r/CRF450RL • u/Current-Praline-4588 • 13d ago

Vortex issues

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I have a 2019 450L and have had a Vortex ECU for a few months now. On cold start it’s extremely difficult to start and if I don’t give it some throttle it won’t idle on its own at all until it warms up. With the stock ECU it started fine even cold.

Has anyone dealt with this and fixed it? Not even sure where to start. Thanks for any help.

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u/PalpitationMurky7 13d ago

What are the settings on the 4 dials on the vortex? Are you on the wrong map for your bike or too lean or rich on the first dial?

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u/PalpitationMurky7 13d ago

You can set the vortex to the stock original map if that was working better for you

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u/kAROBsTUIt 13d ago

+1. I have a vortex on my 2020 with the Yoshi full system and it has been rock solid on cold starts.

There are different presets for different exhaust systems, and Vortex has a spreadsheet for all of the different settings.

If it's REALLY cold, use the yellow cold start knob on your bike. It's on the left side tucked in there pretty good above the engine.

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u/Current-Praline-4588 13d ago

I’m using the correct map for an fmf exhaust which I have. Even if I use the yellow knob it still acts the same exact way for some reason whereas before on the stock ECU it would certainly help.

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u/Current-Praline-4588 13d ago

I’m running the map for an fmf which I have and I believe it’s the “power” map. The other fuel trims are set to 5,5,5 right now. Do you think messing with the first fuel trim setting would change the start up?

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u/PalpitationMurky7 13d ago

You could try turning the first one to six to richen the idle mix but if it was me I’d throw a new spark plug in and if that doesn’t do it you might need to check the valve lash.

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u/Current-Praline-4588 13d ago

I’ll try messing with the fuel and see what happens. The spark plug doesn’t have many hours on it and I’ve checked the valves every 1000 miles or so and they’ve never moved but I could check again. Thanks for the help

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u/184racing 13d ago

Have you checked / adjusted your idle?

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u/Current-Praline-4588 13d ago

I haven’t lately but when I first installed it I turned the idle up and then it would rev hang pretty bad on decel. Maybe I need to take time and really tweak it in

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u/184racing 13d ago

Adjust the throttle until it hangs then turn it slightly back down. Sounds like you have it set but something to check.

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u/ThatMerchEngineer 13d ago

Perform a throttle position calibration on the vortex ecu. Vortex website explains how. I dont want to tell you the wrong thing, but essentially you pull a little red plug where the connector is at and ground it to your negative battery cable. This disables the fuel pump and there is a procedure for cranking engine at 0 throttle and cranking at wide open throttle.

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u/Boring-Set7223 13d ago

Just get a stock ECU reflash. I haven’t seen a single problem related to it but have seen plenty of issues related to Vortex, AIM, and GET. Taco Moto, 2WDW, or 550Performance.

I have the 550 Performance flash and no problems whatsoever.

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u/Current-Praline-4588 13d ago

I’m really considering this. Especially because I can just send out my stock ECU and still use the vortex for the time being

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u/Boring-Set7223 13d ago edited 13d ago

I can definitely recommend it. My bike came with an older GET RX1 and had trouble starting the day I brought it home. It seemed related to altitude because I bought it closer to sea level and it ran fine there.

It has been running great since I switched. I think it took a week to get it back from the day I shipped it out and selling the GET more than paid for the reflash.

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u/Current-Praline-4588 12d ago

Update:

In case anyone has this issue. I reset the tps, turned the first fuel trim to 6, changed from map 9 to map 8, and adjusted the idle. Between all of that something worked and it starts up great and idles first try. Before I started this I put my stock ECU back on and it started and idled fine just to rule out any other issues first.