At last I managed to get a bit of time to spend with Becky. I'm trying to get my head round what all the Parameters actually mean/relate to/help diagnose. I'm making steady progress and understand quite a lot of it now. I've been trying to see The fuel trim readings (short and long term) but
MES doesn't actually list them as such so I've been wondering if "Mixture correction Learning Value" is something to do with them.
Grant, at Gendan - where I bought my
MES, is being very helpful and has suggested that I try linking up my VCDS (I also have a licenced copy of VCDS for looking at my VAG stuff) and using it's generic OBD2 reader to see if the ECU can actually output fuel trims and compare the readings with
MES.
So I connected up the VCDS and woke up the OBD2 generic program - which works fine on my boy's Astra. Yikes! A number of warning lights lit up/flashed and, most alarmingly, the steering motor gave out a growl like an annoyed dog woken unexpectedly from a snooze! I checked the interface readings and they said K1 and K2 found but CAN not found. When trying to connect the program was saying "protocol ISO 14230 running" but none of the fields were displaying anything. I'm not sure what's going on here and the "growl" frightens me, so I backed out and shut down the program. I'm now waiting on Grant getting back to me with any suggestions - of course all suggestions are welcome?
I then went back to
MES and did a scan (my default position when connecting). It brought up a couple of CAN connection DTC's - ashamed to say i didn't note them down as I usually would, and cleared them, so far they've stayed away. I think I was feeling so rattled at what VCDS had done I just wanted them gone! Anyway she seems fine so I took her down the road and back to warm her up and reconnected
MES (I'd disconnected before driving) and started looking at that mixture correction reading it was around 2%. If its a fuel trim that's not too bad is it? Then I ran it as a graph and it looks "spikey and busy" like the illustrations of short term fuel trim I've seen in examples. Long term fuel trim, as I understand it, is usually a less busy and smoother trace? Anyway I think it is probably a fuel trim reading of some sort, most probably a short term correction, maybe it doesn't do long term?
During my little "warm up drive" I noticed that the slight "unwillingness" (weak mixture?) to pull cleanly was noticeable climbing the hill back up from Granton Square - a gentle incline requiring moderate throttle application. With this in mind I thought I'd graph a few other outputs just to see if anything leapt out at me. I like graphing outputs as I think it makes it much easier to understand what's going on compared to trying to make sense from a load of scrolling figures. I looked at the pre and post cat O2 sensors first. The pre cat was producing a nice strong oscillating signal between about 0.1 and 0.9 volts just as would be expected. It also increased switching speed with increase in revs, again as would be anticipated. So looks like the upstream sensor is OK. The down stream is a little more interesting. It outputs a nice straight line, as it should if the cat is working, but I understand it should be around the midpoint in actual numeric value - so around 0.5 volts? This one is really "rich", straight lined right up at around 0.9 volts. I don't think this is right?
I was about to go on with manifold pressure and other readings but my boy turned up with his family and I just can't miss an opportunity to play with any of my grandchildren so that put a stop to things. I will be revisiting this sometime soon.
Applying a little brain power, later that evening, to what I've so far found (and I want to know what the fuel pressure, manifold pressure etc, is before being seriously prescriptive). She drives as if it's just a "tad" too lean - cruises lovely but "hangs back" slightly when a moderate power increase is demanded. I'm wondering if this post cat reading is trying to tell me something. I was always under the impression that the post cat sensor was really just monitoring cat performance? Basically straight line cat working, oscillating output cat failing/failed? So It's straight lined - cat ok? - but reading very high which equates to rich mixture? Could this "rich" reading be causing the ECU to drive the mixture weak? bearing in mind that the upstream sensor seems fine? No, doesn't make sense! Could the sensor "fail rich"? Anyone know if the pre and post cat sensors are interchangeable (2010 Panda 1.2 Dynamic Eco Euro 4 engine 60 hp) - I could try switching them over? - If I can get them unscrewed without breaking something.
Ah well, maybe further "bonding with Becky" sessions may be more revealing.
Regards
Jock.