Adaptronic - Additional Modules and sensors?
 

Considering purchasing an Adaptronic, specifically the EMOD009 for the S4 RX7. I’ve decided Adaptronic will best suit my needs due to the simplicity of installation, and not having to mess around with a new wiring harness or custom wiring.

However, I noticed there are tons of options for additional sensors and modules, what’s recommended if I’d like to wire up a wide-band, so the ECU can see AFR’s, having a gauge so I can see myself would be preferable as well. I can’t think of anything else I’d need, assuming all the stock sensors work still.

Also are there any specific cables i’d need to monitor/tune the ECU via laptop besides the included cable?

About the car: The car is an S4 GXL with a S4 T2 swap (with S5 turbo), only modifications beyond stock T2 system are: Walbro 255 fuel pump, 720cc Secondaries, Racing beat down-pipe to Borla cat-back NA exhaust, and a small street port.

Thanks!

You really don't need to have a wideband in any car anymore.( as long as the ECU can see one, preferably the wideband module from Adaptronic). If you are using an external one you need the innovate 3846 cable( direct plug and play for the innovate MTXL ). The fuel pressure sensor, and air temp sensor should be added. The ecu does include the labtop cable. I would also add an an adjustable fuel pressure regulator like the turbosmart FPR on our site.

I say you don't need a wideband gauge in the car anymore, as you can just setup the lean out protection which is 1000x faster than you watching a gauge and trying to pull your foot off before it leans out too far any grenades. Also when tuning you really want the AFR trace to show up in the datalogs, and on the actual tuning pages. Instead of trying to look at a gauge and remember which areas are too lean or too rich etc...

I'd suggest you check out all the bad feedback on them in the adaptronic section before committing to one. It won't be a simple installation if the ECU fries itself and you get stuck holding an expensive ECU that would better function as a boat anchor.

Skeese

Please do SOME research. That company (Adaptronic) is nearly out of business and there are great options everywhere. This forum is full of answers you seek.

Being that your car is 30yrs old, it would make more sense to do a new engine harness to both eliminate clutter and aged copper that can fail you. Sensors are going to be your hidden expense here, so try to identify what you'd like for the car and factor that into your purchasing price. Tuning is an additional fee, which quite a few members on here (including myself) offer the services.

Claudio at TuningTechnology or Chris at LMS-EFI (for either, mention that Ryan sent you) are going to be your one-stop shop for whatever you need. Haltech Elite, FuelTech, Link G4, ECUMaster, Emtron, etc.

If there's one person on here that you SHOULD trust, it's the guy above my post. Skeese has called out more FakeNews on this forum than anyone else I can think of and continues to help correct previous jobs done by other tuners and develop the engine refinement as he sees fit.

Out of business... We are still selling 400 a year!

Please feel free to call the office line and I can guide you along...


763 753 9939

That doesnt mean its a good choice by any means...

To the OP I highly recommend you check out the end of this thread.

Thread Link - Another Fried Adaptronic Modular

This is one of many accounts of similar failures. I'd invest in a ECU that is actually proven such as a haltech or fueltech.

Skeese

That is NOT something to be proud of.

C'mon man, this is pretty disingenuous to say the least.

Isn't that thread about an Adaptronic Select?

Thanks for the information, I was able to find the answers to what I was looking for! Initially I was confusing what 'Module' referred to, since I normally deal with IT Networking components, all good!

Guess it wasnt a modular, but that link was one of many a search will find. Regardless they're known to have a fuckload of issues as well and often randomly die, not to mention at any point in time the software is in some various state of only half functional and not to be trusted.

But man, buy whatever you want.

Skeese

Yeah, and all the problems were listed in the Modular Manual.

I think the select is more reliable than the modular. But very little if any support from adaptronic for the select now. Me personally I like the fueltech.

I agree, the select seems more reliable. That being said, I personally know of 5 different fd rx7 select ecus that self fried and had to be sent to Australia for repair at the cost of the owner. Its funny how they blame it on the owner or wiring, but it consistantly happens? Couldn't be poor hardware design, definitely not...

Mines there now getting both defective MAP sensors replaced. I paid $65 for one way shipping, cant wait to see the rest of the bill.

That's a new one, haven't heard of map sensor failure.

With twin map sensors, has to be a modular. Are you not covered under warranty?

Correct, both IMAP and EMAP are bad on my modular. The IMAP was reading off from my Defi gauge, so my tuner had me swap the vacuum line to the EMAP. That read correctly at first, but then one night I start the car and it's struggling to run. Next morning it started and ran just fine. I drove it to the gas station, got gas, pull out to the light and the car starts barely running again. No power, can't drive it, AFRs are showing super lean. I look at the vacuum readings of the adaptronic and they are WAY off from my Defi. I ended up installing an external 3 bar, which fixed the problem and has been solid.

I purchased the car with the ECU installed and "tuned", so I dont have the purchase docs -- no warranty. On the fence about going Haltech since I've already threw too much money at this car. I might throw the adaptronic for sale and see if anyone bites.

Man, Adaptronic really seems like it sucks.

I heard that since Haltech bought them they are using better hardware. Time will tell.

There were some bad sold joints on the the map sensors on the very early models that was fixed right away. If you PM me the serial number, I can look it up and get you the necessary purchase documents as I track those on our back end. That is a valid warranty claim.

Also I have been able to get all warranty claims now shipped to Haltech KY( USA), no more shipping directly to AUS.

How come they didnt tell me when I emailed them two weeks ago?? I had to ship it to AUS they told me.

I just dont get why anyone would opt to buy it over the other options out there that are proven products. With haltech now owning the product line, I can't see them making it superior to their own 'equivalent' product line associated with their brand name. Seems that its doomed to forever be their tier 2 product, even if they fix all the issues. :dunno:

Good question. :MissileSm

I only waited 3 months for the wide band module to ship. Turns out the reason was because the Haltech manager didnt think anyone would buy them.

I had the same problem, took me quite a few emails to convince them that there was a fault, but they eventually shipped me a new ECU to test. No issues with the new unit.

I would have kicked up a very big fucking stink if they had asked me to pay anything other than shipping the old unit back to them.

Other than that, I'm quite happy with it. If you look through the firmware updates for any ECU there are typically bugs being fixed all the time, so this isn't isolated to Adaptronic. I would agree that if you want a mature product with all the kinks ironed out you should probably be looking at something else. :)

At least you're located in kangaroo land, so shipping was reasonable. I made a stink about the BS after my tuner even said it was a known issue and Tsikoy de Leon from Adaptronic started asking me for a bunch of paperwork and telling me it's not covered under warranty. Then he told me, just ship it over here, they might cover it if it truly has a "manufacturing defect". That was the straw that broke the camels back. I already have a buyer for the ECU and the wideband as soon it arrives from repairs. Buying a Haltech from Chris Ludwig.

Yeah that sounds pretty average. Have you already bought a Haltech? I'd consider a Link if not, that was my second choice. The FD plugin box is a very well featured unit, the fuel model isn't as comprehensive as the Adaptronic but overall it appears to be a very polished product.

I have not yet, but Haltech seems like a pretty solid ECU. No one really has complaints about it. Also, my harness is from LMS and Chris Ludwig is going to inspect it and reconfigure it to work on the Haltech.

I've tuned my other FD on the PowerFC and it runs awesome. Both Chris and Skeese think the Haltech should be just as easy and both are willing to help out when needed. It just makes sense. Honestly, my other choice would be FuelTech.

I disagree with you on this point. If you look at the haltech ESP updates, they aren't fixing bugs but rather adding additional support and features. I personally wrote them an in-depth email lobbying for them to add the ability to have the overboost cut be selectable between ignition and fuel, instead of being tied to the fuel cut without any option. They let me know my request was valid and the detail I provided was rationale for it top be promoted to their engineering group for review. I think 6-8 months later, the change was implemented in the software. Point being, they fully think about an update, work it out, test it, and only once its solid and proven, release it. Sure it takes longer than the group that would take random input from facebook and slap 'er on in there overnight, but you also don't end up with 9051348641354531321 software iterations fixing bugs in a bunch of shit that is out and running on customers' cars.

Well...to be fair, they probably wouldn't unless a dealer forced it down their throat as an absolute necessity because nothing else is good enough or to be trusted. I'm assuming it uses the same Bosch 4.9 sensor as the AEM they said was sketchy and not to be trusted due to it using the 4.9 sensor? :ponder:

Solid proven approach. You won't be disappointed. :patriot:

I've played around with the link helping a friend out before and I think its a pretty decent ECU all things considered, but to me it seems like one of those things that is better suited to someone who wants to spend time fiddling with it. The haltech tuning recipe for a turbo rotary is very well defined online and I could point to probably 10 people I personally know (not shops or "pros" mind you) that have self tuned their own rotary on the haltech and would be glad to help or talk about it anytime.

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To me that is the best move. Having Ludwing setup the harness is always a win because it will be 100% right, 100% of the time and you won't have to mess with it. You'll have no problem tuning the car on the elite if you even functionally understand the PFC. Lastly, I agree about the fueltech. Its one of the few I haven't personally tuned but the feedback I've seen from those who have has been outstanding and given most people who run it push BIG power, it would have been really really really clear if there were any issues or shortcomings with it.

Cheers :beer:

Skeese

From the latest firmware release notes:

• Fixed ESP crashing on startup when AVG AntiVirus installed.
• Fixed an issue where high fuel flow rates would cause an overflow resulting in too small injector on times.
• Fixed traction control not working properly on Rear Wheel Drive cars.
• Fixed Single Wire CDI not firing pulses sometimes when at low RPM.
• Fixed Mazda MZI trigger sometimes losing sync.
• Fixed ECU repeated reboot under certain edge case conditions after a map import.

I have nothing against them, just pointing out that no platform is immune to these issues. Some will be worse than others and that is generally due to how long that product has been in production.

Best of luck with it, I'm sure it will work well :)

Please enlighten me, which update was that? I pulled the latest change log this morning, and none of that was there.

Sorry, I pulled that from what I thought was the latest update on their website, must have been a previous version. There are some more examples of various bug fixes below.

https://www.haltech.com/download-files/firmware/

That's a link to every update, ever. Does adaptronic even catalog their software iterations? I assume they dont, as they dont even have a manual as to how it operates/operated on any version at any point. Every iteration of the haltech software comes with the option to download its respective FULL manual (500+ pages) that details every function. Suggesting the software between these two is anywhere near the same development level is a complete farce.

Skeese

https://s3.amazonaws.com//adaptronic.../EN_ModFW.html

Changes since 2.32.1 Firmware
- Fixes an Flat-Shift issue introduced in 2.32.0 firmware

:icon_tup:

I think you're letting some personal bias cloud the issue of general software buggyness. Software has bugs. Period. Haltech makes great products and is obviously far more reliable, tested, and supported than Adaptronic's pre-purchase releases but to say that they release updates/patches solely for upgrades and not bug fixes is naive IMHO. They're also (from what I've seen thus far) very transparent with their failures. Adaptronic is....not, so I get where you're coming from.

Say that again.

Man I had issues with my Select ECU and I upgraded to the modular to fix the issues I was having. My car is running great now but I'm nervous AF after reading all this.

Switch to an external MAP sensor like the GM 3bar. Fluid tends to leak down that long vacuum line that is below, into the ECU and sit there. Stock MAP sensor sits above the intake manifold, so it would drain down.

Anyways, your call. From what I’m told Adaptronic is getting haltech parts to fix their know issues. After dealing with their repair department about the defective MAP sensors, I’d rather just not. It was pretty unprofessional and it turns out I could have shipped it inside the US and saved myself $65.

When did you get it? Mines been running fine since the initial faulty unit was replaced.

Am I missing something?

edit: Oh, haha, for some reason I took that as bait for me to get myself into trouble before I noticed who had written it/your previous posts. Keyboard cowboys got me scurred.

Agreeing with you that Adaptronic has not been transparent with the issues.

I have an inline moisture filter between my map source port on the manifold and onboard map sensor in my ecu. I dont know if this would or wouldnt have prevented a failure in your case, but its definitely a cheap simple alternative to changing to an external map sensor.

Skeese

That's probably a good idea. I doubt it would have prevented my MAP sensor issue, since the EMAP was never used before and it died after only a couple days of switching to it.

Good advice, though depressing that consumers need to be overly cautious with something like this that is integral to the units themselves.

I'm looking around for one and keep getting searches for air guns and the sort. What are you using?

HKS EVC Filter

Yep, that's it.

Thanks guys. Will be using this with what ever ECU i get. I have a feeling this is what happened to mine. As the fall thru early summer are extremely wet up here

Is this essentially the same thing that came stock on FDs? I'm not sure if other cars originally had them, but I recall seeing what looked like a green/white plastic filter near the FD UIM.

That was a check valve you're talking about, serves a different purpose.

I gotchu Skeese, but these are a waste of your time.

I have yet to see them on ANY motorsports car in the history of EVER. They do get clogged and do fail.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...81f70a4634.png
Cool Boost Systems Vacuum Line Air Filter Water Methanol Injection
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...8912682e3d.png
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/...75/337903.html
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...dbe8ef09c0.png
https://www.ebay.com/itm/192694584839

One proper solution is to run a damped (T1R or FFE) eMAP to one ECU MAP signal, and Barometric off of the other. Run an external MAP sensor for your primary MAP.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3ce14b51cf.png
T1R EMAP Sensor Damper Kit