For EFI to work properly, several different pieces of information have be known and compared, so that an appropriate amount

of fuel may be metered into the engi ne. This information includes the amount of air being pulled into the engine, th e speed of the engine (rpm), the temperature of the air as it comes in (since co oler air is denser), the temperature of the engine (measured as coolant temp), t he position of the throttle plate, and the amount of oxygen in the exhaust. The cast of characters The 22R-TE (and 22RE) EFI system consists of the following parts: air flow meter (AFM) temperature sensors throttle position sensor (TPS) oxygen sensor fuel injectors fuel pressure electronic control unit (ECU) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Air Flow Meter The air flow meter, or AFM, is an analog device that measures the amount of air co ming into the engine. On stock EFI setups, the AFM sits on top of the air filter box. If you look inside the AFM, you see a big vane, also called the flapper do or. Air presses against this vane as it comes into the engine. The greater the v olume of air coming into the engine, the more this door opens. Attached to the t op of this vane is an armature that also moves as the vane moves. The armature s lides across a traceboard, or resistor ladder, that acts as a potentiometer, met ering an electrical signal that gets sent to the EFI computer (ECU). It may sound complicated, but in fact, this is a very simple device. The 22R-TE AFM sends a voltage signal to the ECU that varies from about 3v at idle to about 8.5v at WOT. More air = more voltage. The rate at which this door swings open i s controlled by a flat-wound spring. The tension on this spring is set via a bla ck, plastic gear. When this gear is turned clockwise (CW), tension on the spring is increased. More tension = harder to open = less signal for a given volume of air = leaner operation. It is generally agreed that each tooth on these AFMs re presents about a 2% change in the electrical signal sent by the AFM to the ECU, so, in theory, a change of 5 gear teeth would equal a 10% change in fuel deliver y. It is not this linear a process, but this is the theory, anyway. In addition to metering the incoming air, the AFM also contains an air temp sens or and a mechanical switch for the fuel pump relay. For more info on AFMs, click here... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Temp sensors Temperature plays a critical role in EFI. Gasoline does not readily combust when it is in liquid form, but it burns quite easily when it is aerated/vaporized. H eat is the primary control on vaporization. When the engine is cold, it takes a lot more fuel get thing going. This is why our EFI engines have a cold start inj ector, so more fuel is made available when the engine is first started. Carbuera ted engines have a choke for the same reason -- more fuel in the air/fuel mix. S o keep this point in the back of your mind as you work through this text: cold s ensors cause the ECU to meter in additional fuel.

There are two temp sensors that play a role in determining fuel delivery. The fi rst is the incoming air temp sensor, described above. There's not a lot to say a bout this: this is a variable resistor (thermistor) whose resistance varies in r esponse to temperature. Air temperature Resistance -4*F 10k-20k ohms 32*F 4k-7k ohms 68*F 2k-3k ohms 104*F 0.9k-1.3k ohms 140*F 0.4k - 0.7k ohms The second temp sensor is a water temp sensor. EFI engines must be warmed up to function properly. There is an inverse relationship between engine heat and fuel demand, and cold engines need significantly more fuel than warm ones. Obviously , if an engine gets too hot, the fuel mix combusts TOO readily, and detonation o ccurs. Consistent temperature is critical to EFI engine operation! Which is why you should never remove your thermostat to attempt to cure an overheating proble m: an engine that never warms up properly will use too much fuel, and there are a lot of problems, like accelerated ring and bearing wear, that may result. Some people will try to trick the engine into thinking it is colder than it actu ally is by placing a potentiometer in series with water temperature sender signa l. Since the computer is expecting a 0.5v-to-2.5v signal from this sensor, it's possible to make the computer meter more fuel if the resistance of this input is changed. In my opinion, this is a band-aid approach to engine tuning; don't use this method to coax more fuel from your ECU. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) The throttle position sensor, as the name implies, tells the ECU how open the thro ttle is. It's not a particularly magical device: a plate is attached to the thro ttle shaft, and as the shaft turns this plate turns, and resistance is varied on some contacts. The ECU uses this to determine when the engine is idling, at par t throttle, and at WOT. TPS sensors can be pesky little things. On the 22RE/RTE, the bottom-most adjustm ent screw can be hard to reach with the radiator hose and thermostat waterneck i nstalled. Also, these screws can become a real pain in the ass to loosen after 1 00k miles, even if you're using a right angled Phillips screw driver. I went and replaced these Phillips screws with metric Allen head bolts. This makes them a little easier to access and turn with everything in place, although you may have to cut a wrench down to make it fit the space between the TPS and the waterneck . In addition to being hard to adjust, these pieces can also fail, or partially fa il. The book gives a procedure for testing them, which I won't rehash here (anot her chide to buy the factory service manual if you haven't already -- it makes l ife A LOT easier). One aspect of the TPS that doesn't get a lot of press, but sh ould be looked at whenever you are experiencing odd acceleration/decelleration b ehavior, is the return spring, visible on the backside of the TPS. Like all spri ngs, this spring can lose tension over time. It should snap back after the TPS i s twisted. If yours doesn't, it's probably time to replace it. These little pupp ies go for about $110 from the dealer... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oxygen sensor The oxygen sensor measures the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gasses. The O2 se nsor is a component intended to ask as a system check: it analyzes the gasses af ter they've left the engine, and informs the ECU is the mixture is too rich or l ean. The ECU then makes some adjustments based on this information. Your O2 sens or is your friend: make sure that it working properly, and change it when it fai ls. And it WILL fail, especially if you begin to play with the air/fuel ratio. On the engines using the stock CT20 turbo, the O2 sensor is a single wire sensor located on the turbo exhaust elbow. It is expensive -- as much as $130 -- but i t is also very accurate, and pretty tough. If you are still using the stock CT20 turbo, I would strongly consider keeping the stock sensor because of its accura cy and reliability. However, if you're on a hard budget or have switched to an aftermarket turbo, yo u can switch this sensor if you are willing to do a little welding. There are ma ny aftermarket O2 sensors, but not all are created the same. Personally, I think the NTK sensors are very good and worth the few extra bucks. Get a good four wi re NTK sensor -- Monarch Products has a good price on them -- and wire it up (th e four wires represent two heater wires, a signal wire, and a signal ground.) These sensors thread into a special bung, available from many muffler shops, whi ch will need to be welded into your exhaust system before the catalytic converte r. Even though these new sensors are heated, you should have the bung placed as close to the turbo as it possible. You will need to run an ignition switched 12V lead and a ground lead to the new sensor, and run its signal lead to the signal lead that came from the old O2 sensor. If you are running the stock CT20, you w ill also need to leave the old sensor in place, unplugged, because of the way it attaches to the turbo outlet elbow. This change is well worth the effort if you r old O2 sensor is bad...and these things do go bad with greater frequency than anyone would like. It is very easy to destroy an O2 sensor with a rich mixture, something that can happen in the course of tuning your motor. There is a lot more to be said about O2 sensors. I would strongly encourage read ing through the following web sites: A good general primer on O2 sensors: http://atlantis.austin.apple.com/people.pages/Jimbo/o2info.html A good technical primer on O2 sensors, including wideband O2 sensors: http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/O2_sensor.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fuel injectors Fuel injectors are really just simple solenoid devices that allow pressurized fu el to be squirted into your intake manifold in a fine spray for a predetermined period of time. Really -- that's all they do. An injector's size is measured in how much volume of fuel it can flow in a given period of time. US Domestic injectors are usually measured in pounds per hour ( lbs/hr), while injectors for import engines are usually measured in cubic centim eters per minute (cc/min). You can convert between the two:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------To convert cc/min into lbs/hr, divide cc/min by 10.5. For example, the stock 295 cc/min injectors works out to 28 lbs/hr. To convert lbs/hr to cc/min, multiply pounds per hour by 10.5.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Injectors come in two types: low impedance (typically <3 ohms) and high impedanc e (typically >12 ohms), and two subtypes: "peak and hold", and "saturated." The 22RTE has low impedance (1.7 ohms) peak and hold injectors. You should never, ever mix "peak and hold" injectors with "saturated" injectors on the same circuit, or you will burn out your injector driver. However, it is w orth noting that A peak and hold injector driver is capable of driving saturated injectors of the same impedance, as long as they are the only type of injectors on the circuit. The length of time an injector is open and squirting fuel is called the "pulse w idth," and it is measured in milliseconds (MS). As rpms increase, an injector ca n only be held open for so long before it needs to be held open again for the ne xt engine revolution -- this is called its "duty cycle." Even though a fuel inje ctor's flow rate is measured at its maximum duty cycle (100%), fuel injectors sh ould never be operated at 100% duty cycle. Instead, a typical maximum duty cycle is around 80%. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fuel pressure Fuel pressure plays a big role in the operation of a fuel injection system. Beca use the injector is essentially a gate valve for fuel delivery, increasing fuel pressure can allow you to cram more fuel into the intake tract for a given injec tor pulse width. Typical fuel pressure for a stock 22RTE engine is 43 psi. The m aximum fuel pressure that the stock injectors can handle is about 70 psi -- abov e that and the injector begins to fight the fuel pressure to get its valve open, and fuel deliver actually decreases in volume. Fuel pressure is determined by both the fuel pump and the fuel pressure regulato r. The stock fuel pressure regulator has a hose that connects it to intake manif old vacuum/pressure, so that as manifold pressure rises, fuel pressure also rise s, typically by a 1:1 ratio. The pump determines the overall volume of fuel that the system is capable of delivering to the injectors. The size of the fuel line s can also be a limiting factor if fuel demand is significantly greater than sto ck. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Electronic Control Unit (ECU) The ECU is the brains of the system, and the place where all of the input from t he AFM, TPS, O2 sensor, and coolant temp sensor signals come together. The stock 22RTE computer is a digital TCCS type (Toyota Computer Controlled System), whic h means that it uses a number of internal spark and fuel maps to determine how l

ong to pulse the injectors, and how much spark advance to give to the ignition s ystem. The general operation of the ECU is pretty straightforward: the ECU gets input f rom the AFM, distributor, TPS, O2, and coolant temp sensor. It parses all of thi s data and chunks it down to a number, and then compares this number to a value in a table (or several numbers to values in several tables...) and then pulses t he injectors and fires the ignitor appropriately. Under certain circumstances, t he ECU uses feedback from the O2 sensor to bring the air/fuel ratio back to ~14. 7:1. Just to make sure the engine doesn't inadvertently self-destruct, the ECU has a few safety parameters built in, including an "over boost" fuel cut parameter and (reportedly) a top speed parameter. I've never hit the speed parameter (doing 1 12+ miles per hour in a pickup truck never seemed like a good idea to me, althou gh it might have when I was younger ;-), but I've hit the over boost fuel cut be fore, and it's no fun for you or the engine (suddenly unloading the pistons at 5 000 rpm is kinda tough on 'em). The secret to the fuel cut is that it's determin ed by TPS angle and injector pulse width (how long each injector needs to fire). If you use bigger injectors and fire them less often, you can avoid fuel cut... but you may need a larger AFM to pull this off. The TCCS system was fairly advanced for Toyota in the mid '80's (by contrast, ea rly EFI Celicas used an analog EFI system that is less precise but, oddly enough , more tunable...), a necessary step for them to meet their emissions and fuel e conomy goals. For the enthusiast, it is something of a stumbling block, but it i s still capable of supporting an engine capable of making about 250 hp. Most imp ortantly, though, is that it is very easy to live with on a daily basis -- somet hing that can't be said for a poorly tuned aftermarket computer. Before you deci de that the stock ECU has to go, be sure you are capable of tuning the box you i ntend to replace it with. If you can't tune what you intend to use yourself, you just might be better off sticking with what you already have!