High Long Term Fuel Trims with ROW Airboxes




Drove it for a week and fuel trims stayed consistent, thought maybe a leak at the airbox lid clamp to intake or something, put the ROW airboxes back on and fuel trims go right back to 25%.
Anyone else seen that - is that normal? I would not expect that much more airflow to need that much more fuel at idle, but maybe it is normal?
Thanks
Rob
Drove it for a week and fuel trims stayed consistent, thought maybe a leak at the airbox lid clamp to intake or something, put the ROW airboxes back on and fuel trims go right back to 25%.
Anyone else seen that - is that normal? I would not expect that much more airflow to need that much more fuel at idle, but maybe it is normal?
Thanks
Rob
DIY ROW? or are they MB Factory parts?
Thanks
Dave








I sold the mafs off of the factory ones, so now I Have to check part numbers.
If the mafs are indeed the same, what we are seeing is the US tune and it compensating for ROW. As the load increases, the volume of metered air becomes unchanged ROW/US.
I sold the mafs off of the factory ones, so now I Have to check part numbers.
If the mafs are indeed the same, what we are seeing is the US tune and it compensating for ROW. As the load increases, the volume of metered air becomes unchanged ROW/US.
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As far as fuel pressure, it shows in the Xentry line up of tests and mine is fine. Xentry does not log it, to my understanding.
I've replaced my intake manifold gasket, smoke tested for leaks (none were found), replaced the airbox bolts, and nothing has made any difference. No matter what, with ROWs I get LTFT readings in the 20%-25% at idle, while with US airboxes and charcoal filters I get 0-1% at idle. I'm using OEM paper filters in both scenarios. Furthermore, with the ROWs, my car eventually starts to have strange hesitations in acceleration under low RPMs. I've put about 500 miles on with the ROWs and called it quits with them. It seems like YMMV as far as whether or not they work in your car. I have a P31 tune as well.




I've replaced my intake manifold gasket, smoke tested for leaks (none were found), replaced the airbox bolts, and nothing has made any difference. No matter what, with ROWs I get LTFT readings in the 20%-25% at idle, while with US airboxes and charcoal filters I get 0-1% at idle. I'm using OEM paper filters in both scenarios. Furthermore, with the ROWs, my car eventually starts to have strange hesitations in acceleration under low RPMs. I've put about 500 miles on with the ROWs and called it quits with them. It seems like YMMV as far as whether or not they work in your car. I have a P31 tune as well.
one thing I find interesting is that with the stock box the charcoal filter has a large black plastic plate under the maf basically stopping any direct airflow under the maf which obviously the row has lots of direct flow on the maf in that area.
I was experiencing somewhat high fuel trims too and deduced that the aluminium inner sleeve of the airbox lid wasn't sitting 100% flush with the outer plastic skin which slides into the Y-pipe at the back of the intake manifold. When I held the airbox into the light, I could actually see right through to the other end. I instantly thought....right...so this is how I'm getting unmetered air, which is in turn pushing the fuel trims up.
I carefully blobbed some clear epoxy over the perimeter, particularly where there were the big gaps and wouldn't you just know it....average LTFTs of around +10-12 and STFTs of around 7-8 at idle, have now become as close to zero as anybody would be happy to have. Needless to say drivability and fuel economy were improved afterwards.
Last edited by Celicasaur; Dec 13, 2017 at 07:06 PM.
so what you're telling me you've been holding out on this valuable information for years...i see what has become of our "friendship"
EDIT: Wait... was air actually flowing between the metal and plastic on the INSIDE undetected by the sensor?
Last edited by Jasonoff; Dec 13, 2017 at 08:18 PM.
i have been noticing high liter/100 gas mileage at idle and i want to find out if could be some similar issue.
thank for any help.
i have been noticing high liter/100 gas mileage at idle and i want to find out if could be some similar issue.
thank for any help.




i have been noticing high liter/100 gas mileage at idle and i want to find out if could be some similar issue.
thank for any help.
I thought maybe the computer had to relearn, but unmetered air sounds like a likely culprit.
I wish this thread would have been a week or two ago, we just got 7inchs of snow today or I'd pull it apart and check. It would be easy enough to compare the ROW airboxes to the US ones.
Last edited by TTA; Dec 13, 2017 at 10:17 PM.




I was experiencing somewhat high fuel trims too and deduced that the aluminium inner sleeve of the airbox lid wasn't sitting 100% flush with the outer plastic skin which slides into the Y-pipe at the back of the intake manifold. When I held the airbox into the light, I could actually see right through to the other end. I instantly thought....right...so this is how I'm getting unmetered air, which is in turn pushing the fuel trims up.
I carefully blobbed some clear epoxy over the perimeter, particularly where there were the big gaps and wouldn't you just know it....average LTFTs of around +10-12 and STFTs of around 7-8 at idle, have now become as close to zero as anybody would be happy to have. Needless to say drivability and fuel economy were improved afterwards.







