For anyone considering the AEM vs. Autronic...

MayhemSi · Dec 12, 2004, 10:02 PM

Stop looking. I just wanted to share my experiences with both units so it may help you out a bit. First, a little about myself, I am the owner of a small performance shop here in Austin specializing in fabrication and design on turbocharged vehicles. I myself have been through 3 years of mechanical engineering classes as well as training on efi tuning and several years experience on wiring and setting up standalone units. My evo is relatively stock with a tubular manifold and gt30r turbo currently on stock injectors and a fuel pump, cams, exhaust, etc.. I wanted management so I decided to get the aem ems (against the wishes of a fellow shop owner in Houston who urged the autronic unit). The unit showed up in a big fancy box with pretty pictures all over it. I was hyped.. I pulled it out, read the directions about 5 times through, plugged everything in, set up the sensors properly, and... the car wouldn't start. Played with the idle and cold start for 45 minutes to get it to idle. Great. Started to tinker with the tuning a bit.. went inside to eat lunch.. came back.. my laptop wouldn't connect to the ecu. The ecu was saying it wasn't even an aem unit. WTF? So I reflashed the firmware and started over again. No problems for a couple of days.. then one day I go out and the car won't start again. I connected, and my entire map was gone. All zeroed out. WTF? So after 3 or 4 days of this B.S. my car ran crappier than stock, had quirks all the time, and the most un-intuitive software I've ever seen. I pulled it off and sold it asap.

The autronic showed up this week and after reading the manual for it I had it installed in about 15 minutes. It comes with a built in map sensor and its own IAT so no need to buy extra sensors and such and worry about calibration. After setting the throttle position I turned the car over and it started up perfectly. omg.. you mean.. a plug and play ecu for my car came with a correct cold start map for my car? what is the world coming to? The car idled perfectly even with the cams and i brought it up to operating temperature. After a few spins around the block I had 80% of the map dialed in pretty close and the car was feeling awesome. The software is VERY easy to use and everything is intuitive. There aren't 5 million tables of settings you will never use or give a **** about and it never once gave me any errors. I can't WAIT to get this car on the dyno this week and make some real power out of it. I was a bit paniced about using the aem ems on the dyno, but the autronic is so logical and usable that I have no qualms about tuning it to some nice high boost levels.

In Summary... I hope to never sell another AEM EMS to an evo customer ever again. Autronic is the way to go and I guarantee that once you use it once, you will never go back. There is no comparison. That is all.

Peter Ehlers
Knife - Owner

EvO6-RS2 · Dec 13, 2004, 11:37 AM

I agree, put in Autronic PnP unit in my Evo 6 about a month now...it's GREAT!! Car runs much better than stock, no idle problems, a/c runs great...no hiccups....it was a night & day difference after minor tuning of the MAP sent from Autronic...my 1/4 mile improved nicely as well...from 13.2's to 12.7!

If you're thinking about buying a Autronic..DO IT!! I haven't tried AEM..but I was really impressed with the Autronic and the ease of tuning it.

Respec.

TampaTSi · Dec 14, 2004, 02:15 PM

is autotronic a standalone system, or does it modify inputs to the stock ecu?

rebelzx · Dec 14, 2004, 02:25 PM

Standalone.

TampaTSi · Dec 14, 2004, 03:03 PM

are there any systems out there for evos that use the stock ecu/sensors (and hence the stock fuel and timing maps) but that allow users to modify the WOT fuel/timing curves?

silverofs · Dec 19, 2004, 01:02 PM

like dsm link? nope i sure hope someone males that work wit the evo!
the autronic sounds pretty good the only thing i don't like is the no knock sensor sitiuation!

Curt@MrLed · Dec 19, 2004, 01:14 PM

Ive had my autronic for a year and a half {done by headdertech in L.I. ny} the only small glitch the evo pnp boards have is the, well whats known as the autronic hiccup. under normal driving the car will hiccup. Its only done it to me three times. otherwise its a great standalone

MayhemSi · Dec 21, 2004, 04:38 AM

Hiccup? never experienced it... any particular causes, or perhaps older firmware version? *Shrug* Also, the lack of a knock sensor will never worry a good tuner as there is always plenty of safe space between good power and detonation. Also, at higher boost levels, a knock sensor will just tell you when knock has already happened and a single good solid ping can destroy a cylinder so it is somewhat pointless. Though it is a nice feature, it is no substitute for a wideband and some damn good tuning.

**mitsuorder** · Dec 25, 2004, 06:44 AM

I want one

Blitzbaster02 · Dec 25, 2004, 10:59 AM

mine works good

KK · Dec 25, 2004, 11:19 AM

The Autronic is definitely an awesome ECU!

Sorry to hear about all the trouble you experienced with the AEM EMS. It sounds like you had a bad unit for some reason. I have an AEM EMS and haven't experienced any of the issues you mentioned. In the end, the best choice is the one your most comfortable/knowledgable with

Make sure to post your results with the Autronic.

Mark

DynoFlash · Dec 25, 2004, 11:56 AM

I have used both the Autronic and the AEM

The Autronic is a total nightmare and not a unit I would recoemend even to my worse ememy

On the other hand the AEM has been great and I really have enjoyed it and gotten good results with it

Of course any stand alone is not for every user and some customers are better off with a reflash or piggy back depending on thier particular application

**mitsuorder** · Dec 25, 2004, 12:22 PM

Keep in mind that the individual in the previous post used what was more than likely a very early release of this board and really coundn't figure it out Autronics who uses it and how is it . The gentleman that started this thread is actually a student of Ben Strader... wrote a little book on building and tuning high-performance electronic fuel injection, may have heard of it. He is undergoing some pretty intensive training with this system and using his car as a test bed for his products, not trying to sell it...

GOT EVO · Dec 31, 2004, 04:22 PM

I just got autroinic. still waiting on the autronic boost solenoid so i havent installed it yet. but i cant wait till next week

DynoFlash · Dec 31, 2004, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitsuorder

Keep in mind that the individual in the previous post used what was more than likely a very early release of this board and really coundn't figure it out Autronics who uses it and how is it . The gentleman that started this thread is actually a student of Ben Strader... wrote a little book on building and tuning high-performance electronic fuel injection, may have heard of it. He is undergoing some pretty intensive training with this system and using his car as a test bed for his products, not trying to sell it...

Actually - by the time I was done with my Autronic experiments I had it fairly well figured out - well enough to set some track records with it. I speak from experience with both products when I say that I greatly prefer the AEM unit - IMHO it is the best choice. And - I dont sell any of them.