AG72
02-02-2021, 05:37 AM
Hello every one. :)
As I've said in my presentation topic, my 528i M52 is running the Eflexfuel piggybackECU.
The reason that I've converted my car is that in France, E85 is easily available and almost half the price of standard gasoline, but flexfuel was mandatory for me since their is still place (like autoroute) where you dont find it very often.
This will be my review on the Eflexfuel product.
This is not a topic about e85 benefits, in this case it is only for economics purpose. It is not aimed toward performance tunning. ( for that you will ideally need to control more than fuel delivery, you may gain a little bit by juste playing with fuel but it will mostly be related with your Knock regulation self adjusting)
First, this is somewhat of a long terme review. My last car (2.5 986 boxster) was running their old ecu (the same as the new "eco" one), and a lot of my friends are using Eflexfuel product, so we have around 100 000 accumulated miles of experienced with their products.
(M52, M52Tu, M54, M62TU,S65,Porsche M96, Nissan VQ35, Corvette C5...etc):rolleyes
Yes on some engines you will need to changes some parts in order to run safely on e85 (ex M62TU) and sometimes, same cars are going to have same engines buts are going to react differently.
The injectors on M52B28 e39 maxed out early in the rev Range, but my friend e36 328i where just acceptable with a 80% duty cycle at WOT at 6000rpm. My Boxster 2.5 never went over 75%. (all of this at 85% ethanol).
On the other side, we are actually trying to trouble shoot the s65 M3 of my friend's dad since it is still acting up even with swapped Eflexfuel ecus (maybe it has to do with the active alternator/battery...etc who knows).
To Begin with, here is a list of what is included in the kit:
ECU
Wiring loom for 1 to 8 cylinders+engine temp sensor (which just need to be mounted near the cylinder head)+ground strap
Ethanol content/temp sensor
Some connectors which you need to specified for you car (for example mine were Bosh EV1)
Fuel line connector to mount the sensors (again need to be ordered for you car).
The way that the Eflexfuel is working is almost the same as every other piggybackECU.
It read your fuel ethanol content/temperature, the engine temperature. It intercept the triggering signal that goes from the ECU to the injectors and increase the duration of opening corresponding to how much you need to enrich.
For exemple, if you only have regular gas in your car, it will not modifie the signal. But if the sensor read 70% of ethanol at 20°C, it is going to ask for xx% more opening.
It also have a cold start function where it detects when the engine temperature is lower than 10°c. It will trigger en enrichment mode (example 15%)
You can watch all the parameters from the app on your mobile phone. (injector duty cycle, engine temps, ethanol content...etc)
For my part I've gone to the Eflexplus version
In this version you can use the App to modulate your basic cold start enrichment.
You can also via your laptop (using Eflextuner) completely tune your cold start program(temp, ethanol%, crank enrichment, crankhold enrichment, warm up enrichment decrease...etc)
You can also modify your running (at operational temp) enrichment chart but, with only 2 parameters that are RPMs and ethanol%
What I like about the Eflexfuel is:
Reliability
Easy to install
Not that expensive (400€ for the Eco version, 500 for the Eflexplus)
What would be perfectible:
Bluetooth connection is sometimes a bit fussy
for cars with mor than 8 cylinders yo will need 2 ECUS
Cold start with 85% ethanol on the eco version are sometimes a bit difficult.
Their is an EflexPro version in which you can retrofit wire that take info from your engine sensor (MAf, OIl temp, TPS..etc) but since it more than 900€ and I am not looking for power gain it will wait. (and a normal OEM ECU flash/tune will do the same job)
So my general review is that you should get the Eflexplus version like I did.
Make sure all the fuel delivery component are in good shape (not a 25 years old fuel pump, clean injectors...etc)
I suggest to mounting the kit and run on traditional gas in order to check if every thing is ok and if your duty cycle is not to high (is you already at 80% on gasoline, your will need to modify your fuel system )
I still need to perfect my cold start enrichment charts (sometimes the cars is cranking for 1-2 seconds) but since we are rarely under -5°c it is still fine.
You can play with the general enrichment running charts event if it not considering engine load (for example if you are at 5000rpm their is a lot of chance that you are at max engine load....) but standard map is fine.
I have yet to play with it but I will only do it on the dyno with a wide band o2 sensor hooked up
If you have the ability to compare your fuel trim before and after the conversion you can ensure that the Eflexfuel ECU is doing a good job
Since you can watch your duty cycle and you still use a traditional o2 sensor and OEM ECU (for CEL) you should be able to avoid any catastrophic engine failure.
I will be happy to discuss more about it with you!
Cheers!:)
As I've said in my presentation topic, my 528i M52 is running the Eflexfuel piggybackECU.
The reason that I've converted my car is that in France, E85 is easily available and almost half the price of standard gasoline, but flexfuel was mandatory for me since their is still place (like autoroute) where you dont find it very often.
This will be my review on the Eflexfuel product.
This is not a topic about e85 benefits, in this case it is only for economics purpose. It is not aimed toward performance tunning. ( for that you will ideally need to control more than fuel delivery, you may gain a little bit by juste playing with fuel but it will mostly be related with your Knock regulation self adjusting)
First, this is somewhat of a long terme review. My last car (2.5 986 boxster) was running their old ecu (the same as the new "eco" one), and a lot of my friends are using Eflexfuel product, so we have around 100 000 accumulated miles of experienced with their products.
(M52, M52Tu, M54, M62TU,S65,Porsche M96, Nissan VQ35, Corvette C5...etc):rolleyes
Yes on some engines you will need to changes some parts in order to run safely on e85 (ex M62TU) and sometimes, same cars are going to have same engines buts are going to react differently.
The injectors on M52B28 e39 maxed out early in the rev Range, but my friend e36 328i where just acceptable with a 80% duty cycle at WOT at 6000rpm. My Boxster 2.5 never went over 75%. (all of this at 85% ethanol).
On the other side, we are actually trying to trouble shoot the s65 M3 of my friend's dad since it is still acting up even with swapped Eflexfuel ecus (maybe it has to do with the active alternator/battery...etc who knows).
To Begin with, here is a list of what is included in the kit:
ECU
Wiring loom for 1 to 8 cylinders+engine temp sensor (which just need to be mounted near the cylinder head)+ground strap
Ethanol content/temp sensor
Some connectors which you need to specified for you car (for example mine were Bosh EV1)
Fuel line connector to mount the sensors (again need to be ordered for you car).
The way that the Eflexfuel is working is almost the same as every other piggybackECU.
It read your fuel ethanol content/temperature, the engine temperature. It intercept the triggering signal that goes from the ECU to the injectors and increase the duration of opening corresponding to how much you need to enrich.
For exemple, if you only have regular gas in your car, it will not modifie the signal. But if the sensor read 70% of ethanol at 20°C, it is going to ask for xx% more opening.
It also have a cold start function where it detects when the engine temperature is lower than 10°c. It will trigger en enrichment mode (example 15%)
You can watch all the parameters from the app on your mobile phone. (injector duty cycle, engine temps, ethanol content...etc)
For my part I've gone to the Eflexplus version
In this version you can use the App to modulate your basic cold start enrichment.
You can also via your laptop (using Eflextuner) completely tune your cold start program(temp, ethanol%, crank enrichment, crankhold enrichment, warm up enrichment decrease...etc)
You can also modify your running (at operational temp) enrichment chart but, with only 2 parameters that are RPMs and ethanol%
What I like about the Eflexfuel is:
Reliability
Easy to install
Not that expensive (400€ for the Eco version, 500 for the Eflexplus)
What would be perfectible:
Bluetooth connection is sometimes a bit fussy
for cars with mor than 8 cylinders yo will need 2 ECUS
Cold start with 85% ethanol on the eco version are sometimes a bit difficult.
Their is an EflexPro version in which you can retrofit wire that take info from your engine sensor (MAf, OIl temp, TPS..etc) but since it more than 900€ and I am not looking for power gain it will wait. (and a normal OEM ECU flash/tune will do the same job)
So my general review is that you should get the Eflexplus version like I did.
Make sure all the fuel delivery component are in good shape (not a 25 years old fuel pump, clean injectors...etc)
I suggest to mounting the kit and run on traditional gas in order to check if every thing is ok and if your duty cycle is not to high (is you already at 80% on gasoline, your will need to modify your fuel system )
I still need to perfect my cold start enrichment charts (sometimes the cars is cranking for 1-2 seconds) but since we are rarely under -5°c it is still fine.
You can play with the general enrichment running charts event if it not considering engine load (for example if you are at 5000rpm their is a lot of chance that you are at max engine load....) but standard map is fine.
I have yet to play with it but I will only do it on the dyno with a wide band o2 sensor hooked up
If you have the ability to compare your fuel trim before and after the conversion you can ensure that the Eflexfuel ECU is doing a good job
Since you can watch your duty cycle and you still use a traditional o2 sensor and OEM ECU (for CEL) you should be able to avoid any catastrophic engine failure.
I will be happy to discuss more about it with you!
Cheers!:)