AF-XiED O2 sensor manipulator

[late to the party]

I've just ordered a AF-XiEF from Beemerboneyard in the US.

Hopefully, once fitted, it will resolve the fueling issues on my K1200S.  It gets favourable reviews elsewhere on the web so fingers crossed it'll live up to expectations.

I'll report my findings later in this post.

[Phmode]

I doubt it will have any effect on the airbox/ICV combo if yours is the old version.

[late to the party]

It's only a device to intercept the signal from the lambda sensor and fool the ECU into overfueling.  I don't imagine the airbox/ICV combo will affect it.

[Phmode]

No, precisely!

But, if you have the original airbox/ICV combo, that is the bit that causes the erratic fuelling and poor pick up from idle/low revs.

A better solution is the Power Commander or an ECU re-map (like fjtwelve had done to his and his had way poorer fuelling than mine). The PC route is costly and fiddly to install. I installed one on my K12S in an attempt to cure the lousy fuelling, discovered the later airbox/ICV mod while it was all apart and swapped those out at the same time.

The airbox/ICV fixed the fuelling 95%, (even before the BMW ECU re-flash which goes with the airbox/ICV combo) and the Power Commander was left on a zero map (as if it weren't even there) for the rest of its life.

Be interesting to see what difference the gizmo makes.

[late to the party]

Yes, having read the various post around the forum I'm even more interested by this now.  I also read about repositioning the air temperature sensor to outside the airbox in the cooler airflow - would that make much difference?

[Phmode]

I doubt it.

The big problem was the early airbox warping in the heat. This could cause the ICV to malfunction. The solution was a new design of both.

However, the ICV was and is still in the K13, an open loop system. The ECU sends it, via a set number of pulses to the internal stepper motor, to where it wants it to be, dependent on air and engine temp, air weight etc. etc.

The fly in this particular ointment is that the ECU 'assumes' it knows where the ICV is in its travel, based on where it last sent it to. But, if the ICV did not get to the last 'known' position, the ECU has no idea of this (open loop) and carries on regardless.

Now, the ICV is supposed to reset itself on engine start. Actually, on ignition on. But, it can get stuck, or rather sticky.

TomL had some success by removing the ICV from the base of the airbox, disassembling it (carefully or the spring and piston go whheeeeee), cleaning it and re-installing it. I believe this was for a problem on a K13.

You really need to whip the tank off and take a peek at your ICV. This will tell you if you still have the old design. If you do, you know the solution.

[late to the party]

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. I doubt very much if the airbox will have been done as the bike seems to have changed hands regularly before I bought it suggesting it's either a pig (and I haven't discovered it yet) or the previous owners didn't have the money/time/inclination to fix all the little foibles that the K12s has.  I'll leave this post here and revisit it once the AF-XiED is in my hands and I have the tank off. Cheers.

[Phmode]

If you need any more info once you have the tank off, you can always call me. PM me for my number.

I was amazed at the difference the later airbox and ICV made to my K12S. Because I fitted both the Power Commander and the airbox/ICV at the same time (and wouldn't have bothered with the Power Commander had I known about the latter), I had an interesting few days.

With the later airbox/ICV kit, there is an ECU re-flash needed by your BMW dealer. North Oxford quoted me £20 and 20 minutes.

Of course, because I had fitted the PCIII, I had to 'disable' it for the re-flash so simply installed a zero map. I rode it from home to a mate's about 15 miles away along some twisty stuff and simply couldn't believe the difference. No jerky throttle response. No erratic idle. No faltering at T-junctions. Smoother acceleration from low revs. A different bike altogether.

From there, I rode it up to NOG for the re-flash. Despite having been assured by Bahnstormers that my bike was up to the latest ECU status, NOG discovered it was still as it was built in 2004. It took them over an hour to do the update but I drank more than £20 worth of coffee and ate them out of buns to boot.

I was never convinced that the ECU update made a noticeable difference over the airbox/ICV swap.

After that, I played with various PC supplied maps and had a dyno run to see what the fuelling was like. The guys changed maps a couple of times and declared it OK. £40 spent on an hour's work 'might' have made it better low down but I never bothered. In the end, they left it on a zero map (in other words, a total waste of money fitting it) and I never fiddled with it.

The only problem the bike ever gave me as far as fuelling was concerned was a propensity to hang at high revs running into hairpins in the Alps. It would run-in with a closed throttle and needed to be braked down. It was also rather 'fluffy' pulling away out of the turns as well. Following riders also commented on a strong smell of fuel running into hairpins when it was misbehaving. On 'normal' roads at altitude it was OK and once down to 'normal' altitudes it ran fine.

If your bike is suffering, the airbox/ICV combo, especially second-hand, is highly recommended.

[Costas]

All can by solved with installation of 2008/3 version of ecu mapping in your local dealer PC. 

[Phmode]

That won't fix the airbox/ICV stickiness problem Costas.

[late to the party]

Well, I never did put an update on as to how effective the AF-XiEF was......

So, the device eventually cleared customs and arrived factory set at 7.  Reading other articles owners have found best results with the device set at 7 or 8.

From the outset the device has made a significant difference to the fuelling especially below 3000rpm and it's now possible to trickle along in a high gear without that on-off fuel delivery and corresponding 'cachunk cachunk' noise from the drive train.  Don't know about fuelling in the upper rev ranges as my journey to work is on a 40mph dual carriage way which is monitored by SPECS average speed cameras