Yea it means key in slot, ignition off. To turn it on, push the start button without your foot on the brake. That turns everything on, but won’t start the car unless you have the brake pedal depressed.
That’s good info about the terminal positions, I was not aware about that.

 

i'd like to say my f'd up 3/4" start of the throttle is fixed by resetting it but it either doesnt work on an N18 or literally nothing needed adjusted because nothing changed.
did it twice. same thing.
first 3/4" of the throttle is doing something like opening the throttle body flap but not increasing fuel or vacuum. car will almost,, almost, die then come out of it.
warn it doesn't do it.

 

That could also be a result of resetting the adaptations. There is the possibility that it had adjusted to run smooth and has to readjust? Just a guess. Try this for the throttle body reset, I think it’s just a bit different, but seemed to work for me.
https://www.rpmmotorsport.net/pages/...aptation-reset

I have found several articles or whatnot about doing this. Some say it works great, and some claim no noticeable difference at all. I have also seen several different versions of the steps to do it. I can’t tell you for sure which one is right, but this one seemed to have worked for me.

 

Yeah i am not really getting anything immediate from it.
still have the same issues but i will let it go a few days before i really decide.
but i know for a fact that the CIA vs. Stock Air the stock airbox allowed for a more even, less volatile idle.
for a tune that is supposed to be used with a CIA, its a pretty crap thing.
everything was fine starting and idle wise until i mounted the flashed ecu, and its been crap ever since without a single code, and i find that highly suspect.
mario offered to reflash or even flash with a stage 3 manic, but my worry about the Manic is that it may or may not make it worse as people have reported going from Manic to RPM and things getting better, smoother, i dont need things to get worse.
Wed the car goes in for a smoke test so we will see about any leaks....

 

Omfg, i had a huge post typed and my token had expired and it doesnt save what you typed... grrrr

smoke test - passed
fule pressure - passed
Fuel mixture - pass
timing, and more - passed
only thing even noteworthy was that the crank case was pulling a TINY bit more vacuum than normal.
they said its possible, although unlikely that the crank case vent diaphragm (on the valve cover) is torn (similar to the recirculating valve diaphram can get torn ad leak, mine isn’t) but its very doubtful or i would have more issues, codes, loss of boost, fuel mixture issues and codes in general. (Usually)
they are pretty positive the tune is doing it, since everything was fine prior to the tune, and immediately after the ECU was put in i started having issues.
but they are not even really worried about the small amount of extra vacuum as its not throwing codes, stored or otherwise, and all other readings are fine.
i said if we need to replace it do it, its an easy thing on top of the valve cover (there is also something on the inside of the valve cover i think but they were not talking about that, but they said its not needed. But admit they didnt open it up to check.
the cover, the clicks can break very easily so would require a new valve cover if it did, worse case.

so, i came home, put on the stock air box, now dont forget this last weekend i reset adaptations, and reset the throttle.
fired it up, idle was good though still a little odd, not 100% smooth but not doing what it always does.
took it for a drive and yeah,, totally different car.
boost is BOOST, it actually takes some effort in the throttle to make 10, 15psi then 20psi. But it hits and its different.
full boost, i didnt really hit it too hard because the thing was acting really tough, i was actually a little set back at how differently it was acting compared to even the last time i had the stock air box on. (I have never reset adaptations til last weekend and I really wish i had)
maybe i will get a chance to get on it hard the next few days.

mario offered last time we spoke to reflash it or reflash with the a Manic stage 3, but to be honest, with the problems i have ready about with manic, and yes it may be N14 related, i do not want to introduce trouble, i want to correct it.
but i think i am def. going to send it back to him for a reflash or flash it to a stage 2
for all i know there is something that the stage 3 doesn’t like about my mini and living in Iowa.
in Iowa barometric pressure, temp, humidity changes ALOT i mean every few days to every day.
even now we are hitting 60’s overnight and mornings and very nice low humidity days.

its fantastic to know i have no leaks, but what to do about the slightly more vacuum in the crank case...
change the vent gasket? Screw it and just buy a whole new valve cover (the ones I’ve seen aren’t too pricey @ oembimmerparts.com. Or let a reflash see if it changes anything.
def. Wait until i can talk to Mario about a flash before i do anything.

So thats where i am tonight,, tomorrow morning may be different, thats how frustrating this journey has been for me.
every day is more of the same, but with twists.

 

so things have levelled off... but here is the thing.

so after resetting adaptations, things got a little odd then i wiped it again and it leveled off...
sent it to the shop, no leaks, nothing wrong, only a minor excess of vacuum in the crank case, still wondering what i should do with that.

but i put the stock air intake back on there with the Wix air filter, which i will be honest, i am pretty positive that thing allows more air, but i havent run any MAF tests on it yet like i did the K&N cone filter.

so i bought a K&N panel filter, which allowed much more air, by mouth or by my compressor there was noticeably more air coming through it than the cone.
i even bluew the excess oil out of it so as not to have any possibly get sucked through.

now for the odd,, maybe good...

Throttle - throttle is more like stock, you really have to lay into it to get max boost of 21psi. and she hits good too. it does want to idle back on boost somewhere around 3-4psi when you redline it but i sort of expect this, it cant and wont hold that bosot forever.
i can now floor the throttle, i never needed to and was afraid too prior, half throttle would give max boost.
now i can ram it to the flow and go...
but i cant tell if this is the tune or the S model with JCW turbo on it.
it feels like a stock engine and turbo with a kick.
she's really letting the tires loose too when i get into it. it wasnt really doing that before for some reason.

it runs good, just seems to have backed off all the 1/2 throttle max boost i was complaining about and now running more like i would expect, you have to get into it before she opens up.
i dont mind this at all, it gives me much more control with the throttle and boost than before.

but i have no idea what anyone elses stage 2 and 3 is like, and has anyone noticed a big change to the responsiveness of the engine and boost after resetting adaptations.
more over, what is a normal stage 2 and 3 supposed to go.
no one, not even mario will tell me and it really pisses me off because all i get is a bunch of gray matter answers that only lead to more questions that dont get answered.

i have emailed mario several times about what i should expect and never get a single reply and i am pretty pissed off right now about his complete lack of any technical data about this tune.
its nothing more than a canned tune, it doesnt work for every car as ever car, in every city and every state runs differently based on simple atmospheric conditions.

all i need to know now is,,, is what i described, foot to the floor or atleast 3/4 throttle what i should be expecting with a stage 3 tune..
and if not.. how can the car run properly as its max boosting but not opening the throttle body, giving enough fuel, etc..

 

so i wanted to chime in with an update....

so i went and grabbed the K&N stock box filter, blew out any excess oil (wasnt nearly has gooped up as the cone filter), and put the stock airbox back in.
not alot different than the Mann filter i was using, but there is a 1000% difference between the cone CIA and the stock filter and its something i can not believe is so drastic. though i understand air flow and what may be demanded from the tune, i dont understand why the CIA is so crazy compared to the stock.

boost on the CIA is nothing...... EVERYTHING.. all at once.
boost on the stock air box is nothing,,, something.. more, more, EVERYTHING and you can control it alot more with the throttle.
i can floor it spin the tires and tear things up but it requires i lay into the throttle which i dont mind.
with the CIA it rarely spun the tires even max boosting, and i never went full throttle with it because i would always get turbo fluttler on acceleration at the top end, and it just didnt really sound good... another point of contention of mine that no one can explain.
with the K&N CIA, which places the MAF direct behind the air filter things are what i have described in this thread, sporatic, spastic, boosting WAY too early and just dumping boost to the max, there is a VERY thin line between max boost and not.
flipping the CIA pipe around so the MAF is in its original location its not as bad, still boosts too much too early, and all at once but its not an all or nothing type boost.

again, too much too early means RPM'S are way too low to be handling full boost, and its barely 1/2 the throttle, so what is the system supposed to do as you push to full throttle with the extra fuel and more open throttle body?? it doesnt play nice i can tell you that.

using the Wix stock filter or K&N stock filter, everything is different, night and day and i think the way it was meant to be.
boost is pretty controlled and you have to lay into the throttle to make it fully boost and you can easily put the peddle to the floor, spin the tires and really get up and go.
you can hold boost at 10, 15 and 20psi without an issue.
but its still different, i am not sure if i am starving the turbo a bit, or what, its like it needs more air but not what the CIA does to it, i dont know... :\ maybe more fuel?
i like this better than the CIA, but like the turbo swoosh (not a huge deal though) and its keeping air intake temps lower with the stop ait box, but it is not pulling the horsepower a stage 3 should and neither is the torque. (on either intake)
the throttle is FAR FAR less aggressive with the stock air box too, which doesnt make sense to me unless the Stage 1 2 and 3 throttle responsiveness addition that is done, is purely based on air intake, to which the CIA may be offering more air, i cant tell,

idle is better on the stock air box but still not right, jumpy, lower than it should be at times, and still doesnt want to stay running unless the car comes out of vacuum when you start it up.the CIA is much worse though.
meaning, when you start the car in the morning, the idle is not holding once you let out the clutch, the minute you touch the throttle it acts like its going to die and if you dont give it some gas when you put it in gear, and release the clutch it will drop the idle to below 500rpms and almost die. then jump back up because you pushed the clutch in. you have to flutter the throttle to get it going. which just makes me feel like i am driving some piece of **** 4 banger that wont stay running when its cold.

so yeah. the flash did that, 100% it was fine until the day i plugged the ECU in and it immediately didnt idle right

i cant get true live readings using both to be able to tell.
i honestly dont know what to log to verify this. its part of the MAF sensor readings but not sure what to log.

after resetting adaptations with the Schwaben/foxwell scanner things were better, but again, i have ridiculous doubts that this Stage 3 is making the power it claims, maybe 200-225, but no way in hell is it pulling 260hp.
and things change so drastically from day to day.
weather in Iowa is all over the place, pressure, humidity, and air temps change daily, and by large amounts, and its not allowing the car to really lock in to any solid setting i think.

but i can tell you with absolute certainty i am not happy at all with this stage 3 it truly has been a waste of $800 plus the money for the mods, it has been nothing but a fight, and wasted money to prove to everyone that there is nothing wrong with my car (the mechanics are now pretty much "god paul what now, there is nothing wrong with your car", and still cant convince the one person that matters that the flash and files loaded to the ECU are not correct. even still today he doesnt know who is talking to if i call, so i have no doubt that there was some questionable settings loaded that were not for my car. minutes before flashing the ecu, with me on the phone he thought i was someone else and was going to do my ECU wrong...so was it done right.. i doubt it.

still need to send it back to get reflashed and guarantee that its flashed properly and for my car, and where i live, otherwise all i did was paid for a canned tune that is no better than the crap boxes you plug into the obdII and pray to god it works for your car.

so things are not all peachy in my car and i am almost done with it, this has not gone the way it should have, i did everything i was asked, and still get nothing but a spastic crazy car that doesnt do what i was told it would do by modding it with the requirements asked of me.

 

Last year I performed an experiment on my car by removing the air box and all the intake tubes. I went from the turbo to a reducer/enlarger silicone tube to which I attached the MAF and than a K&N air filter on the intake side of the MAF. MY MCS hated it and just did not boost at all. I had no other modifications on the car other than that air intake shortening. Your issue could be that the MAF data being sent to the ECU is not to its liking so it acts weird. And also as you mentioned it could be that your tune is wonky and makes your car run bad. Unfortunately its the game we play with the minis. The modification scene isn't nearly as big as lets say BMWs and Hondas for example.