When and Why upgrade ECU?

[noob2protege5]

This is my first post, and after weeks of reading on the forum, I have concluded that I need to ask direct questions about ECU.

1) Why upgrade ECU? I'm expecting an explanation of criteria or prerequisites that need to be met to see the performance upgrade from an upgraded ECU.

2) What is the difference between 03 P5, MSP, and MP3 ecu?

3) Will MP3/MSP Stock ECU work on non-turboed P5? This stems from Rodimus-prime getting a group purchase for upgrading ECU to the MP3/MSP maps.

4) Will upgrading the ECU on a stock do anything if there are no mods to the p5?

I would like to jump into the ECU group upgrade that rodimus prime is spearheading, but I don't know the difference or the concerns with upgrading a stock P5.


Oh, as a side note, are those Chips sold on Ebay for like 5 bucks that claim 20 HP just from plugging into the ECU really what they claim?

 

[Kansei]

If you aren't turbo, the MSP ecu would be a waste of money. It has retarded timing (quite literally) and loves suckin down gas (though maybe if you aren't in boost it's ok?).

The MP3 ecu has advanced timing (requiring the use of premium fuel on a naturally aspirated car), and offers a nice performance gain, and even more noticeably, a very nice smoothing of the entire powerband.

Those chips on ebay are total, total garbage. Don't waste your time, money, or effort

Oh and Rodimus Prime is known as TurboMattyP over here (has been banned here for years ).

If you can get your hands on an MP3 ecu, do it!

 

[musiclikscreams]

y'd he get banned?

 

[Aricjm15]

y'd he get banned?

long story with many different versions. Your better off just not asking.

 

[twilightprotege]

if you can get your hands on an mp3 ecu, buy a microtech instead!

answers
1) because the stock one is poo. even on a TOTALLY STOCK sp20 here in australia, the guy dropped 0.6 seconds off his 1/4 mile time from only changing to a microtech ems! only the microtech ems!!!
2 through 4) see point 1

 

[Kansei]

1. MP3 ecu is soooo easy to install and is a really nice performance boost.
2. Microtech.. not so much

They sure are nice but damn that's a lotta install work. Can you even run an OBDII Protege on a Microtech without a CEL?

 

[musiclikscreams]

long story with many different versions. Your better off just not asking.

i never asked

 

[twilightprotege]

who cares about a CEL when the stock ecu has nothing to do with the engine anymore?

and i certainly dont see a 0.6 1/4 mile gain along with improve fuel economy from an mp3 ecu

 

[LordWorm]

1. MP3 ecu is soooo easy to install and is a really nice performance boost.
2. Microtech.. not so much

They sure are nice but damn that's a lotta install work. Can you even run an OBDII Protege on a Microtech without a CEL?

no CEL for me but my stock puty is different to the yankydoodle one.

Microtech wasn't a GREAT deal of work to do
just time consuming

fairly straight forward process though..snip here, solder here, splice there.

you could knock one over in a saturday with a mate and a carton of beer

tuning and so forth is another story but if you know someone who can tune, its good.

OBDII is fairly useless once your microtech'd though. If you are that worried about it get a scangauge and just clear the codes.

OR

rip out the bulb that lights up the CEL

 

[ProtoType5]

Well, the MP3 ECU is the "easiest" but not the "best" option...The ability to tune the Microtech is definitely superior to the baseline MP3, but those of us with a couple hundred to drop in the ECU category...It's the best option...Plus I don't know crap about tuning...

I have a question regarding the MP3 ECU tho...

What's the difference in the FSN9-1881, FSN9-1881-B, and the FSN9-1881-C

There are three different part numbers for the MP3 ECU and I was wondering if there is a difference between them. Wondering cause I just got one from a California junkyard.

 

[Kansei]

who cares about a CEL when the stock ecu has nothing to do with the engine anymore?

and i certainly dont see a 0.6 1/4 mile gain along with improve fuel economy from an mp3 ecu

Registration/inspection/emissions all care about a CEL. I would have to make any standalone completely, 100% plug and play and make sure that my car can still run a-ok after swapping to the stock ECU, plus drive the 100+ miles to make sure all the readiness checks on the stock ECU are settled before doing all the yearly testing.. no fun

 

[LordWorm]

Registration/inspection/emissions all care about a CEL. I would have to make any standalone completely, 100% plug and play and make sure that my car can still run a-ok after swapping to the stock ECU, plus drive the 100+ miles to make sure all the readiness checks on the stock ECU are settled before doing all the yearly testing.. no fun

Yearly testing sucks.
move to state that doesn't do it


you could make a patch loom, but theres still some stuff you'd have to snip snip and splice i think.....

but you could work out some nifty plug arrangement for that in the engine bay i'd imagine.

it could certainly be done, you could probably even have the whole thing wired to a big missile switch if you wanted.

Not ideal though, as you say....when you go stand alone, you TEND to go for bigger/crazier mods...mods that the standard ecu would go have a spit at if you attemped to roll it back.

 

[NMMotorsport]

do u guys reckon theres any diffrence between my 323 sport, and ure protege5. only over here weve been getting figrues of 150bhp, with just intake,exhaust and ht leads. maby we have a diffrent ecu? cos we run on petrol of 97+

 

[Kansei]

Your 97+ is a different rating scale than the octane rating we use here. We use an average of RON and MON.. check wikipedia.org for the "octane rating" article.

BHP is horsepower measured at the flywheel, i.e. someone pulled the engine from the car to dyno it. When we're giving figures, it's dyno numbers at the wheels (WHP). Stock, the car is 130BHP, but 95-100WHP.

 

[blinkmaster]

hi. im newb here. where can i find the ms3 ecu and whats the cost. how much hp do i expect to gain for it. thx .

 

[Aricjm15]

hi. im newb here. where can i find the ms3 ecu and whats the cost. how much hp do i expect to gain for it. thx .

you would gain nothing, the ms3 ecu will only work in the ms3.
Even if it would work in a standard mazda 3 there would be a loss in power due to less timing and more fuel being added.

 

[blinkmaster]

oh. hi again. sorry i didnt make myself clearly. i own a ms3. just looking for an upgrade on my ms3 ecu.

 

[smittyp3]

further ecu question

I own a 2002 protege dx 2.0 5speed sport suspension. The ecu is bad( the voltage regulating circuit for the alternator is built into the ecu and is bad on mine.) Any suggestions as to where to get a reman or new ecu without shelling out $900 to the dealer?

 

[StealthWyvern]

I own a 2002 protege dx 2.0 5speed sport suspension. The ecu is bad( the voltage regulating circuit for the alternator is built into the ecu and is bad on mine.) Any suggestions as to where to get a reman or new ecu without shelling out $900 to the dealer?

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