The cam controller on an Elite uses PID gains to move the actual cam position onto the target. Tuned well, the cam snaps to target and stays there. Tuned badly, it lags behind, hunts back and forth, or overshoots. Work through the gains in this order, logging target and actual cam angle together the whole time.
- Zero everything. Set Proportional, Integral and Derivative all to 0 so you're starting from a known point.
- Raise Proportional in 5% steps. Stop when the cam angle starts to oscillate slightly around its position. Don't worry that it isn't reaching the target yet: with P alone, it won't. That leftover gap is normal.
- Raise Integral in 5% steps. Integral is what closes that remaining gap. Keep adding it until the oscillation you saw in step 2 disappears. At this point the cam should settle on target.
- Only add Derivative if you need it. Derivative can tame overshoot when the cam swings past target on a big change. If adding it doesn't make a visible improvement, put it back to 0.
Our advice
Test at more than one rpm and oil temperature. Cam phasers respond differently with cold, thick oil than with hot oil, so a setup that's perfect on a warm idle can still hunt at other points.
For the full cam setup, see cam control on the Elite. For a plain-English look at what each gain does, read PID control mapping. The same thinking applies to other closed loop systems, such as closed loop boost tuning.
