% engine load

I'm new here and I used the search bar, but I can't seem to find any information on what the % engine load on my 2006 V6 should be. I have an ultragauge and it usually reads around 44% at idle. Does anyone know if that normal?

 

gauge is fucked, not the truck

 

Itmdepends on how it figures the load %. It might mean at you are at 44% of the expected vacuum of your engine at WOT, or that you are producing 44% of availible torque. Its not real a measure pf the amount of power that your engine can make when run wide open, its just a number based on a formula fed by the data from different sensors.

If all other things on the ultra gauge are normal or varifiable by other means, I wouldnt sweat it. You might find that using MAP sensor, or MAF reading will give you a better idea of the amount of load on your engine at a given moment.

 

I'm getting poor gas mileage and I'm trying to figure out what a lot of the readings on the gage mean and what they should be. What should the MAF reading be?

 

Thats not normal, the gauge has to be off.

I was hauling a trailer a month ago with pallets of grass.

My gauge was reading 80% engine load - i doubt at idle its 40%

 

MAF is the mass air flow sensor.

Getting poor mileage and having a wierd reading like that makes me think temp sensor.

Does your truck idle high? And have you noticed any issues with the starting or any issues bogging down when slowing?

Also, what is poor mileage?

 

Do you have an ultragauge? What is your load at idle?

It doesn't idle high. Usually has a little bit of a surging idle on cold starts and the time that it takes to start isn't always the same. Sometimes it fires right up and sometimes it takes a couple extra seconds. I haven't noticed any bogging down when slowing. Sometimes the rpms seem to go down a little while accelerating, but not because it shifted. I get 12mpg in town at the most.

 

Not really related, but the Edge tuner on my Cummins say 7% load at idle.

 

The "calculated load" reported by the ECU is not is not a measure of the engine's current output vs. its maximum possible output. It is rather directly related to engine speed and is based on input from various sensors, but most notably the intake air mass/flow sensor (MAF, MAP, AFM) Other inputs (intake air temperature, throttle position, coolant temperature) are used to refine things--however the calculation is basically:

[current air flow] / [maximum air flow @ current rpm] -- I.e. it indicates percent of peak available torque, not the engine's maximum torque.

The "current rpm" part is important. For example at 650 rpm the maximum amount of air a 4.0 L (0.141 cu. ft.) engine could possibly consume is 45.8 cfm, however due to practical considerations the actual value is less than that, around 40 cfm (@ 88% volumetric efficiency [VE]).

So if at idle the engine is drawing in 17.5 cfm the calculated load would be 17.5/40 = 43.75%.

If that 17.5 cfm were considered as a percentage of maximum air flow @ 5500 rpm (310 cfm @ 80% VE) then the "calculated load" would be 5.6%.

Bottom line, the 44% reported by your UltraGauge is likely accurate, just as Artruck said above--keeping the engine "ticking over" is consuming 44% of the torque available at 650 rpm.

My '03 Mustang V8 used to read 28% load at idle, confused the crap out of me at first...

 

Yes i do.

I don't recall, sorry. I can find out tomorrow

 

Op, have you checked for vacuum leaks. Your vehicle is 11ish years old. This can alter load.

 

ever cleaned the throttle body & MAF?

 

IMHO
bottom line, the problem is the ultragauge

my friggin scangauges on yaris, 4runner, and trucky, all report a value for engine load,
and it is derived from several canned parameters, and is a best-guess type thing

and on all vehicles, it always shows 10 or below at idle, and goes to 89 or higher WOT uphills

OP ultragauge showing 44 at idle means (I have to guess) it is not exactly set up for the vehicle...or yes maybe
one of the sensors is completely flaky... but if a sensor were that bad, I imagine you'd be throwing a MIL as well

be sure the number of cylinders and displacement and gas/diesel settings
and also no-throttle offset (DFCO) is set up correctly on the ultragauge


on ecomodders forums they also report scangauge load being accurate and ultragauge load being all over the place on toyotas

 

My Ultragauge Blue shows around 30-35 "Load" at idle. Turn on the A/C and it bumps up 5.

 

No A/C, idling. Cams cause my engine to pull less vacuum at idle. Thus showing a "higher" load. Without cams, it reads between 18 - 21 in/Hg.

 

I messed up my numbers. posting like a dumbass from memory

your UG may be fine

I just rechecked my numbs on SG on my 2013 v6

LOD

44 on cold start and initial idle in P and ac on

drops to 30 in N still warming up, ac off
put in P, goes to 33
after some warmup, 28 in N, 30 in P, and ac on or off doesn't really do much,
it can make it go to 31 then back to 30 or 28, or do nothing when clutch engages

I did not wait till the water temp went to middle...I just did this quick re-check and cam back to post

so, anyway, 44 on idle can be fine depends on other eng params

 

The throttle body and MAF were cleaned less than a year ago. I asked toyota if they checked for vacuum leaks, I guess they don't. Would also like the fuel pressure checked. Might have to figure out a good way to test it myself. This is all good info, a little hard for me to grasp. So does it make sense that the load jumps up some when the rmps go down because I put it in drive but keep my foot on the brake?

 

load on my goes to 99% if I step on it hard in traffic

load goes from 29 to 48 then back down to 20 or lower if I
sit still in neutral and mash the gas and release it

so, the LOD is def calculated by several parameters and when you
are idling...it shows some wacky numbers. can show lower for a moment if you
blip it, which doesn't make sense.

maybe it is calculating load for a given engine run state and not rpm based whatsoever

 

Of course, by doing that you have added load--the "drag" of the automatic transmission--to the engine, that's why the rpms drop. Keep in mind that just running at idle (with the throttle essentially closed) means the engine has to "work" to suck in air; and that working at sucking in that air (i.e. creating manifold vacuum) is "load" on the engine.

To repeat, the Calculated Load reported by PIDs $04 or $43 is not a percentage of whatever maximum torque the engine can produce, but rather a percentage of what it could produce at the current rpm. It is a number used by the ECU to determine appropriate fueling, ignition timing, etc. for the engine's current operation. It is useful for hardcore tuning, rewriting tune parameters/tables/functions/etc.; and can of some interest under heavy load at wide or full throttle operation--but other than that is is a largely useless value...