Dynotronics remote tune - reviews/reports?
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Hows this working out?
How is this tune coming along?
Has anyone had any issues with the tuning?
So far Joes been helpful, but my dumb windows 8 is hindering my experience.
How is this tune coming along?
Has anyone had any issues with the tuning?
So far Joes been helpful, but my dumb windows 8 is hindering my experience.
Last edited:
Just got my feet wet into this, and I am wondering if my stock ECU ROM reading experience was on par with everyone else's.
The above screen shot was from the ROM reading session I had last night, and the part that have me a little concerned is the clearing DTC section. As you can see, there is no response from the read/clear DTC item. Additionally, when that particular command was getting executed, I can very clearly hear some sort of electronic hum / buzz coming from the car, followed by a mechanical clunk type of noise that seems to originate from the lower back portion of the car. The actual reading of the ECU ROM seems to be fine though. (But my goodness... was it ever slow... 1.5MB's worth of data needing a slow 6+ minutes to retrieve... It almost seemed like my 2400 baud modem back in the day was faster than this ECU reading business...
So was my experience more or less within the norm? Should I have any reason to be concerned at all?
The above screen shot was from the ROM reading session I had last night, and the part that have me a little concerned is the clearing DTC section. As you can see, there is no response from the read/clear DTC item. Additionally, when that particular command was getting executed, I can very clearly hear some sort of electronic hum / buzz coming from the car, followed by a mechanical clunk type of noise that seems to originate from the lower back portion of the car. The actual reading of the ECU ROM seems to be fine though. (But my goodness... was it ever slow... 1.5MB's worth of data needing a slow 6+ minutes to retrieve... It almost seemed like my 2400 baud modem back in the day was faster than this ECU reading business...
So was my experience more or less within the norm? Should I have any reason to be concerned at all?
Dynotronics1
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazda2
Just got my feet wet into this, and I am wondering if my stock ECU ROM reading experience was on par with everyone else's.
The above screen shot was from the ROM reading session I had last night, and the part that have me a little concerned is the clearing DTC section. As you can see, there is no response from the read/clear DTC item. Additionally, when that particular command was getting executed, I can very clearly hear some sort of electronic hum / buzz coming from the car, followed by a mechanical clunk type of noise that seems to originate from the lower back portion of the car. The actual reading of the ECU ROM seems to be fine though. (But my goodness... was it ever slow... 1.5MB's worth of data needing a slow 6+ minutes to retrieve... It almost seemed like my 2400 baud modem back in the day was faster than this ECU reading business...
So was my experience more or less within the norm? Should I have any reason to be concerned at all?
the initial read ( dump) is a bit slow sometimes depending on the laptop you are using. Loading the new file is a bit faster.
Don't worry about the DTC clearing section; whats going on is a reset of the ecu( or a restart), as the read command sort of puts the ecu into a trance to allow the reading. It will do this code clearing after you load the files each time
DE Mazda2 Dynotronics ECU Reflash Impressions
Joe must have been working through the Labour Day long weekend (Don't!), and he sent me my first flashed tune for the car yesterday. Below is a little blurb regarding my driving impressions after the tune:
* * *
First of all, I have to thank Joe for the amazing work that he has done. Even though I am only on the initial flashed ROM, it has still completely transformed the engine performance of the car, so much so that the difference made me wonder why Mazda didn't deliver the car the way Joe has tuned it in the first place.
Background Info
The drivetrain is completely stock. The only mod on the car is the AWR rear engine mount. With the extreme slop the factory rear engine mount had, I'm sure it would have given the Dynotronics tune a sufficiently different sensation. But I consider the rear engine mount an essential upgrade for our car, and I think *everyone* who cares about driving should pony up the cash for it.
Initial Start
The entire flashing process seems a bit long and drawn out to me, but it is what it is, and I know Joe is a very busy man, so no comlains there.
When I finally have the 1st tune on the car, there is something different that I immediately noticed when starting up the engine. The tone of the engine notes was already different from what it was in stock form, and the idling seemed both quieter and yet more raw / direct.
Early Easy Driving
Taking the car out for some easy driving at first, the engine seemed to have taken on an entirely different character. With the stock tune, I have always been impressed by how buttery smooth the engine behaves. However, some of this smoothness seems to contribute to a dampened sensation. There is a certain degree of relax-ness, an attitude that tells you this engine isn't bred for any hard edge performance. I wouldn't call it lazy, but you just know it prefers to take it slow by riding on its healthy (and only adequate) torque curve instead of revving its guts out. The stock throttle response also reinforces this -- Mazda did an acceptable job with the Mazda2 throttle response. For small throttle changes, the engine responses quickly enough; but for situations where a healthy dose of power is suddenly called for, the stock tune somehow always seems to stumble a bit before it starts delivering the goods. And even when it does, it does so at its own leisurely pace.
Throttle Response
With the reflash, the first thing I noticed was how instantaneous the throttle response had become. There was no delay, and the engine just revved as soon as I gave it some input. As a matter of fact, when I was initially driving the car, the throttle response almost felt too jumpy, esp when starting the car from a stand still. But after a bit of driving, I quickly adapted and was very happy with the newfound response.
Engine Behaviour
Complementing the instantaneous throttle was an engine that was now much more willing to rev. I have no idea how much newfound power the engine was making, but the lazy / relaxed nature of the stock tune has just gone. It was as though the engine had just downed a nice, strong cup of joe, and was now fully alert and awaken to deliver its goods. The engine remained smooth as the revs built, but the dampened sensation of the stock tune was gone. The engine feels more raw, and the power delivery was noticeably more direct -- the engine no longer felt like it was satisfied by just riding on its torque curve anymore, and would much prefer to get the revs out instead. Even the engine note seemed more solid and purposeful.
Pulsing / Thumping
The only peculiar thing that I noticed was, when the car is idling, the engine was giving out a much more pronounced sensation of pulsing as the cylinders fire. It wasn't anything uncomfortable at all, nor did it feel rough in any particular way. All I noticed was a bit of thump thump thump coming from the engine, and it gave the car an entirely different character compared to before.
Final Words
Overall, there is nothing I do not like about Dynotronic's 1st tune, and as I was saying in the beginning, it really made me wonder why the car didn't come from the factory the way it is now after Joe's tune. The stock tune was decent, but Joe's tune has just completely blown Mazda's work out of the water. Compared to Joe's work, Mazda's tuning made the engine slow and lazy. As it is now, the car reminds me a little of how the old Honda D15 / D16 engines were. I already like how the engine is behaving now, and I can't imagine how Joe could possibly improve it further in subsequent tunes.
Joe must have been working through the Labour Day long weekend (Don't!), and he sent me my first flashed tune for the car yesterday. Below is a little blurb regarding my driving impressions after the tune:
* * *
First of all, I have to thank Joe for the amazing work that he has done. Even though I am only on the initial flashed ROM, it has still completely transformed the engine performance of the car, so much so that the difference made me wonder why Mazda didn't deliver the car the way Joe has tuned it in the first place.
Background Info
The drivetrain is completely stock. The only mod on the car is the AWR rear engine mount. With the extreme slop the factory rear engine mount had, I'm sure it would have given the Dynotronics tune a sufficiently different sensation. But I consider the rear engine mount an essential upgrade for our car, and I think *everyone* who cares about driving should pony up the cash for it.
Initial Start
The entire flashing process seems a bit long and drawn out to me, but it is what it is, and I know Joe is a very busy man, so no comlains there.
When I finally have the 1st tune on the car, there is something different that I immediately noticed when starting up the engine. The tone of the engine notes was already different from what it was in stock form, and the idling seemed both quieter and yet more raw / direct.
Early Easy Driving
Taking the car out for some easy driving at first, the engine seemed to have taken on an entirely different character. With the stock tune, I have always been impressed by how buttery smooth the engine behaves. However, some of this smoothness seems to contribute to a dampened sensation. There is a certain degree of relax-ness, an attitude that tells you this engine isn't bred for any hard edge performance. I wouldn't call it lazy, but you just know it prefers to take it slow by riding on its healthy (and only adequate) torque curve instead of revving its guts out. The stock throttle response also reinforces this -- Mazda did an acceptable job with the Mazda2 throttle response. For small throttle changes, the engine responses quickly enough; but for situations where a healthy dose of power is suddenly called for, the stock tune somehow always seems to stumble a bit before it starts delivering the goods. And even when it does, it does so at its own leisurely pace.
Throttle Response
With the reflash, the first thing I noticed was how instantaneous the throttle response had become. There was no delay, and the engine just revved as soon as I gave it some input. As a matter of fact, when I was initially driving the car, the throttle response almost felt too jumpy, esp when starting the car from a stand still. But after a bit of driving, I quickly adapted and was very happy with the newfound response.
Engine Behaviour
Complementing the instantaneous throttle was an engine that was now much more willing to rev. I have no idea how much newfound power the engine was making, but the lazy / relaxed nature of the stock tune has just gone. It was as though the engine had just downed a nice, strong cup of joe, and was now fully alert and awaken to deliver its goods. The engine remained smooth as the revs built, but the dampened sensation of the stock tune was gone. The engine feels more raw, and the power delivery was noticeably more direct -- the engine no longer felt like it was satisfied by just riding on its torque curve anymore, and would much prefer to get the revs out instead. Even the engine note seemed more solid and purposeful.
Pulsing / Thumping
The only peculiar thing that I noticed was, when the car is idling, the engine was giving out a much more pronounced sensation of pulsing as the cylinders fire. It wasn't anything uncomfortable at all, nor did it feel rough in any particular way. All I noticed was a bit of thump thump thump coming from the engine, and it gave the car an entirely different character compared to before.
Final Words
Overall, there is nothing I do not like about Dynotronic's 1st tune, and as I was saying in the beginning, it really made me wonder why the car didn't come from the factory the way it is now after Joe's tune. The stock tune was decent, but Joe's tune has just completely blown Mazda's work out of the water. Compared to Joe's work, Mazda's tuning made the engine slow and lazy. As it is now, the car reminds me a little of how the old Honda D15 / D16 engines were. I already like how the engine is behaving now, and I can't imagine how Joe could possibly improve it further in subsequent tunes.
Dynotronics1
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazda2
*Blush*
Thank you for the very nice review! Its always nice to hear that folks enjoy what we do.
BigBlueDart
Member
- :
- 2012 Mazda2 Touring MT
I keep hearing how the overall HP increase isn't all that dramatic, but that the torque curve, especially in the lower rev range, is really boosted. What I would love to see is somebody post a before and after 0-60 time or quarter mile time. Just curious to see something more substantial about how this tune affects overall acceleration.
Great review. Thanks for posting.
I'm pretty sure I'll be getting Joe's tune very soon...
Mike
