but now the companies that tune are more careful as to what they turn off?

Hell if I can’t pass emissions, then why tune the car?

The problem is the O2's are turned on, but the code for P0420 is off. The O2's remain in a "Not Ready" state which is the O2 and HO2 if you do a scan. Those 2 alone will fail you. Those are the two hardest ones on an aftermarket tune to get to go active.

If you simply turn off the O2's, they go into a "Not Available" state which is not the same as "Not Ready". They are grayed out on the scanner and aren't factored in on the test. Some states may still fail you on this piece, but this is how I passed in Texas earlier this year.

To turn off the O2's, you need to have a device that lets you toggle all of that stuff with the ECU cracked essentially. Like a full on tuner license.

Sponsored

 

[Stymee]

The problem is the O2's are turned on, but the code for P0420 is off. The O2's remain in a "Not Ready" state which is the O2 and HO2 if you do a scan. Those 2 alone will fail you. Those are the two hardest ones on an aftermarket tune to get to go active.

If you simply turn off the O2's, they go into a "Not Available" state which is not the same as "Not Ready". They are grayed out on the scanner and aren't factored in on the test. Some states may still fail you on this piece, but this is how I passed in Texas earlier this year.

To turn off the O2's, you need to have a device that lets you toggle all of that stuff with the ECU cracked essentially. Like a full on tuner license.

Damn that sucks, What if I put the stock tune back in the car, would it then learn and pass?
This way a month before inspection, I could allow the car to learn and pass?

 

[Zelek]

Damn that sucks, What if I put the stock tune back in the car, would it then learn and pass?
This way a month before inspection, I could allow the car to learn and pass?

If you are able to, yes, that will work.

 

[re-rx7]

I switched to lunds flex tune after running PBD for awhile and i wasnt really happy with their setup. With lund i am 100% happy. Lunds flex give you the option to run literally any ratio of 93 or E85, no draining the tank, etc. The difference between the two, once fully on E85 btw isnt much. Both tunes have the same max timing a WOT and will feel the same at WOT, but the E85r tune is a bit more aggressive in midrange and partial throttle around town. Personally i daily'd the flex for awhile but then made the switch to E85r since i only use e85 now and i prefer the R tune. Some notes you should be aware of, nothing negative but just so you know upfront since seems your on the fence.

Lund flex tune--upon your first time loading it, id drive around a bit to let the tune "settle" then head to the pump. At this point i assume youve driven down to as close to E as you are comfortable with, while it isnt required, it does make the switch to full E85 faster and youll get the benefits faster. Otherwise youll have to burn through a few tanks to get to full E85. So youve driven down to lets say 15 miles to E or whatever. Fill up with E85 then sit at the pump and idle for a few min, your first start may seem rough but probably wont be due to 93 still in the lines. Let the car adjust, and watch two very important values on the Ngauge, ALC learned flag and Ethanol content %. ALC learned will be displaying a yellow zero and you are not safe to go to WOT until this displays a red "1" meaning it has locked the E content value into the tune and you safe to go bananas. This process is known as relearn and it can take up to 15 min or so the first time, and is triggered every time you fill up with more than 4 gallons of fuel. Now back to your first fill up, sit and let the car idle as you watch E content %. it will initially display 10% but then very slowly start to rise depending on how much 93 you left in the tank since that will be diluting the E85 you just put in. Lund advises to wait until 40% to start driving but personally that takes a long time and can cause people at the pump to start to get impatient, i waited till about 20 and then slowly drove out of the area and moved to the side until i hit 40%. Then i took the car out and started driving around town at a normal pace, nothing aggressive. Driving will mix the fuels faster and start to increase your percentage and help lock in the flag faster. If you are sitting at idle waiting for the 40%, small revs can help as well. My first fill up i got to a max of 50% before the flag locked in. I just kept burning gas then filling up till i got steady values of 75 to 80. Now fast forward to your fully swapped over, your E content is steady at whatever it topped out at and your driving around town, two things to remember, because of the way the flex tune works every time you start your car it will likely take a bit more time to start than normal, this is fine and nothing to be concerned with. And number two, the ALC relearn flag will reset every time you fill up which means no going to WOT until it locks in. Again, you can drive normally and semi aggressively but dont go full WOT until the flag locks. Overall a great tune to use and has good pull and power on e85, very useful if E85 isnt as available in your area.

E85r tune--Love this tune, do not switch to this until your E content averages 70 and above. Two great things this tune has that were minor inconveniences in the flex, 1, this tune starts the car right up no lag, and two, fill up and go. No flag relearn process. The logic in the tune already is built for E content so it doesnt need to relearn every time you fill up. The additional mid range and partial throttle is nice, especially when merging onto the freeway from on ramps, etc. Honestly if E85 is readily available to you id run the flex, make sure everything is good to go then switch to R and never look back. Lund will help you with the process every step of the way and will even setup your ngauge will a datalog file that automatically sets up the values it wants you to monitor which is convenient, other tuners have you manually select these values. All in all obviously im biased to Lund, ive never had a single issue with their tune and i did have several with PBD that never got corrected despite many revisions. Good luck.

Wow man excellent post and just what i was looking for. While E85 is avail to me its only on my way to work about 40miles south of me. USually i drive my daily so the flex could be a better choice. I was curious i the power difference was that big and you answered the question perfectly

 

[SAY WHAT]

F***. I guess I am screwed now then when I have to renew.

You never asked for the 93 diag file ?

 

[Bluemustang]

You never asked for the 93 diag file ?

Diag file? No. I had an emissions tune back when I had the JLT and stock manifold but can't use that anymore probably because my IMRCs are since deactivated.

 

[jmeiers]

Emissions test in Northern Virginia is now just drive past a randomly parked "sniffer" trailer near various roadways in the area. They measure all cars that pass by them but if your registered car is within the time frame of registration renewal, and it passes the drive by test, then they simply send you a letter in the mail and a website address to go pay the emissions test fee. This only has to be done every 2 years here. I still have another year to go on my Mustang, but my other 2 cars was a breeze.

 

[SAY WHAT]

Diag file? No. I had an emissions tune back when I had the JLT and stock manifold but can't use that anymore probably because my IMRCs are since deactivated.

You should still be able to get a file for emissions, Its not like you got rid of your cats. I got a emissions tune from Brandon called a 93 diag file. I have verified that I can pass emissions testing using that tune with the imircs locked out.

 

[StangSteve]

I have a few questions. If I go Lund flex tune and get their nGuage will I still have access to my stock file? So I can revert back to stock for emissions testing and pass. With a flex tune do all the different selectable settings (normal, sport, etc) keep their specific functionality but just get the added power? I would not like having all my selectables to be the same after tune. And lastly with the flex tune if I run e85 for awhile will I get to the same spark as a pure E85 tune? Thanks.

 

[AZ18yote]

I have a few questions. If I go Lund flex tune and get their nGuage will I still have access to my stock file? So I can revert back to stock for emissions testing and pass. With a flex tune do all the different selectable settings (normal, sport, etc) keep their specific functionality but just get the added power? I would not like having all my selectables to be the same after tune. And lastly with the flex tune if I run e85 for awhile will I get to the same spark as a pure E85 tune? Thanks.

Unless you request differently all your modes will remain. You will also have the option to flash back to stock if needed.

The primary difference between the flex and e85r is the e learning. The peak hp will be about the same but the ramp up is much quicker on the e85r tune vs the flex no matter how long you run e. The big advantage is the convenience and flexibility of the flex tune while still keeping most of the performance.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

Update!

I still haven't installed my FlexTune ...

I did build some cool ghosts using little electric motors though (weather was shitty all weekend, and I drive my car so little, it's taking me a week to drive out 1/2 a tank of gas)

 

[MaskedRacerX]

Need some input, hopefully my tuner will hit me back before the weekend.

Updated my existing 93 tune to my FlexTune. Drove the car over to the Gate where the E85 is located, hit 0 MILES about 1-1/2 miles away from the station, so it was pretty darn empty.

Topped off the the E85, it's a Flex blend, so it's indicated on the pump as 55-83.

Car fires right up, I drive around 10-12 minutes, no WOT, keeping the RPM between 1K-3K, light to moderate throttle, never see my AFR (using the text/numeric readout on the dash), get much below 14.0, bounces down to a few 13.8/.9, I stop for another errand, take a decently long drive up US1, same story, no movement, had to have been driving a good 35 or so minutes, guess something is not correct. No other mods on the car, and this is a followup tune to my previous 93, that was logged a few times.

I'm 99.9% sure I flashed the proper tune Working with Shaun at AED!

 

[AZ18yote]

Need some input, hopefully my tuner will hit me back before the weekend.

Updated my existing 93 tune to my FlexTune. Drove the car over to the Gate where the E85 is located, hit 0 MILES about 1-1/2 miles away from the station, so it was pretty darn empty.

Topped off the the E85, it's a Flex blend, so it's indicated on the pump as 55-83.

Car fires right up, I drive around 10-12 minutes, no WOT, keeping the RPM between 1K-3K, light to moderate throttle, never see my AFR (using the text/numeric readout on the dash), get much below 14.0, bounces down to a few 13.8/.9, I stop for another errand, take a decently long drive up US1, same story, no movement, had to have been driving a good 35 or so minutes, guess something is not correct. No other mods on the car, and this is a followup tune to my previous 93, that was logged a few times.

I'm 99.9% sure I flashed the proper tune Working with Shaun at AED!

It can take a bit sometimes with the blend but that's all I have too (not shipping barrels of real e in lol)

Do a KAM reset and it will drop pretty quick. It will not drop to 10 like true e85, but you will see it significantly below 14, probably in the 11-12 range.

Shaun is a rock star to work with.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

@AZ18yote Awesome dude, thanks for the recommendation and target AFR range, yeah, I was wondering where it might wind up. I need to score a tester (or DIY one up).

 

[jmeiers]

My car is around 9.8 AFR on the digital dash with my E85 tune.

Sponsored