|
This article was first published in 2008.
|
If you scan the screens of eBay it won’t take you
long to find the marvellous, magical, resistor power upgrade trick.
For my car, a Honda Insight, you can buy a box
(it’s probably just a resistor and a switch) that will give the Insight a
claimed 30 more horsepower – or, if you want, 20 per cent better economy! Since
the Insight is amongst the world’s most fuel-efficient cars, 20 per cent better
economy is the stuff of hallucinations, while 30hp (about 22kW) represents a 40
per cent power increase – completely and utterly absurd.
The resistor trick is based on this idea: you add
the resistor to the engine coolant temperature sensor circuit, or the intake air
temperature circuit. This tells the ECU that the temperature is different to its
actual value, and as a result, the ECU adds more fuel (or less fuel, depending
on the direction of the modification), or more ignition timing or less ignition
timing (again, depending on which way the mod takes the perceived temperature).
To suggest that such changes will result in
enormous power gains, or huge improvements in fuel economy, is just rubbish.
But let’s not throw the baby out with the bath
water. If a clear idea of what is able to be achieved is understood, such
resistor changes can indeed be very effective. In fact, in bang for your buck
terms, using simple resistors can be quite brilliant.
But forget crazy power or economy gains...
Wiring
Intake air and coolant temp sensors use variable
resistance designs – that is, they vary in their resistance to current flow with
changes in temperature. Normally, they are Negative Temperature Coefficient
(NTC) devices, where resistance (measured in ohms) increases as the temperature
decreases.
For example, one coolant temp sensor has the
following relationship between temperature and resistance:
|
Temperature
(degrees C) |
Resistance
(ohms) |
|
0 |
6000 |
|
20 |
2500 |
|
30 |
1800 |
|
40 |
1200 |
|
70 |
450 |
|
90 |
250 |
|
100 |
190 |
|
110 |
110 |
This sort of information is available in workshop
manuals, or you can test a sensor using the sensor, a thermometer, a multimeter
and a saucepan of hot water on the stove. To carry out this test, simply connect
the multimeter to the sensor and place it in the water. Measure the temperature
of the water and note the sensor resistance. Then heat the water, measuring the
changed resistance of the sensor every 10 degrees C.
If you have an NTC sensor and you want the ECU to
think that the temperature is colder, you add extra resistance in series
with the sensor. If you want the ECU to think that the temperature is hotter,
you add the resistance in parallel with the sensor.
In most cases it is easiest to initially use a
pot wired as a variable resistor, so the two circuits look like this:
In series (to increase the resistance)....
...or parallel (to decrease the resistance).
Resulting Changes
So what engine changes are likely to result from
altering sensor resistance?
The coolant temperature sensor controls almost
exclusively the amount of fuel enrichment during times of cold running.
The output of the intake air temperature sensor is
frequently used by the ECU to determine the final ignition timing advance.
But both summaries are simplistic: the ECU will
use the inputs of sensors in more than just one way. In some cases, dozens of
maps may be based on these inputs.
Doing it on the Honda Insight
The hybrid Honda Insight is in many ways a simple
car – certainly, much simpler than the Toyota Prius. The engine, a 1-litre 3
cylinder, uses conventional engine management – not even electronic throttle
control.
The (Australian-delivered) car is designed to run
on 95 RON fuel but I normally use 98 RON. The RON value is purely a measure of
the fuel’s resistance to detonation; nothing else. Higher octane fuel therefore
has a higher resistance to detonation, so can tolerate a higher engine
compression ratio and/or more ignition timing advance. (In a forced aspirated
engine, to that list can be added increased boost pressure.)
To an extent, the ECU will automatically advance
timing when running on higher octane fuel – but only to an extent. It expects 95
RON fuel, so it’s never going to advance timing to the degree it would if
originally calibrated for 98 fuel.
So what, I wondered, would happen if I altered the
signal the ECU saw from the intake air temp sensor? Since the lower the intake
air temp, the greater is the engine’s resistance to detonation, if the ECU was
convinced that the intake air temp was actually lower than it really was, it
could be expected to run more ignition timing advance. That could in turn well
suit the higher octane fuel.
The Honda workshop manual provides no real detail
on the intake air temp sensor, but it is easily removed and tested. At about 35
degrees C the resistance was 1600 ohms, at about 20 degrees C it was 2000 ohms,
and when packed briefly in ice it increased to 5000 ohms. (These figures are
indicative only – I just wanted to confirm it was a Negative Temperature Coefficient
sensor.)
So (to reiterate), higher resistances equal lower
temperatures.
I snipped the signal feed near the sensor itself
(this could have been done at the ECU but it was simpler to do it under the
bonnet) and wired-in a 5 kilo-ohm pot wired as a series variable resistor (ie as
shown above in the first diagram).
[Note: if neither wire is connected to the sensor
body ground, the pot can be inserted in either wire. If one side of the sensor
wiring is earthed at the sensor, then the pot must go in the signal wire. On the
Insight the signal wire is red/yellow.]
I used a 10-turn pot so that changes could be made
very gradually, but a normal pot could be used if care was taken with rotation.
Initial Results
By turning the pot, I could make the ECU
think the intake air temp was colder than it really was. I turned the pot and
noted that idle speed rose slightly before then falling. This is indicative of an
advance in ignition timing (what was wanted) followed by an idle speed
correction. (Note that this change in rpm didn’t always occur – it depended on
other parameters like engine coolant temp.)
I wound in about 3000 ohms of extra series
resistance and went for a drive.
The greatest care should be taken to listen for
detonation. If you don’t have an acute ear for it, do an AutoSpeed site search
for some of the electronic detonation detectors we have described. Of course,
high octane fuel should also be used.
On the road the Honda was clearly far more
driveable. In light load driving, gear changes could be made earlier, a
characteristic of increased light load torque. The earlier up-changes also
suggest that in urban driving, the fuel consumption might be a little improved.
Specifically, 5th gear could be used up
slight rises at 60 km/h, something the car was reluctant to do previously.
However, on a highway fuel economy test, there was
no discernible change.
No detonation could be heard and no check engine
light appeared.
But what was actually happening under the bonnet?
The easiest way of finding that out is to use some test instruments.
OBD Reader
Lachlan Riddel of Gold Coast tuning company
ChipTorque was kind enough to make available a Snap-On diagnostics tool. This
could read the generic OBD data stream, albeit at a very slow rate.
The OBD reader showed two important data –
firstly, the temperature the ECU thought the intake air was, and secondly, the
actual ignition timing being used.
With about 3000 ohms of extra series resistance,
the OBD Reader showed that the ECU was measuring intake air temp at about 1
degree C, on this day about 25-30 degrees C lower than reality.
Test driving showed that the ignition timing being
used in light load, constant throttle conditions at about 70 km/h was 4-5
degrees more advanced than standard (eg about 30 degrees rather than 25
degrees). The low update speed of the OBD stream made measuring dynamic and
full-load changes impossible.
This increased timing advance matched my seat-of-the-pants
judgement – but I’d wanted to make sure that massive changes weren’t being made
that in turn were being retarded by the knock sensor.
Air/Fuel Ratio
In a MAP-sensed car like the Honda, the intake air
temp will also help determine the mixtures. This is because the ECU uses rpm,
MAP and air temp to calculate the grams/second of air that’s being inhaled. Tell
the ECU that the air is colder (ie more dense) and the ECU will inject more fuel
to go with it. With the air density in fact unchanged, this will result in a
richer air/fuel ratio.
A MoTeC professional air/fuel ratio meter was used
to measure actual on-road mixtures. As expected, when in closed loop, the air
fuel ratio stayed at stoichiometric (ie about 14.7:1) and lean cruise (around
25:1) also appeared unchanged.
However, full load high rpm mixtures (where the
car goes out of closed loop) were richened from about 12 – 12.5:1 (the full load
mixtures vary a bit over the upper rev range) to 11.5 – 12:1, ie about half a
ratio. This means that when this air/fuel ratio is being used, the car will use
something like 4 per cent more fuel. However, that driving condition is a rare
occurrence.
Outcomes
So with 3000 ohms added to the intake air temp
sensor and using 98 RON fuel, the car drives better, can be changed up in gear
earlier, and feels to have better part-throttle torque.
At full load the air/fuel ratios are richer,
something that could be easily prevented if a throttle switch was used to short
out the added resistance at large throttle openings. The extra fuel at high
loads doesn’t worry me, so I’ll stick with a simple resistance. (You could also
easily fit a shorting switch to allow an instant change back to lower octane
fuel.)
But what happens when it really is cold?
After all, the modification is effectively subtracting a lot from the real temp.
Probably not much happens – the handbook suggests that -20 degrees C is the
lowest the ECU will recognise.
Final Iteration
By using a pot (rather than a fixed resistor) in
the initial configuration, you can twiddle it to your heart’s content. When you
have decided on the value that is required, the pot can be removed and its
resistance measured with a multimeter. A fixed value resistor of the same value
can then be wired in series with the temp sensor and the lot covered in
heatshrink or tape. And that’s just what I did, using a 3.2 kilo-ohm ohms
resistor (that actually measured closer to 2.9 kilo ohm!).
Conclusion
This is not a groundbreaking modification. There’s
not 30 more horsepower or 20 per cent better economy. But this is better than
those claims – because it works. There’s clearly improved driveability
and potentially a little better urban fuel economy.
And at a cost of less than five cents (the cost of
the resistor), that’s one helluva bang for your buck.
|
Other
Cars?
It’s
very likely that this modification will work in other cars that use an intake
air temp sensor.
The
fuel octane must be raised (and that could be by water injection!) and as
always, care should be taken when tuning the set-up.
But
where there’s headroom to detonation, increased ignition timing achieved by
modifying the intake air temp sensor is certainly worth a try.
|
|
The
use of the OBD reader was courtesy of ChipTorque
|
Did you enjoy this article?
Please consider supporting AutoSpeed with a small contribution. More Info...
|
More of our most popular articles.
|
|
|
Email a friend
Print article
|