ECU Tuning

[APTUNING]

I have been commenting on ECU tuning in a number of threads and it has been suggested I start this thread to put all in the one place.

First it is important to understand what ECU tuning/remapping is v's the alternatives

Tuning boxes - vary very much in price and of course quality the old adage you get what you pay for. The tuning box sits between the engine and the ECU and changes the signals, in most cases simply forcing in more fuel. The best tuning box I have come across is the Steinbaeur which is as close to tuning an ECU as you can get with a tuning box.

Factory files - often tuners will talk about editing your file when actually what they do is flash an entirely different file on to the ECU. The results from these can be very good to hoo hum. First clue this is the tuner installing a program in one visit. So often hit and miss but as long as you have money back guarantee then all good. Just make sure it is 30 days not 7.

Tuning the original program, this is the best way and surprisingly not the most expensive. editing the original file gives you more parameters to play with so will always out perform tuning boxes ( assuming both are tuned to safe levels ). It also means almost zero chance of other conflicts, lights on dash etc.

So that is the summary to date feel free to ask questions

 

[longy509]

Hi mate what sort of end result can u get and what happens after a ecu reset

 

[APTUNING]

What model and year do you have?

 

[longy509]

2011 rx king cab is it possible to get anymore low down take off power

 

[APTUNING]

Nice - Yes more torque down lower is very possible you would also find the delivery of power to be a lot smoother. on your rx factory power 169bhp after tune 200bhp+ factory torque 403 after tune 485+

 

[Leprechaun]

There is a theory that Nissan detuned the D40 (Straight off idle) because of the premature clutch failures that were occurring.

 

[APTUNING]

now that is interesting and something to be wary of if we were to tune

 

[joshman]

so my understanding of the "standard tune" is basically a "best fit" to meet emission and safety standards. which to me means that there is A LOT of room for improvement, from adding more fuel down low to fine tuning the timing to maximise and efficiently use the fuel that is being poured into the cylinder.

so i would assume that to do a full tune-up job you would in fact need the vehicle to measure and further retard the timing in order to take full advantage of the available gains here. unless of course you already have a "magic number" to straight up input into the program? for instance, you might take the CAS signal and instead of the original program starting teh injection cycle at at 20deg, you might tell it to open at 17.7deg, thus by the time the cylinder has the proper fuel/air ratio, the cylinder is in an optimal position to most effectively use the ignition of the fuel.

further more i would assume that you also have the ability to tap into all the values and change them to suit a more efficient and powerful tune.

the next question i have would be, can you disengage the EGR from within the ECU program?
how would your tune handle popular engine mods like like EGR blanks, Snorkels, 80series airbox mods and chips? With chips i assume that you would need to know the make and workings of the chips?

what about different levels of tune? or selectable tunes?

sorry about all the questions, but i'm curious, and if i don;t ask these questions, i'm sure someone else will. i'm very intrigued by the prospect of what you're offering.

 

[APTUNING]

Joshman

Thank you very much for your post a lot of great questions there. Rather than answer partly I have forwarded to my tech team as I do not (but should ) know all of what you ask. Keep them coming, the more understanding people have of the theory the more people will see the value when compared to other options

 

[APTUNING]

so my understanding of the "standard tune" is basically a "best fit" to meet emission and safety standards. which to me means that there is A LOT of room for improvement, from adding more fuel down low to fine tuning the timing to maximise and efficiently use the fuel that is being poured into the cylinder.

so i would assume that to do a full tune-up job you would in fact need the vehicle to measure and further retard the timing in order to take full advantage of the available gains here. unless of course you already have a "magic number" to straight up input into the program? for instance, you might take the CAS signal and instead of the original program starting teh injection cycle at at 20deg, you might tell it to open at 17.7deg, thus by the time the cylinder has the proper fuel/air ratio, the cylinder is in an optimal position to most effectively use the ignition of the fuel.

further more i would assume that you also have the ability to tap into all the values and change them to suit a more efficient and powerful tune.

the next question i have would be, can you disengage the EGR from within the ECU program?
how would your tune handle popular engine mods like like EGR blanks, Snorkels, 80series airbox mods and chips? With chips i assume that you would need to know the make and workings of the chips?

what about different levels of tune? or selectable tunes?

sorry about all the questions, but i'm curious, and if i don;t ask these questions, i'm sure someone else will. i'm very intrigued by the prospect of what you're offering.

Well I got my response much earlier than expected

Correct there is a lot of room for improvement. Exact numbers are kept secret but as you have eluded to there are a lot of parameters that can be tweaked.

We do not need the vehicle as we are not tuning a racing car where you are pushing to the absolute limits ( and after a few 100kms you throw the engine out ) so yes coupled with a good interview we tend to have the magic numbers. On trucks we ocassionally have to retune but this is very rare on cars.

so yes we can change all the values

Some we can disengage EGR some we can not so we need to review on a case by case basis.

If we know about the modifications we can easily adjust the tune for them although not for chips. I am assuming you are talking about performance chips or tuning boxes. Our tune makes these redundant and they must be removed otherwise you risk destroying the engine. At the moment a tuning box pushes an engine that has slack in it, to push and engine with little slack left will break it.

If the ECU has already been programmed once we will not touch it as we can not guarantee our start point

Every tune is customised so we talk about what the vehicle is being used for and tune accordingly no tune is the same.

We do not have the facility to have multiple tunes for the customer t change between. For that you are looking at a tuning box and i wold argue a well tuned ECU will beat that functionality every time while protecting your engine. After all we warrant you engine I have not heard of tuning boxes or chips doing so.


Hope that answers your questions

 

[user 10312]

There is a theory that Nissan detuned the D40 (Straight off idle) because of the premature clutch failures that were occurring.

Strange way to go about it. They feel so doey down low you almost feel like you have to give it a bit of clutch slip to do a normal everyday take-off. I don't, infact I take off like granny to get off the clutch as soon as i can only to give everyone behind me the shits. Only time will tell how long the clutch will last but I'm going for longitivity.

 

[joshman]

Oh i can definitely see the value, i just want to know what you fiddle with in the original program.

ideally, i can see amazing benefits, from getting an engine that will deliver more power than any chip could possibly provide, and be heaps more efficient than people realize.

also, would there be the option of connecting in additional sensors and features?, like EGT? a jumper selectable tires size adjuster (to bring the speedo back to a correct reading)? perhaps the ability that when 4wd is selected, in 4H the engine operates for maximum power, in 4L, the tune changes to provide maximum Torque? (they may end up being the same tune, i'm just hypothesising)

Do you have access to changing the air/fuel ratio?
what about the TPS? and NPS? Can you remap current switch operation? for instance, remapping the heater switch to instead of being and idle up switch in neutral, to acts as a constant engine RPM switch (so that the engine delivers fuel to keep the RPM at ~1200, useful for low range manouvers) again, i'm not sure exactly what you have access to in the ECM program, but i'm very curious to know!

again, i can see amazing benefits of remapping the ECU.

 

[user 10312]

Nice - Yes more torque down lower is very possible you would also find the delivery of power to be a lot smoother. on your rx factory power 169bhp after tune 200bhp+ factory torque 403 after tune 485+

Ok well that got my attention. 2011 king cab here to.

So you can read the source code/proprietry software and alter it?

It does change it self to tho? Say If I do a mechanical mod like a 3 inch exhaust the O2 sensor will kind of keep telling the ECU "hey to lean" so it shifts the load point to compensate?

 

[joshman]

Ok well that got my attention. 2011 king cab here to.

So you can read the source code/proprietry software and alter it?

It does change it self to tho? Say If I do a mechanical mod like a 3 inch exhaust the O2 sensor will kind of keep telling the ECU "hey to lean" so it shifts the load point to compensate?

this exact situation is why i've held off getting a chip for so long. get all teh engine running mods out of the way (airbox, exhaust, snorkel, intercoole (TBC), etc) before throwing more fuel, custom tunes, etc at it.

 

[Dave]

Did you find out what can be done with EFI injection pumps like the Non CRD ZD30 fuel pump.

 

[joshman]

Did you find out what can be done with EFI injection pumps like the Non CRD ZD30 fuel pump.

I reckon it'll come down to perfecting the timing and injection cycle. And if possible, doing what most chips do and dump more fuel in.

If that possible from the ECU.

 

[Dave]

Yeah just wondering at this stage.

I am wanting to see what Northside can do.

Be good to see whats possible.

 

[APTUNING]

Joshman - I will come back to you on your earlier questions:

Tappet - Yes we can read the code - edit it and reinstall it. I agree with Joshman on mods to a point. Most mods provide mutually exclusive benefits but there would be a small incremental benefit if the ECU tune was done last.

 

[joshman]

If done properly, an ECU remap would be optimal, but I'd like to see it done on a dyno in situ through the OBD port.

Am keen to see how the unichips are installed/work.

 

[APTUNING]

Dave apologies I appear to have joined too mnay forums at once and have been swamped with questions, I missed this previously. I have forwarded your question on to my experts and will reply asap. Thanks for all the questions it is making me better at my job

cheers