BlackFC_NYC

ok ill try to make this as simple as possible

it doesnt matter if its fully warm or not, the gauge drops down 1-2 bars if i:

press the brake
put the windows up or down
put the radio on
turn the vents up high

the gauge goes blank when im cruising and i take my foot off the gas. but then when i accelerate again, it works alright.

when im cruising, not giving it enough gas, and not coasting like on the highway, the gauge kinda freaks out and flips back and forth.

the only time it pretty much works properly is when im accelerating or idling.

what could be the problemo???

13B2QuIcKNy

thats normal.. mines does the same

Suds7

Uhh... Where did you hook up the positive lead? Do you have a good ground?

It does that for me as well, you must be WOT for it to be any accuarate.

Typical.

BlackFC_NYC

i thought my O2 sensor was just shot.
im picking up a jspec o2 from vosko one of these days.
would a FD o2 sensor be any better on my FC?

mike

Pinfield357

that is perfectly normal

pip

Read the info the gauge came with, thats your ECU adjusting the a/f ratio for maximum milage. When your just cruising along the computer is constantly tweaking the fuel settings.

Roy James

yeah man, you should have the positive and the negative ON THE BATTERY. If you have it chassis grounded it could fluxuate from other power sources taking power away, there for giving you a bad reading. They arnt too acurate at all to begin with, but they are better than nothing if you can get them to work right. Hell, Aaron Cake has a N/A block that he is boosting and is using ONLY a Autometer A/F guage and he is doing fine. So, i guess they are kinda worth something, who knows.

pip

Autometer may not make the best gauges in the world but for something like a narrow band O2 sensor, the numbers are never going to be 100% accurate thats just a fact of life. So even the good folks at autometer couldnt really screw that one up . I have one in my car and I have never really had a problem with it.

BlackFC_NYC

i have it grounded under the shiter boot on one of the 4 outer bolts. not the bolts holding the actual shifter in.
may thats to close of a ground for the meter.
what do you mean by positive and negative on the battery?

thanks for the help

HAILERS

A narrow band 02 sensor and the meter it came with IS ONLY ACCURATE AT STOIC. At full throttle it is MOST, MOST, inaccurate. Rid yourself of that thing.

http://www.autospeed.com/A_0618/P_3/article.html

http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/default.htm

Bad2ndgen

most of your issues are normal for a narrow band o2, except for the dropping of the bars with the addition of another power drain. As i understand it a narrow band o2 simply jumps back and forth from 0 to about 5 volts, your auto meter just takes these jumps and averages them. But for some reason it only works under W.O.T. I have a haltech air/fuel meter and it seems to have better averaging circuitry and works all the time, but it still isn't as accurate as a wide band o2 would be. A wide band has linier voltage that can hold say 3.5 volts or whatever without jumping. Most of these setups are still very expensive but are a great way to get a perfect a/f ratio. I expect to see some cheaper wide band setups very soon. If anyone knows of any let us know.

HAILERS

http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/default.htm

http://www.autospeed.com/A_0618/P_3/article.html

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

Widebands are great, but a blinky light gauge is better than nothing if you can responsibly use it. Guess what, people tuned cars for YEARS before widebands were affordable.

Best inexpensive one right now is the Lambdaboy - http://www.lambdaboy.com - not super fancy looking, but it's SUPER accurate and quick, and it uses the NTK sensor. And it's like $480 shipped with everything you need. Booyah.

The Greddy air-fuel gauge is a middle ground - it's a helluva lot better than a blinky light gauge, but it's not as good as a "real" wideband. But, it makes a killer tool to add to your car - you can tune its reading in to the output of a real wideband, then have the gauge to refer to during normal driving to look for lean spots or the like. I've got one - top quality unit.

Dale

PraxRX7

At wide open throttle you will see (should see) rich at all times. If you are at WOT and it is at lean, you have a problem (or are somehow wired wrong).

Barely pressing the gas the RX-7 ECU goes into "fuel saver mode" where is safely pulses the injectors between amounts of fuel it is putting in. This makes for decent fuel economy at highway speeds.

When you let off the throttle there is nothing but air passing through the engine, so the gauge light should actually dissapear completely.

I noticed since I started running pre-mix that my gauge has been showing odd readings from when I first installed it, I think my O2 sensor is needing replacing in order to get the readings back to normal. (Although I wired my gauge to only come on when I switch on my lights because I didn't want it to be flashing all the time, and that might have buggered up the gauge because now the gauge is on the same variable voltage resistor as the dash lights.)

Hope that helps.

The AutoMeter A/F gauge is a great tool in engine explosion prevention/monitoring. and at the price they charge, I can afford to mess up a unit or 2 before wiring it thier way.

Wankel7

The oxygen sensor voltage range is 0-1 volt only. Have you guys looked at the Aussi wideband kits. If you can find a freaking sensor you can have a working kit for under 300. The only downside is the building of the unit your self. That presents a challenge. But hey, we own RX-7s Isn't that a challenge
http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/

James

Rotorific

iTrader: (1)

your gauge is fine its going to do the things you say all the time unless your ragging your car and wot i would trust it if i had to use an af gauge to tune my car that is how much i trust autometer

HAILERS

You can buy a wideband unit BUILT from http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/

The 02 sensor can be had from NAPA for 145.00 US

Its a true wideband. It works. Its not limited to stoic and wags at full throttle.

Roy James

What i mean by that man, is have the positive lead off the guage and the negative lead off the guage wired straight on the battery terminals, not on the chassis or on the radio power source or anything like that. That will probably rid you of your reading drop when accessories come on. Hope this helps

I think i might look into that Hailers, i too have a link, but i gotta find it. its DIY wide band, but it seems to be alright.

Roy James

well hey ******* look at that, i have the same link! haha, just... different adress... strang. I need to click on your link before i go talking about "man, i got a cool *** link myself bro!"... when.. its the same..--ramble ramble--

RestoTII

If you connect the positive to the battery, wouldn't that drain the battery (even if it's just a little)? I have mine connected to my boost gauge illumination, which are both then hooked up to an ignition-on line. They're both grounded to a screw that sits behind the brake/clutch pedals on the firewall. I have the same things happen with my A/F gauge and just assumed it's because each bar represents a 0.05V band. You can pretty safely assume that it will fluctuate more than that while cruising (especially with changes by the ECU on the fly), so that explains the jumping a little whle driving. I figured it went off the lean side when decelerating because of the injectors being cut down for fuel-saving by the computer. But basically it sounds like the same as I've heard from other people, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Cheers!

Hailers are you currently using one? i've been interested in buiilding my own for a l ong time... is it true your should remove the WB o2 sensor when you aren't using it? or can i just keep it in there all the time?

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

Re-read the page - you can't, at this time, order a pre-built unit. You can only buy the kit. I'm on the DIY-WB mailing list, and this is one seriously advanced electronics project - even if you know how to solder and use a meter, this is one tricky bastard to build.

The Lamdaboy meter I recommended above is as good or better than the Aussie meter, it's marginally more expensive ($480 or so shipped, includes everything you need, including sensor), and uses a more elegant microprocessor-based design.

Dale

Roy James

OH ****!.. yeah.. thats pretty stupid of me. Yeah, hook the positive to your ignition wire, that **** is so big i dont think you will have a problem with your loss of voltage, and hook the negative to the battery. Thanks restoTII.

HAILERS

Early bird gets the worm. I got mine last saturday from http://www.techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/ pre-built w/o sensor.

Mr CHEERS, I don't plan on removing the sensor. The thing(SENSOR) was meant as a replacement for a production Honda, so I don't see the need. I welded a bung close to my original 02 sensor last nite. I've been running for a few days with the wideband in the place of the original 02 sensor. Now I can compare the two when I'm crusing so I can compare the readings. Got a Fluke 88 tapped in the factory 02 sensor wiring at the ECU.

The Edge Tech people should be back up and running in the next week or so from what I've read from them.

And I might just say that the unit I got is first rate in quality. Thats a first impression. I need to find a way to check for accuracy, until proven otherwise I'm considering it to be accurate.

Nothing to the installation of the prebuilt one. Just a connection to switched power source and a ground. A place for the NTK sensor (welded another bung with my wire welder).

I did order two kits back in March and farmed out the building of them, but nothing ever came of it, so I ordered the prebuilt one. Cheap.

Wankel7

Well, the sensor is on back order from napa. Factory backorder 6-8 weeks.

James