Why You SHOULDN’T Buy a MAF CAL – MAF Calibration
October 14, 2024We sell a product called “MAF CAL“. It’s a product that allows the user to recalibrate the MAF sensor signal so it is accurate for the engine ECU. I’m writing this article so you can assess if MAF CAL is suitable for what you are trying to achieve. To do this, I give some use cases for which the MAF CAL is not the correct answer.
You can read uses cases where a MAF CAL would be helpful in this article
Motorsport
MoviChip products are intended for motorsport use ie not for use on stock/original cars used on the public highway, if your car is standard and you are looking to extract more power, the MAF CAL is not what you are looking for.
Tuning
Unlike some other products, we do not sell the MAF CAL as a device by which a user can tune their engine, be it tuning to get more power or tuning to overcome inherent problems with the engine tune and/or inherent problem with a mechanical part of the engine.
For example, you have fitted larger cams and now the engine will not idle and/or has hesitation and/or you want to get maximum power from these new parts. Problems like these need to be sorted within the engine map itself or mechanical parts themselves need to adjusted.
Additionally for parts like cams we would suggest that ignition timing also needs to be optimised which is something the MAF CAL is not involved with.
Check Engine Light
An engine ECU is throwing a check engine light. The ECU may tell you the issue is with mass airflow but you have not made any changes to the engine that would cause this. In this case, the true cause of the problem needs to be found. Perhaps the MAF sensor on the car has an issue, internally or otherwise. Installing a MAF CAL is not the right course of action in this case.
Race Series Control
You have had the engine remapped, perhaps it is a control map from the race series you are in, and now the engine does not run correctly (maybe the engine lost power) but it was fine with the old engine map. Again, the source of the problem needs to be found. Perhaps the previous map was compensating for a sensor problem or component problem. Whatever the case may be, the core problem needs to be addressed. If all the other participants in the race series have no issues with the map and you do, it suggests a physical problem with the engine system.
Permanent Change
You have made modifications to the intake system, for example you have fitted a restrictor to the turbo which will never be altered in the foreseeable future. In this case it is preferable to compensate for this change by tuning the maps in the engine ECU directly and not by using an auxiliary device.
Summary
There are many cases where the MAF CAL could be used, but we’d suggest the correct solution in most circumstances is to deal with the inherent modification/problem on an ECU map level and not with an auxiliary ECU to compensate.
We are not going to refuse to sell you a MAF CAL if you are in one of the above boats, but you purchase the MAF CAL with the understanding that the MAF CAL is not the ideal solution and there are better ways to get to where you want to be.
Where MAF CAL Could Be Used
That’s a brief run down of circumstances where the MAF CAL is not the ideal choice in our opinion.
This article deals with the use cases where we would use the MAF CAL.
MAF CAL – MAF Scaling/Calibration with MAF CAL
Easily calibrate a MAF sensor signal after changes to the intake system. Scale a MAF signal with MAF CAL.
Increase or decrease MAF sensor signal by +/-50% to optimise engine fuelling (Not compatible with frequency based MAF sensors. …
