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Re programming after manifold swap?

5K views 59 replies 12 participants last post by  drtalon123 
#1 ·
Hey guys i just bought a civic with a built d16 turbo engine with the common vitara setup, its been running fine but the manifold was cracked badly and blowed like hell also looked like a 10year old welded the manifold so the quality is s*it. im not a bad welder and considering making a new manifold myself, but the flow will look a bit different, my question is does the ECU needs reprogramming with a different manifold?

Thanks in advance
 
#2 · (Edited)
You probably will be fine really. probably not much difference unless its radically different manifold deisgn or shape, and that may only change the spool rpm. If you have a wide band o2 id just watch that..

If you made no changes to the fuel maps and you see leaner numbers you will make power with a tune. If the wide band says richer numbers you have lost power

If your wide band says the same. Then the motor is flowing the same and tune wont help anything
 
#4 ·
I'm assuming exhaust manifold? (EDIT: Didn't see your reply about the wideband)

Either way I don't think it would matter much on the intake or exhaust unless they were dramatically different designs Like Evan stated above.

The question now is what style did you have and what style are you planing on replicating?

Are you a good enough fabricator that you feel you could take the job on?
 
#5 ·
Update: now i installed a new exhaust manifold, the following problem occurs: since now there's no exhaust leak the turbo spins more freely, when i floor the gas pedal at 3rd gear around 4k rpm i get a boost cut because the turbo want to overboost, my aem uego ufr was reading nothing (only the 3 red - - - so there was something wrong, i turned down the boost on the manual controller (cheap ebay) car runs fine there's no overboost cut at all but my afr doesn't work anymore, its just stuck at 14.7 which probably means the sensor is gone. Can i still safely use the car with the bad afr?
 
#8 ·
To see if it is actually running lean instead of a bad sensor, just pop a coupler off the intercooler. It should run way differently, and the sensor should indicate as such.

If the sensor still continues to say lean, drive it gently until a new sensor is installed.

Most AEM UEGO sensors do respond to a new calibration, so follow the instructions AEM has available!

Another option, though ghetto, is to remove the wastegate gasket, reinstall the wastegate (assuming it is external) and let it make that horrible leaky sound once again until you hit your tuner up.
 
#10 ·
also i forgot to tell in my update comment, after the manifold swap the car was running great for about 30minutes, and that was a full throttle run without mercy, the hard 2step launches could have killed the sensor and caused the car to cut the boost as it was reading bad signals, anyway new sensor is ordered, after fitting the new sensor i will update again if problem still there or not
 
#11 ·
Never heard of the brake cleaner and rag thing.

Perform the re-calibration and post back.

Dont do backyard tricks before proper diagnostics when they are available.

brake cleaner itself can kill the sensor quite easily.
 
#13 ·
That test actually looks great.

I guess in my head I was picturing a rag dripping with brake cleaner being wrapped around the sensor.

Looks like you diagnosed it correctly.

Does AEM have any sort of warranty on their sensors? maybe they will cover the new sensor you are waiting on.
 
#20 ·
smoking at high rpm can be a ton of things.

Sometimes with turbo builds it can simply be the turbo getting too much oil pressure.

I would make sure the motor itself isnt smoking from bad piston rings or valvetrain seals first before pointing finger at turbo
 
#21 ·
Update: The turbo has knackered, it wont even boost anymore and bearing makes weird noises so its time for a new turbo, i just bought a copy gt2871r from ebay "i know its not the best idea" but i just want to sell the car now, will the car need re programming if turbo is swapped? is the copy turbo makes a lot of changes compared to the genuine garrett?
 
#24 ·
Well it will tell you if you have more or less air flowing into the motor. If its lean you have more air and yes your timing may need to be pulled some depending on how much more power you are making. If its rich there is less air and may even be able to use more timing
 
#27 ·
It will help the turbo out the most directly after engine shutdown, when temps tend to skyrocket for a short time since the waterpump isnt flowing.

You can cheat a little bit, and unhook one coolant hose from your idle valve, run a line to and from the turbo, and hook back up. Just simply having the turbo inline with coolant will help overall.
 
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