a/f ratio question.

[StangSpeed]

I have jacked with this thing till I got so pissed off I had to walk away. I bought an Autometer A/F Ration digital gauge and Im not sure if this thing is working right at all. I had a buddy tell me to connect the signal wire directly to the sensor, then another guy tell me that it needs to be connected to the signal wire at the PCM. Well when i had it at the sensor it was a smooth motion of lean to stioch, never rich. Then once I connected it to the PCM it started flashing from one side to the other, like back and forth. The meter doesnt flow all around the dial from side to side. It will blink on the left side then blink on the rich side with one green bar. Is this the way it should read?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

http://www.egauges.com/ATM_Tips.asp?TipPage=air_fuel.htm

 

[hotmustang331]

Man, I really dont know how they hook up. But what your describing doesnt sound right.

What colour is you car? I may have seen it around.

 

[StangSpeed]

yes we have met before..out at 1431...i have the white gt with silver ralley stripes.man if this this is even remotely close..im running way to lean

 

[Shiroelex]

Unless that gauge came with a wideband oxygen sensor, which is around $500, then it's not really anything but a light show. Your standard o2 sensor isn't sensitive enough to give truly accurate data to that gauge. It'll pretty much come out like, "I smell gas! I don't smell gas!" which is what it sounds like you're getting right now.

http://www.hardracing.com/Misc/WideBand.htm

That's a really cool one there. A bit pricy, but very useful.

 

[StangSpeed]

ya i have already looked into those.. the cheapest one i found was like $300. but i guess you get what you pay for..lol i will be taking this out this weekend and installing a more useful gauge.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Good idea

 

[Mike97gt]

as the above poster said you need a wide band setup for this gauge to be of any use.the standard 02 sensor is sensitive only around stoch. at WOT the air to fuel ratio is richer than that so it's out of the sensors range.

during normal driving you should see the sensor go back and forth as it switches. lean to rich and back and forth all the time. this is because of how sensitive a normal 02 is to stoch (14.7.1)

so get yourself a wide band if you want to have the gauge working right.

 

[hotmustang331]

yes we have met before..out at 1431...i have the white gt with silver ralley stripes.man if this this is even remotely close..im running way to lean

Ahh, OK I remember you now...cool. Should have remembered it from the sig haha.

I didnt know you had the stock 02s...yes they are designed to keep the car in check at cruize and idle @ 14.7 (like said). And yea its pretty much middle is, your @ 14.7, Green is your richer than 14.7, and red is your leaner than 14.7.

I hope its not going in the red @ WOT, besides the inital tip in. Most will go lean durring the first second or so of WOT, then it should level out. Then you can make the adjustments to you A/F on your hypertech, which is probably what your planning on doing. Good luck with it.

 

[BennyBlown2v]

The LC-1 by Innovate is a stand alone wide band sensor dealy, they hook right up to Autometer gauges too! I just got one in the mail a few days ago, goes in the car once my Autometer C2 boost gauge arrives

It's not ALL that pricey, like I got mine for $191.00 shipped after $20 rebate at dynotunenitrous.com - Most vendors have them for around this price!

 

[jeffnoel]

The LC-1 is a nice piece but it would be more usefull if connected to gauge that gave a true number and not the Autometer colored bar graph. Can anyone tell me what the 4th light from the left equals?

 

[jstreet0204]

If you have it hooked up correctly, The lights should sweep back and forth, not blink. If it is blinking, you have it hooked to the wrong sensor. If you were truly running that lean during normal driving you'd get a CEL.

 

[jstreet0204]

The LC-1 is a nice piece but it would be more usefull if connected to gauge that gave a true number and not the Autometer colored bar graph. Can anyone tell me what the 4th light from the left equals?

Most widebands that have a norrow band converter to use these gauges have it mapped out in the instructions as to which light is what value, but you are correct in that it is very difficult to read while driving at WOT I used a sharpie to mark the light I wanted it to stay at. My wdeband has both the converter for the guage and a digital readout. I ended up ditching the guage, and mounting the digital controller on my steering column, so that it is in my line of sight while looking at the tach.