Might as well abit tutorial on wideband vs narrowband. Im still stun by why plp keep thinking narrowband is enough for reference.
What is it?
It’s a sensor that sits in your exhaust downpipe and it measures the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas. From this, the ECU can know if you are running rich or lean. However – this is a “narrow band” sensor, meaning it’s accurate over a small range of air-fuel ratios (AFRs), and these are sited around, brace yourself, the stochiometric AFR. That word is a fancy way of saying “the perfect ratio”. Without going into too much detail, the perfect AFR at idle and cruise is 14.65:1 air :fuel. (Warning – when under power and boost, your AFRs need to be closer to at least 12.5 and more like 11.7 for safety. The narrow band sensor is out of range for this, you’ll need a wideband O2 sensor for tuning)
Why use a wideband? Full throttle tuning only tunes 1/5th to 1/6th of the available map area. Part throttle where you spend most of your driving time and is the most common area for complaints. (poor fuel economy, roughness, stumbling) Very few dynos are capable holding a constant load for part throttle tuning. Dynos do not accurately represent real world conditions like under-hood airflow at speed and RAM air effects. Typically you car will run leaner off the dyno than on by about 3/10ths of a point.
If you are running closed loop and your part throttle fuelling is incorrect, your full throttle fuelling will be affected. Another good reason to tune part throttle correctly.
Using a wideband in on road conditions will enable more accurate fuel tuning. This does not replace dyno tuning, but augments it.
a stock NARROW band O2 sensor can't tell the difference between a little lean versus VERY lean. The voltage difference between 15.5:1 AF (VERY lean and playing with fire aka detonation) and 13.8:1 ( a little lean ).
The same can be said about the stock O2 sensor reading a little rich versus VERY rich. It doesn't show up as huge difference in voltage that goes to the ECU.
This is exactly why your ECU has a separate fuel map program at WOT. The ECU goes into "open loop" (short terma nd longterm smoothing). After the throttle has been mashed down past a certain point, the TPS sends a message to the ECU to stop relying on the stock O2 sensor to determine it's fuel injector opening time ("closed loop" operation) and switch to the previously determined fuel & ignition map programs on the ECU.
A stock O2 sensor can only read 3 things: lean, stoich, rich. It doesn't have the resolution or cannot tell the difference between very lean, lean, and a little lean. This fine resolution is what you need for tuning though...So we go to a WIDE BAND O2 sensor.
Figure 2. A wideband voltage readout versus a heated stock and unheated stock sensor. Widebands have more resolution to help you tune and program the precise and correct amount of fuel to add or take away.
http://www.alamomotorsports.com/graphics/fjo_wbo2chart1.jpg
http://www.hondata.com/techwidebandtuning.html (very good article)
http://www.alamomotorsports.com/products.html?http://www.alamomotorsports.com/fjo_wideband.html
http://g-speed.com/pbh/afr-o2.html
Here in a wideband sensor, the voltage for slightly lean vs very lean shows up and we can tune or adjust the program accordingly to add the correct fuel.
Remember, your stock narrow band O2 sensor is an emissions monitoring tool and not a race monitoring tool.