I’ve had a 30x300 in my car for 3 years. Every single year like clockwork the controller goes bad. Going full rich to full lean etc with engine off and key on, display glitching out, etc. This year is like the rest. However, a few days before unfortunately I did change my intake piping to accommodate a meth ring instead of a hole drilled in my silicone coupler. So I can’t 100% confirm it started out of nowhere with no changes Running a 12GPH nozzle with 50/50. Prior logs show 11.0-11.5 AFR during a WOT run with deka 60s boost referenced and spraying meth. Out of nowhere on same tune I’m pegging 8.0-8.9 rich when under PE after changing my intake piping around from the procharger plenum to throttle body. KPA is pretty much identical. I’ve ordered a new Bosch sensor, however from prior experiences this will not fix it as it is in the sensor controller itself.

The meth nozzle is about 2 inches closer to the throttlebody than it was before and now more angled towards the throttlebody where as prior it was perpendicular. Cruising it seems to be more or less close and my short term trims are still good, but under any amount of PE above 2500 or so rpm it goes absolutely stupid rich. The only thing I can think of to shift blame off of the wideband is my piping was leaking and blowing all my meth out or that now that the nozzle is closer some of the meth is getting past my 17 degrees of overlap and causing a false rich but I’m really grasping at straws on those ideas.. But I just can’t fathom how either of those things would happen and AFRs would change by a whole 3 points.

Is it safe to say I’m again dealing with a failed AEM unit? What have your experiences with them on a street car been? Are there any more robust options out there? I’m kind of tired of dealing with these widebands that for me have failed every 10k miles whether it be procharged on meth or heads and cam NA.

 

I have had zero problems with AEM. The first wideband I bought was from Innovate. It never worked and their support was useless.

 

Yes, buy something better.

AFR500 w/NTK sensor, the NTK calibration grade sensor is good and robust.

 

That’s crazy, I wish I could figure out why I have so much trouble with mine always dying in a year’s time. The entire wiring harness is inside the cabin wrapped up behind center console. Sensor breaks through near gas pedal and also plugs in inside the cabin. The power and ground are the typical methods for an f body, ign accy port and my ground is the steering wheel support frame. Power master alt, so body and block are grounded with fresh grounds and whatnot. I don’t plan on replacing the harness, however every time I slap a new controller gauge on it the issue instantly resolves itself. If a new Bosch sensor and fresh air calc doesn’t resolve this I’ll have to order a new gauge and I’ll probably replace the wiring harness since it comes with it. Pain in the *** since it runs behind my radio.

 

do they make a similar product in a round bezel configuration? I’ll have to do some more research on these

 

I've had Innovate products in my last two cars and one I have in my current car and they've never given me any issues.
Seems like everyone has a story about any of them lol.

 

The AEM X-SERIES UEGO are work horses. Never had one skip a beat. And that’s on several cars. I'd triple check wiring and ensure you have enough juice/amps to the controller.

Innovate are horrible IMO. I’ve yet to have one work well. I’d steer clear of those.

AEM was the only (typical cheap) controller that I could get to survive on my Waverunner. They are constantly being blasted with water which kills the heater circuit. The Innovate unit would just reset over and over and never read correctly. It acted similarly with my E85 car anytime the car went rich it would self reset due to the weak heater circuit.

PLX is a company I don’t see mentioned often. I’ve run several of them and never had an issue as well.

I’ve never run the big $ NTK’s. Heard a lot of good things, but not sure I could justify that cost unless I was on meth or a big $ setup.

 

if I recall, the in-line recommended fuse for the aem was a 5amp, so I can’t imagine it not being able to get 5 amps off of the ign accy circuit. I ran my meth controller that feeds my pump off that same circuit for a while last year LOL(it’s now on its own relay etc).

It’s funny there’s always kill stories about all of the widebands, but I too had heard great things about the x series. However to me, swapping a controller and running it for an entire year i would think if it was wiring related it would present itself pretty fast right? I can’t imagine if the car would even make a pull with it running 8.0 AFR while spraying meth and water lmao.


This has been the norm now for 3 years, rma the gauge and everything is back to normal. If we get a cool weekend I might rip the wiring out and replace it but there’s really not anything to **** up. Power, ground, and a few wires to my pro link. Everything is tucked up and zip tied to prevent chafing etc. I always try to swap the sensor first, as like I stated I have 17 degrees of overlap and it does idle not so fresh. Sadly, the issue never once resolved itself until I’d RMA the gauge itself. There should be no shortage of amperage, as my power master alt puts out 140amps at idle and 160 cruising.

I’m currently speaking with AEM on how to purchase just the controller by itself, I was quoted about $70. I will probably bite the bullet and do that, if it resolves itself Ill be in the market for a better gauge and we can just group me into the stay away from AEM group lol.

 

ive used quite a few of the aems and like them.
are the afr500s better? yes. am i tuning anyone elses shitboxes? no.
if the time ever comes that i start tuning for others, ill get the better ntk setup for sure, but an AEM wideband has never let me down. dont get me started on their ECUs though...

 

can I ask why the afr500s are better? Are the ntk sensors more stable or just more accurate etc? I’ve noticed that now I’m spraying meth my AFRs are more inconsistent WOT than before…Prior you could make one or two VE adjustments and they’d be pretty damn close. I’ve noticed on the meth I had to do a lot of multiply by half and hand adjusting to get my AFRS to where I wanted them… However I kind of attributed that to the beast of spraying methanol.

 

in your case id GUESS that its distribution issues in the intake manifold.
the afr500s are higher quality instruments, at a higher price.
https://www.bmotorsports.com/shop/pr...oducts_id/2337

 

That’s what I always assumed since I’m tapped into the driver side header. I’m going to have to read up on these afr500s and try and find something similar in a round style gauge. Hell I think I bought my 30x300 when it was $200 something dollars, I should’ve done more researching before ripping out my vent and installing a round gauge.

 

Zeitronix, had one in my car for 14 years, never missed a beat, never has to be calibrated, rock solid unit.

 

If you have a 5a fuse inline, I’d yank it and put a bigger one in just for test purposes. I have literally run a dozen or so and never had an issue. Not saying that means they can’t fail, just that I’ve had good luck I guess. I even have one in duffel bag that I made a remote testing kit out of. I power it with a RC 17v lipo bat so I can tune cars without a WB02 installed. Its at least 8 years old now and it is still kicking on the original sensor and controller. Maybe the newer ones are made poorly.

 

Yeah seems that way, hit or miss. I know Matt Happel has had problems with Innovate too and does not recommend them. I spent probably 40 hours trying to get an LC1 working. Climbing under the car dozens of times to do a free air calibration. Now, its a $200 paperweight. Maybe I can use the sensor someday.

 

As far as I know how electrickery works, crudely speaking, current is drawn by the device. If the 5amp fuse never pops its because it never tried to draw more than 5 amps to the device right?

But I have a new sensor and I’ve talked to aem and I’m getting a new gauge controller. I’ll do a fresh air calc with the new sensor on my old gauge and also the new gauge and just hot swap the controllers on a drive and see if it was in fact the controller gauge again. If so then I guess I need to dig further on why my controllers keep shitting the bed. Always something

 

Not exactly how it works… you have to account for volts and amps, otherwise known as watts. ( VxA=W ) This is why you see peoples fuel pumps pick up big with a larger diameter “hotwire kit”. They didn’t pop fuses prior… yet performance of the pump still increases.

You’d need to know the voltage drop across the device at peak loads to see if you’re circuit is adequate. Or… just use big wires, good grounds, and larger fuses and see if it helps… lol.

The Fuse IMO is just a fail safe to protect things in the even of a short. 15a or even a 30a fuse will pop before the wire insulation melts in the even of a short.

Just my .02.

Good luck!

 

interesting discussion this has turned into. How I understand that, voltage drop in relation to a fixed voltage source tries to draw more amps. This is why it still works and doesn’t just up and shut off, the pump still tries to pull what it can to get its wattage, however with less electrical pressure from voltage sag the performance suffers. Plus more amps cause wiring and contacts etc to get hot.. I see this often with our 36v systems we use wired in series at work... in your case with a 17v system I’d blindly guess it actually uses less amps due to the higher voltage potential and you’d likely could run a 3amp fuse. However I’m unsure how resistors and voltage regulating in devices effect the entire circuit in terms of total amps drawn. I’ll have to see if one of our engineers here can answer that question. I.E. if I increase the voltage will a fuse in line still experience the same amount of current draw if the voltage is regulated after the fuse by a resistor…but I’m not an elechicken per se by trade so I’m just speculating

 

I’m far from an electronics guy. But I’m a hobbyist E-vehicle builder. Volts are more efficient than amps at like wattage (less heat).

In the specific case of the WB02 sensor, the heater circuit was always the one that craps out. (for me anyway) I’m sure the included fuse and wiring is adequate for the product. But in the event of a poor ground or dropping supply voltage, it never hurts to overshoot the wiring IMO.

Also may step back further and look at the charging system of the vehicle as a whole. Are you sure you have steady voltage from idle to redline? I always had BIG issues with LS alternators being total junk. Esp. if you happen to use a parts store reman. Almost all of them quit charging around 5500 RPM. Then start charging like normal as soon as the rpms drop back below that. So many don't realize there is an issue.

 

I have two AEMs in two different cars. Both many years old. Both run any and all the time the cars are running. Neither have given me a reason to distrust them.

Are they the best? No probably not.

Fixing to buy a third one for another upcoming project.

I like the ability to do serial usb datalogging. Makes VE and MAF table tuning a snap.