🛑First Startup? No Base Map? Watch This First! | AFR - Initial Startup [FREE LESSON]

Too rich? Too lean? New ECU? First base map? Fresh build? First startup? If you have any of these things or questions, this video is for you.

This is one module from a full suite of courses that teach you how to tune your ECU from scratch.

Having a blank ECU and wanting to start your car for the first time can be daunting, but Andre is here to take some of the worry and mystery out of how it's done with regards to your AFR tables.

Here you will learn about getting your idle right, why bulk changes are in your best interest to start with and why your engine is safe to start with some basic setup at low load contrary to what your anxious mind might be telling you.

We are using our AEM Infinity ECU for this example, but the principles hold true for anything on the market.

#highperformanceacademy #learntotune #firststart

[dw]

isn't it great we are fortunate enough to have this guy teach enthusiasts how to get their car running at home. 15 years ago there was no option
other than to tow it to a tuner.

[soman]

thank you so much.. your videos are easy and simple to understand in a very very informative way.. do you have lessons in the maxxecu??

[montassrbensaid]

This video is very helpful. Thank you.

[marenghi]

Love the info your putting out on these videos. I think I'm going to invest in your webinars

[teammusketeers]

Very good wealth of info....i started the program....and surely i will be putting what i'm learning at a later stage ☺😁

[vistuscaine]

What a valuable resource for information!!!

[GroovesAndLands]

You absolutely can wreck a brand new engine in a hurry trying to get the mapping right. In particular, when trying to get it to start. If you are cranking and cranking (obviously a wideband isn't terribly helpful until the engine is actually running), you are spraying loads of fuel into the cylinders. Fuel is a great oil solvent and it will strip the oil film from your cylinders. Next, if you are doing lots of cranking trying to get the engine to start, you are going to dilute the engine oil with fuel. Fuel is a terrible lubricant, and diluted oil can/will cause fast premature wear to every moving component in the engine.


I've actually experienced this before. Sad to say it was my own damn fault. Was a long time ago before injectors were characterized so well like they are today. Before the time when WBO2 were so easy to come by, etc etc. The end result was .005" of cylinder bore wear in fewer than 1000 miles. Worn valves (not guides), worn wrist pins (not bronze bushings), worn crank journals (not worn bearings) etc etc. I had no idea WTF was going on at the time, but my block machining guy surely did. One look and he knew the engine had been "washed down" with fuel. It's a real thing.


If you find yourself doing a lot of cranking, just be aware all of that fuel is going into the oil. It's not a bad idea to pull the plugs and oil the cylinders. Early/often oil changes are a great idea, too.


This whole starting thing is made even worse with E85, especially when you're trying to achieve good starts at ambients under about 50ºF, which is totally possible. Change the oil a LOT, and don't be afraid to pull the plugs and cook out the wet fuel with a propane torch!

[viperv]

You guys are awesome. I took a couple of your engine building courses; going to check out your tuning resources now. Thanks for sharing this bit.

[monstersquashracing]

This is so cool. Thanks so much for this. Ive learned more here then i have anywhere. I will be purchasing these courses soon. Thanks again 🙏🏻

[Limeayy]

Does the "50's" all stand for stoichiometric AF ratio as a start out before you start leaning it a bit to get more power/richer to not have knock?

[PANTYEATR]

awesome! then comes the warm-up table, then the after-start table, then the acceleration enrichment table...

[andyrantshumanphilosopher]

What happens if you swap a factory lamda to a wide band on a stock ecu?

[thstep]

Iv herd a yarn before that on a fresh engine it's a good idea to run it on the leaner side on initial start up and idle to help it get hot and aid in bedding the rings? What's your guys take on this?

[Limeayy]

I would love to know how to do this with a flashpro for a S2000 06-09 :D

[jensenlocals]

So, what if it doesn’t start immediately like yours, even with timing properly set in the ecu. Or will start but only with a massive vacuum leak, dying when vacuum leak is plugged.

[darkhorse]

2:41 "sir have you been drinking? Im gonna need you to step out of the car please"

[Hygoog]

Hi. I have a basemap from Haltech for my rx7. Before starting up do I need to verify and lock timing or it should start right up with the basemap?

[twrcrew]

but your method doesn't work if the ENGINE is also freshly built and needs to be broken in to seat the rings. We can't run hard enough not to waste the cross hatching in the cylinders if we're messing around idling for way too long in the beginning trying to sort the ECU. This is a huge risk to break-in since what you do in the first 20 miles (or minutes if idling) will determine the WHOLE life of the rings in the engine. and if you mess it up you have to re-ring your engine all over again and get new everything involved to do so. So it seems like if someone was building a brand new forged internal engine, you NEVER want a standalone.. which is a shame because 99% of people throw away all their stock injectors, manifolds, turbos, and ECUs and install all the heavy-hitter components with a standalone before they ever get an initial tune in.

How would you ever overcome this problem? It seems like you'd be getting rid of your chicken and egg. You simply can't afford to sit there messing with idle if you have brand new pistons. You need to be driving under hard load and vacuum to make sure those cross hatches aren't being wasted from idling around. So basically, no tune = no hard driving = can't seat rings = can't break-in your engine OR get a base map.. You're literally stuck if you end up with BOTH a standalone ECU and a brand new forged internal engine with race injectors and turbo.