Thanks Armadillo, Sounds like you know a thing or two about this mapping stuff. Is it your opinion that the Akra. remap install will bring my 690e to life w/ the LV pipe?
No, I did not remap. The local dealer here on the Gulf Coast does not have a map available. The dealer in Louisville where I purchased the bike does not have a new map available. So....If i can not sell the can, then i will wait for power commander. It is my understanding that a pc for the 690 will be out shortly. Got cash guns food and gold?
the maps are free on ktms dealer site. However they require a $2250.00 diag tool to put them in. Its a steep pricetag for a small dealership to absorb. Its unfortunate that its so expensive.
Hi Armadillo, Thanks for info. My dealer did get map from his KTM dealer website. But does not have the diag. tool. His rep. told him $700 for the unit. May be a couple of different units to be had. My dealer said he may try to borrow, or rent from another dealer to remap my 690e. You seem to be more knowledgeable than most of our dealers. So, if you don't mind, feed us any info. on EFI and mapping. This stuff is a mistery to us old carb. and jets guys.
I put an Akrapovic pipe on my 690 enduro. I just did the "let it idle" thing for about 15 mins or so as instructed by my dealer. The bike runs heaps better than with the old pipe. I was under the impression that this is the bike doing it's own "re-mapping" for the new pipe. Is this correct? If not, then what exactly is this "re-mapping" you are talking about?
Well Carbs use needles and jets to match the correct flow of fuel to the flow of air. Its a simple "stupid" system that has proved to be very reliable over the years. I call it stupid because a carb has no way of adjusting for changes in the environment....like temperature, humidity, elevation etc. To make changes you have to play with the jets to get the desired effect. Step into EFI. EFI uses several basic sensors to gather data on how the engine is behaving and under what conditions the engine is seeing. A generic EFI system will have either a MAP sensor (Manifold Absolute Pressure) or an air flow sensor of some sort. The MAP sensor measures the pressure in the intake manifold....with max vacuum indicating a closed throttle and atmospheric pressure indicating wide open throttle (WOT). Air flow meters typicaly use a thin piece of wire spanning the airflow stream. A current is passed through the wire and the wire heats up. The sensor then measures the amount of current or voltage required to maintain the resistance in the wire...or the temperature in a way. Based on the voltage drop or increase you can derive the amount of air flowing over the wire along with the air density. The Some systems have an air flow meter that simply uses a flap to indicate the amount of air flowing in....these are usualy on earlier systems. The next sensor used in the basic system is the engine temperature sensor which usualy reads the temperature of the coolant in the head or heads. This sensor indicates whether the engine has reached normal operating temperature (NOT). Most systems will start up solely with input from the temperature sensor and the air flow measuring device. Once the temperature sensor indicates the engine has warmed up then the engine will start looking at the O2 sensor input. O2 sensor. The 02 sensor is a little device that constantly probes the amount of Oxygen present in the exhaust gases. The sensor has some fancy metals within that generate a voltage that fluctuates between 0volt and 1volt. .5 volts indicates a perfect stoichiometric ratio of 14.7:1.....in English this means that there is a perfect ratio of 14.7 parts air to 1 part fuel. Air of course is about 21% Oxygen and about 78% Nitrogen with the remaining 1% being other odd trace gases. The O2 sensor has to warm up in order to work properly and most newer O2 sensors have a heating circuit to get them up to temp faster. The O2 sensor tells the engine computer how rich or lean the engine is running...the catch is that it really tells the computer how rich or lean the engine was running as it takes a little time for the exhaust from the combustion event to hit the O2 sensor. Ok so you have an air flow device, a temperature sensor, and an Oxygen sensor. Most newer systems are tied into the ignition system and also utilize a crank position sensor or a cam position sensor and there may be additional sensors that make things even more precise. The core 3 mentioned above will work for now. So you turn your key on, The fuel pump usualy charges the system for a second and shuts off. The computer goes through its start up cycle and then waits for input. You hit the starter button. Based on the temperature reading the computer opts for the appropriate cold start map and delivers the prescribed amount of fuel. The airflow/mass/map meter starts inputing information and the bike fires to life. The temp sensor reads cold, the air coming in is cold and dense as it has been raining. The computer takes the data from each sensor and in essence goes to a data table. At time instant A it finds the temp reading on the table and traces over to the airflow reading and finds the appropriate cycle time for it's fuel injector.....it does this process constantly. When the temperature sensor reports the appropriate temperature indicating that the bike has warmed up the computer then starts listening to all of its sensors and reacting accordingly. This moment in time is called closed loop operation. Basically The engine injects fuel, the fuel burns and goes out the exhaust. Heat goes into the cylinder head and the coolant. The exhaust flows past the O2 sensor which reports back to the computer a few milliseconds later. The computer then says ok....I am running too rich according to my O2 sensor so it reduces the amount of fuel on the next injection cycle. this process repeats. Now your stock EFI bike came with a catylitic converter...or your own personal sun. In the Cat there are Oxydation and Reduction Beds made of Platinum and.....um some other material I cannot remember. These beds process rich and lean exhaust mixtures and create a secondary burn and combination process that results in the cleaner exhaust. My memory of all the science in there is a bit rough but they do work...and heat is a major byproduct. So with that said what is mapping all about. Well mapping refers to the parameters that dictate how the computer is going to react based on the running data it receives from its sensors. Mapping is the equivalent to changine jets and needles in the carb....only at a much faster and much more precise rate. You might compare the mapping process to a carb with 100,000 jets that allow for every combination of airflow and fuel flow in a given ride. The good thing is that the computer is always trying to maintain that 14.7:1 exhaust ratio unless that target ratio is changed..so if you put a new exhaust on and don't touch the mapping and the engine leans out...the computer will do everything in its power to richen the engine. The limits are of course the bounds of the mapping, the fuel pressure, and the size of the injector(s). Hope this helps.
Thanks Seth...very easy to understand. What are the possibilities of modifing the injector,fuel pump or sensors to provide for richer burn beyond the parameters of the map? In effect isn't that what the pc is doing?
Yes, thanks Seth, and good job! I want to try akra remap for my 690e w/ LV pipe. Got to get my dealer to beg, borrow, or steal a KTM diag. machine. He doesn't want to buy one. I have the only FI KTM they ever sold.
yeah, the old DIA was 800 bux i think new. ktm is offereing a $750 buyback on the old unit to ofset the $2250 pricetag on the new superfancy hoitytoity fangled new one. The old DIA tool is particularly user un-friendly, i hope the new one is a bit better. I'm not a big FI guy, give me a flatslide anyday. I get to work on these things everyday. so i might pick up a thing or two from time to time (only when my brain cooperates).
Wow Seth! You are really smart! I haven't heard the word stoichiometric in some time :) Serioiiusly that was really helpful! Thanks! Rick
Armadillo - nothing to do with exhaust, but my bike broke down riding across America in Texas. It turns over great but wont start, like there is no gas. It is throwing the 41 code "check fuel pump control". The dealer doesn't have the diagnostic tool and I don't know of one around here who does. Is that something that would identify that problem?
Doing this is like blinding throwing a bigger jet in your carb. It may work but the odds are much better that the bike will run like crap and little or no performance gain will be realized. You have to be careful swapping components around in an EFI system because if you put an aftermarket injector in there and the resistance is wrong you risk letting the smoke out of your computer. I would bet that the stock system has a pretty good range of tuneability before you need to start changing out components. I mean my bike makes plenty of power with the stock settings and even the stock exhaust. My only complaint with the stock exhaust is the heat from the cat converter. If you start changing your cams, engine displacement, exhaust, ignition etc then you might need to go to a different injector size but I don't know of many people who will be doing this.
I notified LV about the reports some have had with power loss and that some had had good gains. LV is willing to get a bike dynoed to see what's happening with the mapping and get it sorted out, anyone in the SF bay area that has an SBK on their 690 and is willing to give up their bike for a day please contact me. I only need one bike and unfortunately my bike won't cut it because I'm running an X3 not an SBK. We'll post results when done..
+1 Seth. I ride mine with the stock exhaust, with the ignition map on the standard setting. The bike runs great. It is a little soft on bottom, but this motor is not a lowend torque machine. The soft bottom may actaually be a plus in tight technical stuff, not too much hit. I ride some pretty tight trails and have not even bothered to gear down, I don't feel it is needed. I think I would run out of turning radius way before I run out of low gears. I am waiting on an FMF, due to price mostly. I just want to lose the weight and heat as well. If FMF fails to deliver I may look into the Wings. It is a sexy piece of harware for sure.
James, I'm still willing to loan my 690E to LV for testing. Also, a recent Akra re-map plus some tweaking seems to have stopped the stalling. Email me for more details.
Only if you change your name over to KTM newbie Actually I got a few responses so we should be good to go, thanks for the sacrificial offer..