2005 GT Tune Roll-back Failure (Bama)

PBNorth12

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Posts
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Wisconsin
S197 Newbie with a "new-to-me" 2005 GT (5-speed) question.

The 2005 is recently purchased, low mileage, with complete service documentation from the original owner. The upgrades are very mild - consisting of an Air Raid cold air intake, Hurst shifter, and a Bama 91-octane performance tune in place, and the included Bama tuner. (appears to be similar, but not an exact cosmetic match to the Bama SF3/X3 tuner)

The car, as is, starts easily, idles smoothly, but will occasionally pop P0420/P0430 errors regarding the catalyst system efficiency on each bank. The car seems to run without issue with those errors, and if cleared, they will not reappear for a week or more.

I wanted to baseline the car to get a better idea of what I was dealing with, and so connected the tuner and selected the "return to stock" option. Once completed, the car idled very slowly and unevenly, had an uneven knocking sound under the hood which I couldn't locate by sound, and seemed to be pushing a lot of fuel through the system making the exhaust pretty thick, and would briefly idle up to normal only to drop down and then die.

Returning the car to the 91-octane performance tune, it started perfectly, idles smoothly, and runs without issue. I repeated the stock attempt and return to 91 octane several more times with the same result.

Is there a way to return the car to stock, unmarry the Bama tuner, and get the car to a usable state? It sounds so sickly when idling in the non-tuned state that I hesitated to let it run or start it to get it running for more than 10 minutes. Should I return to stock, reset the PCM, and hope for the best?

Thanks for sticking with me.

PB
 

MrAwesome987

forum member
Joined
Mar 6, 2019
Posts
936
Reaction score
292
Location
Upstate SC
These cars are very sensitive to the intake size where the MAF is, and an aftermarket Airaid CAI is likely much larger (in diameter) than stock. The Bama tune is tuning for this, and when returning to stock, the car thinks it still has the stock sized CAI, and thus, doesn't know what to do.

Without the stock air intake, you will not be able to return the car to the "stock" tune.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

PBNorth12

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Posts
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Wisconsin
You both raised the same good point. I'm going to have to track down a stock intake.
 

eighty6gt

forum member
Joined
May 9, 2011
Posts
4,292
Reaction score
403
Just get a new tune from Lito - what point is there messing around with the stock intake?

Debama'd

done

Those mods won't be doing much. You basically are at baseline.
 

JEWC_Motorsports

S197 Junkie
S197 Team Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Posts
20,471
Reaction score
1,596
Location
Texas
The airaid cai needs to have the no tune insert to run a stock tune. If you contact Airaid and tell them you need the no tune insert for your cai you can purchase it. Then you can run the stock tune once its installed.
 

PBNorth12

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Posts
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Wisconsin
That seems to be a much less search-intensive option. I assume it's a venturi insert for the intake tube. I'll check with Airaid. Thanks for the idea.
 
Last edited:

07 Boss

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Posts
3,831
Reaction score
968
Location
Sin City
Just load the tune back in. The one that was in there before you returned it to stock. Do you see custom tunes on your device? If you don't have a custom tune for your intake go to the pre-loaded/canned tunes and find the Roush intake tune. I had an Airaid intake and I ran the Roush firm shift canned tune until I went custom.
 

PBNorth12

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Posts
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Wisconsin
There are two custom tunes, 91 performance, and 91 race. There are custom tunes (the two 91 octanes listed), return to stock, strategies, and I believe an option to read and clear DTCs.

The tuner seems very limited, though I understand Bama offers "tunes for life", it's not transferable, but I can buy in at $130, believe. I'd rather just purchase a better quality tuner than put additional resources into this one.

There is no Roush option, but if it's a shift firmness tune it might be similar to the 91 race option - not sure how that would work with a manual. Either way it's currently loaded with the 91 performance tune and working fine.

My concern with the tuner and the tune is that I received different DTC codes when it was in the stock tune that were more specific to the O2 sensors on each bank, which would be a different fix than the low efficiency errors for each catalytic bank. Who knows if that's because of airflow sensor getting unexpected data or not? On an unknown vehicle, I like to baseline.

I may reset it back to stock, unmarry the Bama tuner from the car, and pick a more modern or better-featured tuner to purchase. This assumes that the stock tune is actually successfully reloading and just getting borked by the Airaid.

Thanks for the ideas, though. My other two vehicles are a 91 Dodge W250 with the 12 valve Cummins, and the 68 Mustang with a stock 289. I need to get my brain back into computers and sensors mode.
 

PBNorth12

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Posts
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Wisconsin
Definitively, I can't say there was or wasn't a failure without a successful functioning return to stock. I'm not seeing a better subject option for the original reason for posting, however.

"Not able to be successfully tested return to stock tune due to cold air intake" lacks punch and was only determined after the thoughtful responses.
 

01yellerCobra

forum member
Joined
Apr 11, 2011
Posts
2,230
Reaction score
158
Location
San Diego, CA
The device doesn't matter. It's the person writing the tune that matters. The device is just a device to transfer it from the computer to the car. I really wish SCT would come out with something like the Xcal2 again
Not everyone needs or wants all the bells and whistles.
 

07 Boss

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Posts
3,831
Reaction score
968
Location
Sin City
Yeah, you can't run the stock tune with that intake. You were probably getting catalyst codes with the stock tune because the custom 91 performance tune has the sensors turned off which is fine unless you need to get it smogged. You might not even have any rear sensors in the car if you have an O/R mid-pipe. If you're running fine now don't mess with it until you start putting more mods on the car.
 

Support us!

Support Us - Become A Supporting Member Today!

Click Here For Details

Sponsor Links

Banner image
Back
Top