TOPIC: SINK OR SWIM TIME-MY 2007 ACURA MDX

Hello everyone! I just did the groove on my 2007 ACURA MDX. I am doing the relearn/ecu conditioning and will post on this thread on my results asap. If you have any questions let me know since i check the forums daily. Have a awesome day!


ClAUDIO in Stockton,CA.

Claudio,
I thought that I would hear from you in a day or two, so was waiting anxiously for your power/MPG report!

TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME

Before I have a conniption fit!

Ron

Hey everyone! Well at this time I am sinking because I had trouble with my first groove( had to regroove and maybe another groove after this weekend) and ecu conditioning. Let BE ME CLEAR- ITS ALL MY BAD. I was not able to condition the ecu properly. So this weekend I am going to start over and do the right amount driving and post my results good, bad or whatever I come up with. Thanks for your patients and I hope to add pictures soon.

Hi everyone! So a little update on the MDX, I went ahead and re-grooved my throttle body because I was not seeing the mileage gains I was expecting. Totally my bad for not cutting the correct depth into the TB housing. As you can see on my re-cut, the bit went way through. Ron you said to be bold and on this cut I did. I am pretty happy with the outside repair with the jb quick and I am going to put the TB back on tonight and do a re-learn and conditioning. Be patient for my results because it takes me a while to rack up some mileage and premium fuel in my town is almost $4 per gallon. I hope everyone is having a awesome week and keep groovin!

These pictures are from my re-grooved throttle body. This is deeper proper cut, and you can see hole where the jb quick needed to be applied. Original city mpg I was getting 13.0, after the first attempted groove mpg 14.5 after 1 tank.The lastest groove so far 16.4 mpg with only a 1/4 tank used. I will update asap with more mileage under my belt.

hi Claudio, It looks like a decent large bit full depth Groove resulted from your re-do. Looks like you placed it noticeably downstream from closed throttle, even w/ the paper spacer. Just curious- did you do that Groove re-cut without the butterfly as a backstop? That's challenging!
IS your Acura an auto or manual trans? I'm thinking about how deep into the throttle angle the Groove's location is now. Do you "feel" when your foot engages it, or is it now more of a smooth power increase?

How did you decide to re-locate it where you did? I'm thinking of all the dynamics involved here.
Thanks!

Tracy G.

Hi Tracy, my 07 MDX is a automatic 3.7L. I did the re-groove as close to the throttle plate as I could and I actually thought I roughed up the plate too much. After watching Ron's videos on youtube, I thought my tb plate look at little sloppy but it was 2 cuts later. On these tb's the groove is on the top and I think that made me nervous because it is my first cut and experience. Today my throttle response felt more smoother and stronger especially when the V-Tech kicks in around 5000 rpm.

Well, it's OK if the plate gets a bit rough. This is the downstream side so it's not that exposed to direct airflow.

To my eyes it looked like you wound up with the Groove a bit separated from the throttle plate, when the plate is fully closed. As long as you have good driveability, no harsh throttle transitions, and improving MPG's and power, then I'd say you did fine. Did the tailpipe smell clean up?

Feels pretty good to have success on your own ride, on your first Groove adventure, no?

Not that I'm so familiar w/ Honda's, but I recall that with some Honda's it took some time for the ECU to adjust fully. So I'd not be surprised if your ride continues to improve with time/miles.

Another tip I picked up was that on many modern cars/engines, that it's during full WOT operation, that the ECU changes or re-maps things. You might ask the tech's at work about this. Through you we might be able to pick out a few nuggets of info about Acura/Honda systems...

Tracy G

I saw on the PL KIT manual that you should do the groove on the side that the throttle plate open towards the engine in order to get the wave form. So is that the downstream or? On my Acura, the groove is on the top side of the tb because that where the plate open towards the engine. I can put my nose to the tailpipe and it smells like hot air to me. Also, I did ask my master tech about the ECU re-maps at WOT and we want to go together on a test drive later this week to check out whats happening during WOT and cruising speeds with our shops laptop and Acura software. Hopefully I can provide some more useful info back. Thanks Tracy for responding quickly.

Yes that would be great if you and the Tech do a test drive with the shop's scantool hooked up. I'd be watching the O2 sensor voltage values both upstream and downstream. Also the fuel trim numbers. Would be good to get an idea of what these values do both during steady cruising speeds, and during/after a WOT run.

Further detail: To try to see how long in seconds it has to run at WOT, to see any meaningful changes in Fuel Trim #'s and the O2 sensor voltages. Your Lead Tech may have other ideas/insight as to what to watch for re: sensor values or other data, esp. for the Acura/Honda cars. I'm trying to remote-control dig for any meaningful info we might gain from this, Especially re: Acura's and Honda's.

You could also ask this Tech, about his opinion re: how WOT operation applies to most modern cars' ECU going thru a "reset" during or after a WOT event. I would value his knowledge/opinion about this, it can be a good input to this general idea. Thank You for involving him in this test, and Thank him too, we can use all the Trusted Experienced info we can get, it all helps!

Groove placement: Your Groove is in the correct place, the engine side of the plate, the side closest to the bottom of the TB casting. To recap: the Downstream side of plate, such that the plate edge crosses the Groove's upstream edge as it moves from closed throttle. Your Groove is on the downstream side of that TB, upstream is towards the air filter, downstream is towards the engine.

Tracy G