Just had aem adj. cam gears installed on my car yesterday and my idle is all jacked. My car just wants to stall out at stop lights and stuff... I had it dyno'd today to try and tune them and the best numbers i could get was with a 3 deg. retard on both gears. The car still likes to stall.
I called aem and they said that the install has to be the problem. But i checked the install and the gears were set to the stock 0 mark and centerlined. I had some crapy air/fuel readings to, it's running way to rich. The shop that i had the install done at recomended that i get an AFC to change that up, but i don't see how thats going to effect my idle... Why does my idle suck!!! Any suggestions?

on a totally stock car with cam gears set at 0, your car is stock. if it isnt the same with them set to zero as it was before then there was something done wrong during the install. most of the time the timing belt is off a tooth. but i might be wrong.
-Josh





weapon-r intake
greddy headers
apex-i n1 catback
afx udp
energy suspension
motor mounts
cf altezza tail lights
bored t/b
magnecore wires
hotter plugs

Thanks for the reply, i'll take it back to the shop tomarrow and hopefully get things back to good. I'd hate to have to have the stock ones put back on, the aem gears should work!? It's just frustating...

just out of curiosity, how were your numbers from the dyno? your setup is similar to mine when i finally get some time to get the cam gears in, i want to know where i should be around.. that way i can compare how my car actually runs on the dyno. thanks!! also, are you MT or AT?

Well here they are, 99 Eclipse RS MT:

Chassis Dyno:
Third Gear at 6500 RPM

Max POWER = 119.0 / Max TORQUE = 123.8

Air / Fuel peaked 14 at 4000rpm then declined to 9.5 at 6500 rpm

something just ain't right...

I just did a rebuld and also installed AEM cam gears and I am haveing some kind of sugring choppy idle but not so sure it the gears?!?

>I just did a rebuld and also installed AEM cam gears and I
>am haveing some kind of sugring choppy idle but not so sure
>it the gears?!?

When you installed the gears were the centerline etchings even? For some reason they don't seem to match up, for instance the intake centerlins match to the exhaust left centerline but the right eshaust centerline seemed to be higher, i dunno what the deal is... All i know is that my car is hurtin'...

If you are talking about the center white lines on the gear, they do not match up perfectly when it spins. I think you are referring to how each gear has a white line and both white lines should line up at one point when the gears turn to the right position. However, the marks are off a little, so it won't line straight up. Road Race discovered that when they installed mine, and made a new mark to indicate the true center. You can see the install pictures in this directory:

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/eclipsetech/2gnt/

Here is one showing the marks off by a little. I think the shorter lines were the original lines, and they are kinda off as they don't point straight into each other.

Thanks man, i'll print that out and show them at the shop tomarrow. The gear's are 180deg. out from each other right? I still can't understand why my idle is whacked. It was fine before i took it in.

my cam gears are both right side up, the lines will line up if you do this, they are indeed not in the same place on each cam gear, but they do line up. i tried them on both ways, but they seem to work the best this way, i have had zero problems. the cam gears should line up and you have to be very careful that the crank timing belt pulley lines up with the arrow on the oil pump at the same time the cam gear lines line up.
lates
james

Yep. I would have to agree with the others; you cam gears are not lined up correctly. Have the shop fix them.



Eric Madden

>Yep. I would have to agree with the others; you cam gears
>are not lined up correctly. Have the shop fix them.
>
>Eric Madden

Thats what i think to, i just wanted to get some opinions from everyone before i went back tomarrow. Would this be the reason that my car is stalling?

Well I had my timing belt off a tooth and my car was struggling to keep an idle. You can also use your adjustable cam gears to compensate for your cam gear misalignment, but obviously this would only be a temporary fix. Note: When I adjusted my cam gears to compensate for my misalignment, I had to adjust them about 10 degrees.



Eric Madden

i am having this problem also really bad idle!!!

like a fuckin v8

how can we align our cams correctly back to zero is there anyway
Max POWER = 115.7 / Max TORQUE = 130.1

opposite of what tenzo rs is having

i have minus 4 hp
but i have plus 5 in torque
hmmmmm.....

i didnt get to tune my cam gears yet but it will be tuned upcomming week i wanna check if my map or O2 sensors are ok because im runnin really rich as well

If your timing is off you should get CODE 11(Timing belt skipped 1 tooth or more) If you are not getting this message then you are in time. I have AEM gears as well and my idle sucks as well, but I also have regrind cams and a milled head that could be causing the problem. and it just got worse after I windo welded my side motor mounts. but you should be getting code 11.

I did my own timing belt and all 4 points on the gears lined up and the crank. I believe it is all about the amount of tension on each side of the belt.

Did they change your timing belt? If not that could be your problem. The timing belt stretches and should always be replaced. I knew some kid who used his old timing belt and his idle was messed.

i got my gears set at intake retarded 3 and exhaust retarded 5

>If your timing is off you should get CODE 11(Timing belt
>skipped 1 tooth or more) If you are not getting this message
>then you are in time. I have AEM gears as well and my idle
>sucks as well, but I also have regrind cams and a milled
>head that could be causing the problem. and it just got
>worse after I windo welded my side motor mounts. but you
>should be getting code 11.
>
>I did my own timing belt and all 4 points on the gears lined
>up and the crank. I believe it is all about the amount of
>tension on each side of the belt.
>
>Did they change your timing belt? If not that could be your
>problem. The timing belt stretches and should always be
>replaced. I knew some kid who used his old timing belt and
>his idle was messed.
>
>i got my gears set at intake retarded 3 and exhaust retarded
>5

They used the stock belt, and the belt does seem a little loose. It might be the tension, i know something's not right.

>Well I had my timing belt off a tooth and my car was
>struggling to keep an idle. You can also use your
>adjustable cam gears to compensate for your cam gear
>misalignment, but obviously this would only be a temporary
>fix. Note: When I adjusted my cam gears to compensate for
>my misalignment, I had to adjust them about 10 degrees.
>
>
>
>Eric Madden

so what are your settings now>?????

and what did you dyno?

just worrired that mine will have to go up to 10 degrees as well if the shop doesnt correct it.

what is another possible way to set it back to zero stock settings>??? on the aem cam gears because i would like to play around with it say one most maximum setting for racing then set it back to stock setting since my cam retard setting is all screwed?

plus others any suggestions?

<so what are your settings now?>

-2 intake and +2 exhaust.


<just worrired that mine will have to go up to 10 degrees as well if the shop doesnt correct it.>

First make sure that your timing belt is in fact off (when mine was off a tooth I did not get a code). If so, then get the shop to fix it!


<what is another possible way to set it back to zero stock settings?>

If you want stock settings, just set the adjustable cam gears to 0 (that is of course once you fix the misalignment).




Eric Madden

><so what are your settings now?>
>
>-2 intake and +2 exhaust.

From what I've been told, you should never advance the exhaust more than the intake. I think mine idled bad when I did that. How did you come up with those settings?

I came up with those numbers after i dyno tuned the cam gears. The 3 deg. retard on both gears gave me the most hp. I called AEM again and they said that it might be skipping a tooth, i guess i should just have the shop install a new belt and make sure it's all installed properly and centerlined.

Sorry, switched around the '+' and the '-'. Mine is +2 intake, -2 exhaust.



Eric Madden

>Here is one showing the marks off by a little. I think the
>shorter lines were the original lines, and they are kinda
>off as they don't point straight into each other.
>




hey eclipse804

what was your best dyno???

Here is a dyno chart. When I had just intake and cam gears and a GS-T muffler, the max was around 112 hp. This is with an auto though.
BTW, just to let you guys know, I think with a stock head, your idle should be perfect even with cam gears. I had mine on a stock head set to +2 intake -2 exhaust and it still idled perfectly.

hmm, this is what I have to look forward to in the near future

thanks for all the info and the heads up guys

Hey eclipse804, are both of your gears right side up, or is one 180deg. out from the other?

Well, as an update. I decided to reset the ecu to see if the comp. needed to do any compensation, maby give it a fresh start. It seems to idle a bit better now so i'll probably set the gears at zero and do another reset and see what happens. Maby after the gears are installed the ecu needs to be reset?

I have advanced my timeing now to +1 intake / +1 exhaust and reset the ecu after each adj., the idle seems to be getting better.

My idle is good after I reset the ECU every time, but after a couple weeks, it gets real bad. This is after I ported and milled the head. I think the computer uses default values at first, then starts to freak out as it gets a really rough idle.

>My idle is good after I reset the ECU every time, but after
>a couple weeks, it gets real bad. This is after I ported
>and milled the head. I think the computer uses default
>values at first, then starts to freak out as it gets a
>really rough idle.

I'll have to agree with you, i have just noticed the same thing. I just orderd the Apexi S-AFC so i'll see if i can't figure something out to regulate things...

Does anyone know if the gears should both be right side up or 180deg. out from each other? And would this cause a bad idle?