drdamian

Hello all. i am new here and i do not own a s2000, but i think im getting ready to pull the trigger.
I am getting ready to purchase a MY00 s2k w/ 31K miles. it has a Comptech supercharger w AC. it has an AEM EMS . The owner says that the only problem he has had is that he needed to get the computer reflashed every once in a while. he did some research with AEM and they told him that when the car is off, it still draws power. IF the power drops below a certain point, he looses his settings. So, instead of getting a new computer or updated computer, he was told to get a voltage regulator to keep the voltage constant. does anyone know about this or can shed any light. i have been looking on the forum and couln't find anything about it.

thanks for your help and i look forward to being a active member on this site.

candymanjl

that's weird, the AEM shouldn't need power to hold it's settings, never heard about this before. I'm a little skeptical, I'd call AEM myself and send it to them to check it out if it's loosing the settings.

jwa4378

AEM does not need power to hold settings... I have pulled my battery a dozen times, and have never had to upload the tune again. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think its FLASH memory type (same as the little digital camera cards).

Sounds like a faulty connection within the EMS to me. They do go bad from time to time (I have read about the start function frying itself from time to time, but that is usually due to over-cranking the EMS on a dead battery.... Cranking with improper amperage will not start the vehicle, and will just wear part of the startup function in the EMS excessively).

John

drdamian

ok , thanks for your help.. he was saying that he would get the car tuned. it would drive like a beast, then like a month later it wouldn't drive the same.. he was spending money getting it retuned several times. i will have to look into this a little further.

jwa4378

Weird.

Most people go with a summer and winter tune, not only for atmospheric changes, but also because gas stations switch their gasoline blend over sometime in the spring/fall to their summer/winter mixes.

Never heard of a tune "going bad" over time (there is nothing to "learn" like if you were running a piggy-back system, which I would expect the tune to degrade over time if not setup properly).

And the re-tune fixed it every time? Were all his readings normal (i.e. - MAP sensor not fouled, injectors still going at normal duty, AFR's the same, etc)?

I would be interested to see an AFR/boost graph before and after the "retune" to see what changed.

John

ChefJ

Even if for some strange reason the EMS did lose its map, why on earth would you go and piss money away when you can have it saved on your laptop or desktop for that matte rand just upload it again.

drdamian

he said that a reflash wouldn't be a problem because the settings are all on a disc that can easily be uploaded again. he said that he is not tech savvy and didn't know how to do it himself. he would drop it off at the tuner and he would do it for him.
im wondering if i get the car, maybe just invest in another computer at some point.

candymanjl

see if it's really the AEM itself first, if it is send it to them to fix it.

Kwando

Had my batt die completely, and stay dead for weeks and it still had it's tune. I have a 1012. Might be worth looking into before buying.

drdamian

yeah, i want to get this straightened out before i get into something i may regret. he told me it is an earlier EMS. i do not know the exact number. i emailed him to try to get any other information. the alternative would be to get an updated EMS. he said the newer computer corrected that problem. im assuming he got the computer sometime before 03' probably 01'or 02'. he was a member on this site at one point but i do not know his name. silver s2k, chrome giovanni rims, veilside millenium kit.