Idiot guide to Tune ECU

[benebob]

Granted my commute is 2 miles to work 1.5 to the gym after work then 2 miles home (usually interupted by a groccery store stop on the way home.  Temps are now in the 20s going to work and 40s going home but I'd at least expect mpg in the 30s. 

TBH you're not doing the bike any favours going such short distances in cold weather (I assume your temperatures are Fahrenheit) as it's not going to get anywhere near normal temperature and the rich mixture is going to screw up any mpg calculations you make as well as washing oil off the bores, causing acids from incomplete combustion etc.

Perhaps not feasible but if I was in your position I'd be looking for a lightweight to do the commuting (a ratty CB175 might fill the bill). Or even get a pushbike then you could forget the gym....

I've been doing the commute for 8 years.  A pushbike isn't an option as it is dark when I go to work and the road is not safe in daylight to right a bicycle.  That ratty cb175 I sold paid for a Tiger and then some.  Have another in the garage I'm building into a salt flats bike but the reality is I got tired of cable driven drum brakes in traffic.

It's much cheaper to worry about 3 cylinders then making that commute in one of the Jags.  They give downright scary mileage in normal conditions.

[benebob]

As I said, when you manually try to update it, the comuter tells you it found nothing better.  The driver it has on it is a later version seems to be 2.8 not 2.0 and isn't compatable with TuneECU or doesn't appear to be.  Had some IT guys take a look and they can't figure it out either.

Have tried both ways now on installing the apple before the cart and after.

Sometime the operating system of the computer needs a little directional coaching to use the correct driver. With your USB adapter in the USB port,  open "Device Manager" and scroll to index marked "Ports". Left click on the index marker next to "Ports" and you should see the USB cable adapter listed in a drop down (i.e. USB serial port adapter). LEFT click to highlight your adapter, then  RIGHT click on the cable adapter and scroll to "Properties", left click to open the properties submenu. One of the tabs of this submenu is listed "Driver", a left click on the tab will allow a view of your options. One of the options is to "Update Driver" of which you can manual control to tell your operating system where to look for the driver you wish to use. It is beneficial to save the downloaded driver to your desktop so it is easier to locate it when performing this action.

But what if this doesn't work? Some hardware manufacturers require the drivers installed first, then install the hardware (to where the "automatic found device driver function blah , blah" works just fine). If you did install the driver after install the device, simply uninstall the hardware (hardware remove) and then re-install by connecting the device for auto-discovery. The automatic function of XP should find the correct driver this time, automatically. How do you know if it did? Simply go through the steps outlined above with device manager to view which one was installed.

[Bixxer Bob]

....Biggest problem I have aside from the mileage is the revs don't like drop down when you get off the gas and wanted to narrow things down before I accumulated everything for my 24k service.

Aha, revs not dropping and rubbish fuel = bad air leak on the inlet side. Too much air gets in, ECU tries to compensate by riching up the mixture, fuel consumption goes south.  Helps to have the whole picture mate.

First place to look is IACV tubes (the crinkly ones going to your throttle bodies) make sure they fit tight and there's no split in the crinkles.  If they're ok (unlikely) the next most common problem is throttle body gasket.  Its not likely to be the iacv sticking as your revs do drop eventually but it is also a possibility. TuneECU can functionally check it if you get it working.  You can't check it with volts and a meter as its a digital signal, you'll bugger it up properly if you try.

Regarding the driver issue, as well as uninstalling the old one you'll have to find where windows saved it and delete it. You can then connect your cable (turn of internet in case windows tries to download it) and load the correct one.

[Bixxer Bob]

This looks promising:

http://www.pbcomp.com.au/remove-old-device-drivers-windows.html

[benebob]

....Biggest problem I have aside from the mileage is the revs don't like drop down when you get off the gas and wanted to narrow things down before I accumulated everything for my 24k service.

Aha, revs not dropping and rubbish fuel = bad air leak on the inlet side. Too much air gets in, ECU tries to compensate by riching up the mixture, fuel consumption goes south.  Helps to have the whole picture mate.

First place to look is IACV tubes (the crinkly ones going to your throttle bodies) make sure they fit tight and there's no split in the crinkles.  If they're ok (unlikely) the next most common problem is throttle body gasket.  Its not likely to be the iacv sticking as your revs do drop eventually but it is also a possibility. TuneECU can functionally check it if you get it working.  You can't check it with volts and a meter as its a digital signal, you'll bugger it up properly if you try.

Regarding the driver issue, as well as uninstalling the old one you'll have to find where windows saved it and delete it. You can then connect your cable (turn of internet in case windows tries to download it) and load the correct one.

They didn't start together.  Have been asking about the revs since late summer.  Was getting great mileage until the weather turned colder then the bottom fell out.

I need the net to download the driver as I just have a netbook.

[Bixxer Bob]

Sorry, loads of folks on here ask for help and I do my best. Most don't  even take the time to use the search button.  I don't keep a log of who I help with what, so hadn't made the connection in your case. 

Moving on, and regarding your netbook,  right click on the .exe link and save it to your desktop instead of running it.  Then turn off internet, then delete the driver, etc etc...

[Bixxer Bob]

   Also found this:

As for how to remove the newer driver, if it has an installer listed in Add/Remove Programs, then by all means use that. If not, you should be able to manually choose the older driver by right-clicking on the device in Device Manager, selecting "Update Driver...", "Install from a list or specific location", "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install", etc. Or did you already try that? (As well as selecting "Uninstall..."?)

Isn't it amazing what comes up if you just Google "How to completely remove a Windows XP driver"?  You could spend all night reading what comes up.... 

[benebob]

yeah, I've tried all the basic stuff on manually selecting and no matter what I do it doesn't like the driver.  Will try another  computer again.  Was hoping to check it out tomorrow as I have the day sans my daughter for the only time before ski season starts so I doubt I'd get to it until I rip the bike apart for my 24k and a respray (really wanted a green Girly so a green one I will make).

[Sin_Tiger]

Had a bit of a faff with the drivers myself but once sorted it works a treat. Just finished doing the Thruxton after a few mods and it helped show up some air leaks that were preventing a smooth idle. Very happy and I push everyone thinking about putting a PC on a Triumph that way now.

[benebob]

Well I got it loaded onto our desktop and took that out to the garage.  Proper map was on it 9893 for a TOR exhaust.  No codes stored etc.  Everything seemed within expected numbers etc.  Pulled the tank and checked vac lines which seem very good, no noticable air leaks.  Sprayed the intake with wd40 while running with no changes in idle.  Got gas, this 1/2 tank came in with a little better than the Jaguar XJR at 28mpg.  Changed the oil b/c it did have some frothy brown crude up top of the fill plug.  No don't say HG as I have plenty of coolant and haven't added any since April/May when I got the bike and added about  3 -4oz. to bring it up to the upper level. Had been in since June and around 4k since oil was changed?  Oil itself looked good for antoher 4k (mobil1t 10w40).

What should I look at next or is the Girly just a bad bike for commuting on everyday of the year?

[metalguru]

Would be of great help to take some screen shots of all the screens from TuneECU when the fan switches off at working temp. As said before with such short journeys the revs will take time to drop and the fuel consumtion will not be that great due to the ecu running on temperature controlled mixture ie choke. The effects of this can be lessened to a point but we cannot access the hard coding to alter it. The throttle body balance also has to be EXACTLY correct as any inbalance or air leak will lead to substantially annoying running faults.

[Stitch]

The frothy brown crude under the cap also indicates an engine that is always running cold and not brought up to temperature enough. Since you are able to now "see" via TuneECU, ensure the bike comes up to temperature meaning the temperature sensor allows the ecu to "see" a normal operating temp. If it does not, then it will stay in a cold enrichment mode and thus burn a lot of fuel unnecessarily which equates to crappy mpg (possible cause could be a stuck open t-stat). Easy to do while you are gaining the screenshots as metalguru recommends.

[benebob]

I've been riding various bikes throughout the winter and have never had this much left in there nor had mileage even remotely this bad.  We haven't seen mornings below the  lower 20s.  I rode my old Nighthawk 650sc in -10 degrees f. and had no issues with it warming up.   Granted most other bikes I left open the breather so it would drain but even when I've unplugged the hose on the Tiger I get virtually nothing out of it.

This morning 1/2 of my commute the bike was at the first line on the temp gauge which is where it runs pretty much all year long unless I'm idling in traffic so it isn't a bad t stat.  Warms up fairly quick IMO.

[Stitch]

So then the reading you observed for the temperature sensor via TuneECU matches the temperature gauge? And it would be also wise to check the barometric sensor reading as well to make sure it is telling the truth to the ECU. All this information gathering is to determine whether it is fuel management issue via the computer or mechanical issue such as vacuum lines, air leak,  faulty fuel pressure regulator, etc.

[metalguru]

Reading through your posts, would it be correct to assume this is the first liquid cooled bike you have used in this situation?

These can be right maladies when they want to be but usually it is something that can be sorted, just that trying to fix it from afar has its own difficulties, we usually get there though.