EcuTek coming out with FFS, Launch Control, Map Switching, Per Gear Rev Limits

Do they still lock your ECU so neither you nor the dealer can ever flash it again? That little feature is called 'deal-breaker'.

Heard lots of things about that. I'd stay away.

I have heard they do such things, and I have heard some night mare stories about the locking but If you are close with your dealer the new features look cool. Boost per gear, auto blip for down shifting and si drive adjustment.

Most of that can be done by a good, reputable tuner here. Boost per gear doesn't make a whole lot of sense (that would only impose limits...why would you want that?). Anyway, do what you will, but to me the cons far outweigh the pros with them.

Boost per gear doesn't make a whole lot of sense (that would only impose limits...why would you want that?).

The guys with the really big turbos (or 2WD and small turbos) tend to limit boost in the lower gears because otherwise they just get wheelspin. Past your traction limit, extra boost does you no extra good.

EcuTek's problem in the US is that there are relatively few tuners. Most shops can do Cobb or Tactrix, but if your local EcuTek shop closes or moves, you're screwed.

Plus there's the locking thing. Threads pop up regularly at NASIOC where someone has (or buys) a car with an EcuTek flash and no nearby EcuTek tuner, so they basically can't mod the car at all because there's no way to tune for new mods. The flashed and furious. There was supposedly a way to get those ECUs unlocked but I still hear about people buying new ECUs so I dunno.

I'd stay away until both of those change.

The guys with the really big turbos (or 2WD and small turbos) tend to limit boost in the lower gears because otherwise they just get wheelspin. Past your traction limit, extra boost does you no extra good.

You are right, but there are other uses. I used to tune boost for 3rd gear as tuning for 4th would probably cause me to fall short of target in 3rd. Now I tune my WGDC for 4th and tweak that via the newly-defined max requested torque tables to hit the same target in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I'm only on a 16G, so I haven't had to limit that yet for traction. Works really well.

EcuTek's problem in the US is that there are relatively few tuners. Most shops can do Cobb or Tactrix, but if your local EcuTek shop closes or moves, you're screwed.

Plus there's the locking thing. Threads pop up regularly at NASIOC where someone has (or buys) a car with an EcuTek flash and no nearby EcuTek tuner, so they basically can't mod the car at all because there's no way to tune for new mods. The flashed and furious. There was supposedly a way to get those ECUs unlocked but I still hear about people buying new ECUs so I dunno.

 

I'd stay away until both of those change.

Well, the practice of locking is I believe due to two things. One, far more people were able to download the maps from their tek'd ECU and see just how primitive the tunes are. (I know, I've seen a couple and they could be best described as amateur. No, as an amateur I'm insulted by that.) So, add another issue to the list: You have an ECUtek dealer near you, but he's a poor tuner, and yet you have no choice but to keep paying him while he learns to tune on your car.

The other motive for locking is the desire to maintain whatever dwindling customer base they have by tying them into their platform. Closely related I think to the problem above.

I don't know about every ECUtek dealer but the one near me has the policy that they lock your ECU without first telling you it will be done. They will not unlock it under any circumstance. If you are unhappy with the tune your only choice is to pay them for another, or have them flash it back to stock (and if you have hardware upgrades you will need to go back to stock). Even when flashed back to stock your ECU ID is not corrected and therefore remains locked!

There are a few options if you are flashed and furious.

1. If you are USDM you can use AP to reset the ECU ID which allows a stock ROM to be flashed to it and then either load a new tune via AP or unmarry and go Opensource.

2. If you are 16-bit or non-CANbus you can use the Pro version of ECUedit to reset the ECU with a standard ECU ID.

3. You can send the ECU to Colby at Tactrix, pay him $75 and get it back with a clean install of the stock ROM, unlocked and ready to go.

4. You can build a hardware device which puts the ECU into SHboot mode and allows ECUFlash to flash directly to the EPROM, which resets the ECU ID correctly, effectively unlocking it. Colby was kind enough to publish the schematics and parts list, instructions.

A buddy has the parts and know-how to try option #4. He has a another friend in a GH8 with an ECUtek stage 1 tune that blew a piston. Rather than go back to that ECUtek dealer he's ordered a standalone ECU and found another shop to tune it. His tek'd ECU will be the test subject for the SHboot device project.

Sorry for the rant, but this sort of business practice really upsets me. If this had happened to me I'd probably be facing assault and / or arson charges.

^^ Great post, fahr_side. Even managed to get the "flashed and furious" line in there leaving me pretty much nothing to add. Ecutek is a permanent part of my sig and the source of one of the greatest frustrations ever with my car.

Bottom line, +1.

... Even managed to get the "flashed and furious" line in there...

Ooops. Sorry mate, forgot the hat-tip there.

Not going to lie here I would not do it because I don't want my ecu locked. Kinda was wondering if all these features have been cracked for open source use. As it is obvious from years of reading ecutech rants that they suck!

Some of the Key Features -

-On the Fly Map Switching

-Launch Control

-Proper No Lift Shift (As in it doesn't break your motor)

-Per Gear Boost Control

-Speed Density

Not going to lie here I would not do it because I don't want my ecu locked. Kinda was wondering if all these features have been cracked for open source use. As it is obvious from years of reading ecutech rants that they suck!

 

Some of the Key Features -

-On the Fly Map Switching

-Launch Control

-Proper No Lift Shift (As in it doesn't break your motor)

-Per Gear Boost Control

-Speed Density

LC and FFS have been out for a long time for OS. I've had mine for ~2 years. Look for the tinywrx patches.

As for map switching and speed density, I would never had the need.

Per Gear Boost Control does sound nice, but it really doesn't do anything for most people that can't be accomplished with the stock ecu and proper boost control. It would save time tuning, probably, but it doesn't get you anywhere you wouldn't be without it.

And besides, I wouldn't use ecutek if it were free. I'll ride OS as long as I can then make the move to Cobb for future platforms.

Per Gear Boost Control does sound nice, but it really doesn't do anything for most people that can't be accomplished with the stock ecu and proper boost control. It would save time tuning, probably, but it doesn't get you anywhere you wouldn't be without it.

It's available on some WRX ROMs courtesy of Eric Minehart who found the tables hidden in the code. It works. It's good. It allows you to reach target boost in all gears, not just the one you optimize your WGDC tables for in WOT pulls. Ask nicely and he may find the tables for you LGT guys.

And besides, I wouldn't use ecutek if it were free.

You are being far too kind.

I wouldn't use ECUtek if they paid me to run their shit maps, sponsored free booze, hookers and replacement shortblocks. ECUtek are no-talent assclowns with the business ethics of Microsoft, the lawyer/engineer ratio of Apple and the strategic acumen of Chiang Kai-shek.

I was until this morning one of these poor unfortunates that foolishly went for Ecutek back in 2008, back when i knew very little about Subaru's and tuning, and told myself i would leave this car in standard form as it was enough poer for me out of the box, that lasted about a month. Local garage brings a Ecutek dealer over from UK every few weeks and i got a standard tune to local fuel. No one mentioned to me that it would be locked doen to Ecutek tuners only.

Car has been in standard-ish form up until this year. Went to larger vf36 setup over the last few weeks and when i went to get an open source tune he said he was locked out, that the ecutek software changed the protocol handshake preventing any other software from communicating with the ecu properly. So wasted half a day of my time and tuners time on that. He said he could do something similar to what fahrside mentioned in option 4, but he didnt have the time to dedicate to that currently

There is no Ecutek dealers in the country so i had to wait for him to come over this week and told him to flash it back to standard. so the Ecutek dealers can put it back to a state that other software can rewrite your ecu(fingers crossed i can!) I will find out in the next day or two!

If you want to go with the racerom. buy the software and cable yourself and give it to a local tuner to play with for you!

It's available on some WRX ROMs courtesy of Eric Minehart who found the tables hidden in the code. It works. It's good. It allows you to reach target boost in all gears, not just the one you optimize your WGDC tables for in WOT pulls. Ask nicely and he may find the tables for you LGT guys.

I wonder if those tables are even in our roms. I was under the impression that they weren't, but maybe they just haven't been uncovered. I'll ask him. He's a local... we even work out at the same gym but rarely cross paths. The only way it might help my tune is if there were, in fact, hidden tables that were restricting boost in 1st and 2nd gears, but since I can hit target boost in both I really don't think so.

You are being far too kind.

 

I wouldn't use ECUtek if they paid me to run their shit maps, sponsored free booze, hookers and replacement shortblocks. ECUtek are no-talent assclowns with the business ethics of Microsoft, the lawyer/engineer ratio of Apple and the strategic acumen of Chiang Kai-shek.

Damn man, that's classic! :lol: Seriously though with free booze, hookers, and replacement shortblocks I'd be willing to try ecutek for maybe one weekend per year.. I just wouldn't drive my car that weekend. And I'll have to google that Chinese whatever. Anyhow, nice job sir! +1 internet to you.

There is no Ecutek dealers in the country so i had to wait for him to come over this week and told him to flash it back to standard. so the Ecutek dealers can put it back to a state that other software can rewrite your ecu(fingers crossed i can!) I will find out in the next day or two!

I really hope you luck out and your ECU is left unlocked!

I wonder if those tables are even in our roms. I was under the impression that they weren't, but maybe they just haven't been uncovered. I'll ask him. He's a local... we even work out at the same gym but rarely cross paths. The only way it might help my tune is if there were, in fact, hidden tables that were restricting boost in 1st and 2nd gears, but since I can hit target boost in both I really don't think so.

I have no idea if this code is present in the LGT ROMs. Given the close development paths of the two cars I would guess they are, but I've not heard here anyone complain aloud of the symptoms. A look at the thread over on Romraider will probably give you an idea. ECU definitions...

Damn man, that's classic!

Thank you Sir. Where one cannot illuminate the Way with the light of wisdom, he might make the stumble into chaos at least less awful with his clumsy japes.

he did the revert to standard this morning, is there any open source software i can check with myself to see if it has full write access with the ecu now?

I have used Romraider a few times for data logging but nothing to write/pull roms from ecu

ok just installed ecu flash, ill try pull the rom with it!

sorry for thread Hijack OP

If you are locked you will not be able to pull the ROM with ECUflash or open it with RR editor.

And that leads me to believe that this ecutek hooker thing may be a bad idea after all. Free hookers with ecutek might seem enticing, but they'll find a way to screw you in the end. Here is how I see it going down, based on how ecutek handled my ecu. After services, the hooker grabs my dick and will not let go. She explains that now that I've used an ecutek hooker, she now has exclusive rights to my dick and if I need to use it for anything then I need to pay her to release it. Grudgingly, I pay her to release it but am then left to discover I've got chlamydia and need to pay to get it fixed. Oh yeah, and she's ugly.

Ooops. Sorry mate, forgot the hat-tip there.

*cough*

Good analogy Legend. You know the old saying eh...

Nothing is free. You've either paid for it already but hadn't noticed, you're going to pay for it in the future, or it will turn out to be worthless.