Increasingly we have seen customers needing new lambda sensors, recently another garage quoted a customer with a Clio 182, £1800 for a new catalytic converter when his car failed his MOT. We diagnosed the problem as a leaking exhaust gasket and a failed lambda costing the customer SUBSTANTIALLY less..

We thought it would be useful to explain exactly what a Lambda sensor is.

For an engine to carry out its most complete combustion cycle the engine needs to operate at an air and fuel of 14.7:1; this means that for 14.7 kg of air 1 kg of fuel would be used. This chemically correct air fuel ratio is known as a Stoichiometric ratio or Lambda (λ)1.0. A fuel rich mixture would have a lower value e.g. 0.8 and a fuel lean mixture would have a higher value e.g. 1.2

A Lambda sensor measures the Air Fuel Ratio (AFR), it switches between 0.1 and 0.9v, The ECU reads this signal and via its “Closed loop” calculation adjusts the fuel mixture to maintain the correct AFR. This closed loop phase is typically under “normal” driving conditions. These sensors do not work under wide open throttle and higher RPM when operating at Lambda 1 is not appropriate.

The sensor itself needs to operate at a high temperature to work correctly, and inside the sensor there is a heating element, This is often the part of the senor that fails. At idle or low engine speeds this will mean the sensor is not working correctly and you will fail emissions tests and have poor engine running, usually with poor economy. If an engine is left to run in these conditions you can also cause expensive damage to your Catalytic converter,

If you suspect your car is not performing correctly, or is using more fuel than normal or you fail your MOT test on emissions. Its best to have your Lambda sensor checked. This can usually be done with our diagnostic test equipment, where we can advise accordingly.

The K-Tec Team

At the workshop we are constantly testing and upgrading to offer the best service and developed products available to the Renault market.

Megane dCi Tuning

Often overlooked as a performance option are the Diesel engined cars.

The Megane dCi actually makes a very fast road car when tuned.

We have been doing some development work on these recently and have some impressive results.

Our in house remapping has yielded good results, but we knew there was more to come.... the main restriction was the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter). These are situated downstream of the turbo and simply collect the particles from the exhaust. The MAJOR downside to this is that these filters are highly restrictive in their flow and inhibit the power.

We have recorded over 1bar pressure drop across the filter showing how restrictive and detrimental to performance these are. So the solution is to remove the filter and fit a Performance Bypass pipe.

On a standard Megane 175 we measured 161bhp and 260 lb ft, simply by fitting the KTR DPF Bypass we saw an increase to 170bhp and 274 lb ft.. This power was not all about peak numbers though, it made more power everywhere as can be seen from the graph.

However once remapped the difference is ever more notable at the higher end of the rev range and above 4200 rpm the power held on significantly more allowing the car to pull much harder.

The graph shows the difference with and without the bypass pipe, peaking at 195.6 bhp with a stage 2 remap.

In real terms on the road the car delivers its power smoothly and allows for swift effortless overtaking manoeuvres. Your also able to embarrass some other performance cars as well, the the huge torque these cars now have.

We are offering this service in house in 3 tuning packages, all with before and after power runs on our rolling road to demonstrate the improvement.

The K-Tec Team

New Megane parts arrive.

Friday 17th September 2010

We have been busy working on some new products for the Megane 2 and Megane 3 RS models and we are now pleased to be able to offer these to our customers.

First there are some new parts for the Megane 2 RS including the 225, R26, R26.R and 172 DCi models. These parts include our new KTR lightweight flywheel which not only improves engine response, but is also alot cheaper than the expensive, heavy Renault dual mass flywheel. Next up is our KTR rear brace bar for all Megane 2 models. This is very similar to the bar that Renault offers on the R26.R in place of the full roll cage, except ours is a much stronger, more substantial unit that looks superb once fitted. It is also available in a range of colours.

 We also have some news coming next week on 175 DCi tuning so please check back then for an update.

Next we have a couple of new arrivals for the Megane 3 RS 250. The first are our new KTR stainless steel braided brake lines which we have tested around Silverstone race circuit ,where we found them to be a great improvement over original rubber items. Finally we have our new KTR alloy intercooler upgrade available for the RS 250. This has been in testing for a few months now and we have put it through its paces not only on the road but also on the dyno and on track. The results have been very pleasing and as with all the above parts further details can be seen under the relevant Megane sections on our website.

The K-Tec Racing Team.

Its been new ECU week.

Thursday 12th August 2010

This week has seen no less that 4 Clio RS models come in for our new GEN90 ecu. These have included:

• Clio 182 Turbo for the GEN90 ecu, should be mapped next week
• Clio 172 Turbo, Omex ecu removed and our GEN90 ecu installed
• Our old Clio 172 demo car also for the new GEN90 ecu and mapping
• Clio 172 Cup for our DTH throttle body kit with GEN90 ecu

All the above cars will not only be set up and mapped on the dyno, but will also be live mapped on the road to make some fine adjustments to the way the car drives, all the while logging various data such as AFR (air/fuel ratio) and knock. The cars are also kept here for several days to allow us to fine tune and test from cold start before under going road tests before being handed back to their lucky owners.

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