Tuning the Stock Ecu? Possible?

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dugie33

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2003 MP5
Ok so I get bored sometimes and find myself aimlessly youtubing.... Well I came across a video of someone programming the BCM in a BMW E36 to do many out of the norm things. Such as auto roll up the windows on double lock, roll down and unlock and trunk, etc. Then I seen another where they had connected to the stock ecu with a patch cable and managed to get in and edit modules stored within the ecu. It seemed very limited, but would be great if you had just added a cold air and complete high flow exhaust, better wires and plugs.... etc you know basic stuff. Basically it seemed like they were able to set the ecu up much like a power chip would.....

Anyways long story made short I am highly interested in this, but the video poster did not include any information basically a pointless video to say they could tune their stock ecu to some degree.... So now I am really interested in how to do this. I plan on adding a full OBX performance exhaust, street spec headers, cold air intake, highflow exhaust, nology 10mm wires, NGK Iridium plugs and possibly fuel upgrade if i can utilize and tune stock ecu. If this is possible i can only imagine the gain i could get from about 1k worth of upgrades :) :) :)

Does anyone know anything about this?
 
As far as i know it is not possible. However we have a learning ecu so bolt ons such as intake and exhaust the ecu will see that it is bringing in more air and will adjust to that
 
oh ok thats kind of neat. The way they were doing it in the video was by flashing roms... If that helps any lol.
 
It is possible to flash the protg ecu to different protg roms, for example you could get your stock 2.0 flashed to the mp3 one but as far as actually modifying them.. haven't heard of anyone being able to do it.
 
Well if you can get MP3 Roms, and flash them to mp5 ecu.... Then all you need is an editor in between... Hmmm maybe this is comming to it. Ill have to spend some of my free time looking into this in detail...
 
Gotta get a patch cable and finish my current projects.... lol But i did download and will have to see what i can do with it :)
 
Im going to be trying to do it with a 1992 Mitshibishi 3000GT ECU. My buddy has a spare one so if we screw it up its fine. We are going to first attempt to raise boost a lb or 2, and change air to fuel ratio as car is burning rich atm. Gotta wait for patch cable to arrive though.
 
Any stock protege ecu (all of which are a OBD-II compliant Motorcraft EEC-V for North America), as mentioned, is 100% 'flashable'...its not a locked firmware like many initially believed...There is even a member with the equipment to do it on his own, but he only has access to factory rom's...

the problem from what i understand, though...is the programming code and drivers...which are seemingly completely foreign to 'normal' code most ecu's use...so that programming has never been cracked...

roughly translated: this means it'll be nearly impossible to know what exactly you are changing with that linked software...all the values will make very little sense, and adjustments to them will make even less...on top of that; the ecu's data board has strict thresholds in which it simply won't accept adjustments too far from some base pre-sets...I think it was Corksport that had tried this (it may have been another company, this was like 10 years ago) with similar means...and after flashed with a non-certified rom the ecu would default to a limp mode and there was no getting around it...

the software you linked to already sort of says this...It mentions the software should be able to download the ecu's db tables, but without a matching XML db to correlate that data with something...you will only be able to make 'blind edits'...so it looks like getting that xml file would be the hard part...

again though, doesn't mean it can't be done...software and understanding of non-desktop computers has sky rocketed since this car was released...and its not like these computers are state of the art to any degree...it just needs some knowledgeable people to sit down and look over it...the new software, and especially the base code of the stock ecu, may be something more people are familiar with now...if you do pull it off, start a business, you'll have a complete monopoly on the 3rd gen (and probe) community...not that its a huge community, but you'll definitely make more than your investment by selling some roms...

please keep me updated with this though, i'd be more than willing to help if I can...If we could talk a certain member into giving out the 3 factory rom files...you may be able to layer those on top of each other to see what values are changed...and since we know certain things about the real world differences (the MP3 has larger timing advance than the stock protege ecu, for example)...you may be able to fill in the holes...
 
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For sure. The program i linked to is supposed to take the jibberish of the roms and convert it to an xml database from what ive read... I dont see why i would pay upward of $1,700 for an aem system when i could simply use a program and spend some time to flash it and it might cost me $100. The only downfall to this is there is no live tuning available. But thats ok when you want something you are willing to work with it. And i've already thought about a business with it Installshield 2 lol. Who doesn't need extra money? And itd simply fund my build lmao.
 
I wish i had more knowledge of it

Installshield if you know how to get it id be willing to let you use my ecu to pull the specs from the mp3 ecu. As long as you have a spare incase something goes wrong
 
yeah, the only real draw-back to stock ecu tuning is that you need to reflash it for literally any change...which depending on the equipment used, can take hours...but, there is a compromise with any form of tuning...piggy back, your tune doesn't always effect the things you want...stand alone...you get live tuning and adjustments, but usually get piss poor idle control, let alone all the hacking and splicing you need to do to keep factory accessories working...its very doable, but not as user friendly as some would prefer...and that is before you consider how to get it inspected in areas that scan the system for trouble codes (i.e. were i live)...so in my case, i'd have to be able to at least get it to the inspection station on the factory ecu only each year...

in either case though, i'm getting pretty comfortable with the Torque Pro app for android...where i can get all pid read outs from the stock ecu...i can read everything i need to from the stock computer, just can't adjust any of it...but its logging and parameter database may be helpful in figuring out sensor calibrations and things, depending on what that software 'sees'...

i know the profit standpoint goes against the 'OpenECU' movement that site represents...but building an xml correlator would be very difficult if it comes to that...and you could simply sell that for a little cash to anyone that wants to tune their own ecu with a laptop (they make the adjustments, just use your unlocker)...this community is pretty good when it comes to stuff like that...you won't make a killing, but yeah, would give some extra cash for your own build...
 
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tweety2300 said:
I wish i had more knowledge of it

Installshield if you know how to get it id be willing to let you use my ecu to pull the specs from the mp3 ecu. As long as you have a spare incase something goes wrong
Click to expand...

awesome man, thanks...i'm currently on a flashed MP3 ecu also, and i can log most data from it through torque pro...so i'm not yet sure exactly what would be needed, as the app itself is twisting that data through its own software into something understandable...but that must be universal, as the app doesn't ask for fine data of what specific ecu i'm using...its just all generic OBD-II standard outputs...you can use your own built plug-ins to go deeper, but the default PID reader seems to find every sensor the stock computer uses already...so doesn't seem to be much point in that...
 
Lol I am planning on eventually twincharging mine. Maybe years down the road yet, but if done will defiantly require some high tech equipment as well as a very intricate tune. And yes it is the same where i am cel on car is off road. My truck has a cel on for caralytic which is almost 1k to buy a new one :( gonna be an expensive november
 
*Twin Charging" its supercharger and turbo. Turbos are spooled by exhuast so there for typically get gains in higher RPMS where as superchargers are spooled by incomming air which makes them more feasible for lower rpms. There for install both get best of both worlds.
 
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