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Does ECO run too lean?

N

not2brite

Tricycle
I searched the site but couldn't find this question discussed.  I recently bought a new 2010 and read up on the ECO option for higher mileage.  I'm wondering about any damage it could potentially do to the engine by running too lean.  Most all US engines are designed to run very lean to pass federal emissions.  Lean engines run hotter.  I suspect the ECO setting changes engine timing, thereby making the engine run even leaner.  Kawasaki engineers would have looked at this, but I wonder...if these engines already run lean, should we be leaning them out even more to save a few dollars? 
 
I think it does more then just adjust the fuel map, I think it also plays with the spark timing and the variable valve timing,  it won't hurt the engine,  the Kawi designers have seen to that... 
 
The fueling on the Concours is actually pretty rich in stock form. Kawasaki intentionally uses an overly rich fuel map to both reduce head temps and keep the CAT operating in the proper range. You can actually remove quite a bit of fuel from the map and still keep the A/F ratio around 13.0-13.2 range.

The ECO mode has it's own set of maps for both fuel and the secondary throttle plates, so it not only can control fuel, but also can control air flow (to an extent). I haven't yet looked at the fuel tables to see what the percentage difference is, but I could probably find out if you really wanted to know.

I'm sure Kawasaki would not have run the bike so lean that it would cause any danger to the engine when in the ECO mode.

However, one thing to keep in mind with respect to this, is that running a Power Commander with a leaner map on it, and then also putting the bike in the ECO mode, might drive the A/F ratio too lean, since the Power Commander maps are normally made for the regular mode, and the Piggyback nature of the Power Commander means it will provide the same correction levels regardless of what mode the ECU is in. One way to correct for this would be to run a switch to the PC to allow you to switch to a B map, and have a zero map loaded in the B map position. Then you could switch the bikes to ECO mode, and switch the Power Commander to the B map.
 
Fred_Harmon_TX said:
However, one thing to keep in mind with respect to this, is that running a Power Commander with a leaner map on it, and then also putting the bike in the ECO mode, might drive the A/F ratio too lean, since the Power Commander maps are normally made for the regular mode, and the Piggyback nature of the Power Commander means it will provide the same correction levels regardless of what mode the ECU is in. One way to correct for this would be to run a switch to the PC to allow you to switch to a B map, and have a zero map loaded in the B map position. Then you could switch the bikes to ECO mode, and switch the Power Commander to the B map.
Click to expand...


Or do the Guhl reflash as that leaves the Eco map alone.... :)
 
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