VCD Help!!!

B8 S4
#1

Okay so a friend with a 2012 B8 S4 MT just got APR’s stage 1 V2 tune and asked if i would help with some logging. NP… we set a date (today) and went out to do some testing.

First - we plugged the Hex cable in and started the engine

Second - load the VCD program and navigated to the engine - adv measure window

Third - select appropriate fields… but we ran into our first problem. All the fields that we wanted to measure were not the sames as the ones you see on line or I see when logging my car:

  • Throttle Positions was not 013 it was 011
  • Engine speed was NOT 025 it was 017
  • Boost pressure NOT 360 it was 344
  • Intake air temp NOT 556 it was 007

Oh well we moved on… We started logging by selecting grouping and turbo and Log did a few 2000 - 7000rpm pulls in 3rd and pulled over to save the data and check the logs… opened the file and all that was saved was the field names no actual data? We tried three more pulls same result. Finally, we went and tested my car with the same cable and laptop and it worked fine, all the field were as they should be and it saved all my data?

Disclaimer: I have an authentic Ross tech cable running VCD 11.11.3

I have no idea what is up with his car’s ECU! Has anyone ever experienced this before? Any suggestions?

Also, I did notice his max PSI seemed to be at about 12.4 is that normal for APR stage 1 V2? I would have thought it be higher maybe low 13’s.

Any comments are always appreciated?

Cheers fellas!

#2

They changed stuff but I thought that was the software not car specific

As for the excel file scroll way down maybe

#3

Never seen that before Bear.

To get psi are you subtracting the ambient pressure from the car’s sensor? That’s how I do it. I also notice boost builds about 0.3-0.5 psig higher in 4th than in 3rd.

#4

Thanks for the replies guys!

Sak, I scrolled right to the bottom and there was ZERO data!

J, I calculate PSI by taking the intake manifold absolute pressure (-) 1000 (X) 0.0145037737733333.

Interesting that the PSI increase in 4th as I have only ever logged in 3rd with the exception of a few times at the strip pre-pulley. I still saw a max PSI in 3rd of 15.3 on APR’s stage 2 V1 tune!

Guys, what would you guys do next if you were in this situation? take it back to the dealer who flashed the ECU?

#5

last time I logged, my data was down like 100 lines. It weirded me out a bit. I think that was using 10.6 or something.

I would do a pull from 2000 to 7000 rpm in 3rd gear and compare it to a stock log to see if it is faster. Or I would contact APR with a question on what to do to make sure the tuned parameters are indeed in effect. Simple things like throttle restriction being removed in certain gears on past cars was a nice way to check.

Arin posted here last night…drop him a note.

#6

Sak,

Yeah that’s the problem! we were doing 2000 to 7000 in 3rd with ZERO data recorded so have no logs to compare to stock!

I commented about boost as I watched it climb throughout the run and wrote down the highest point I saw.

Interesting thing is there is two fields for throttle position we logged both and one would climb to 100% when he was flooring it the other would never exceed 86.9%! I believe this may be similar to what your referring to in your test.

#7

lol I wasn’t thinking

throttle valve angle is a good one to use.

On the RS4 the 1-2-3 gears are limited to 52% below 5250 RPM in cold weather, and about 70% in hot weather. It’s annoying because you want full throttle but aren’t getting it. 4-5-6 gear are always able to go to 100%.

With a tune you pick up some low end power by eliminating that restriction. It is reflected in the throttle valve angle log field.

Here’s an RS4 log showing you what I mean…

OH…just thought…do you guys have ‘engine torque’ in newton metres as a field you can log? That’d be an easy way to check the tune out.

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/729968961.jpg

#8

lol…8000rpm I wish…lol! ;D

#9

Bear, use the ambient pressure from the car’s sensor instead of 1000, so the actual ‘boost’ will be relative to the ambient pressure, just like a pressure gauge shows you. I forget which parameter # it is, but you’ll see it there - I look at it once before logging, i don’t bother logging it. I rarely saw ambient pressures of 1000 when I was logging, you may find 960-990 is typical, which would make your 12.4 psig turn to 13 psig.

From both APR and was it silentbob?, the 86% throttle opening is the most it is typically allowed to open, although it may go to 100% during adaptation/plausibility checks. Apparently, when viewed head-on in the direction of flow, due to the shadow of the bar holding the throttle body, there is no pressure-drop difference between 86% and 100% open. Makes sense to me, but I’d still want to have the throttle 100% open.

#10

Oh and my car is the same 86%, and Tsivas noticed the same thing - but he once saw 100% too.

#11

I know, it looks funny. The tach goes to 9 lol

p.s. check the mileage…that was 108 kmh on the 401 from burlington to north york. I have found a way to get 25mpg out of the RS4 at will lately. If you chill out, 25. If you act a fool, 14. Pretty funny.

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/20120725_191610.jpg

#12

Lol never noticed the lit up “S” at the top of the cluster…Saki-mode? I want a Spazz mode on mine.

Closed-loop running in our cars runs the fuel very very lean after a few seconds of steady-state, you can really see the fuel intake drop by 20% after a few seconds on cruise control, with no real load decrease. I found the throttle changes have to be soooooo miniscule to keep it running lean like this. Cruise control really is the only way I can keep it there.

#13

Sport mode. It opens up valves on the exhaust that are vacuum actuated to make it sound more menacing, and it gets the throttle a little zippier. It also actuates side bolsters on the Euro seats that hug you.